WHIPLASH

Biden’s Original Refugee Number Is Reportedly Back on the Table—Again

After weeks of contradicting statements, the White House might be back to what Biden promised on the campaign trail.

President Joe Biden’s original target for yearly refugee admittance to the United States is back on the table after weeks of back-and-forth and contradicting statements. Immigrants’ rights groups and Democratic senators alike are exerting pressure on the White House to restore the number to 62,500 after former President Donald Trump’s administration drastically reduced the number and Biden said it would remain the same in mid-April. Biden has struggled to stem the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), in a letter Tuesday to the White House on behalf of more than 30 Democrats in the Senate, wrote, “The United States must reject the previous administration’s cruel legacy of anti-refugee policies and return to our longstanding bipartisan tradition of providing safety to the world’s most vulnerable refugees.”