Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that the U.S. is proposing to lower the refugee cap for 2019 to 30,000—a sharp decrease from the 45,000 ceiling set for 2018. “We proposed resettling up to 30,000 refugees under the new refugee ceiling as well as processing more than 280,000 asylum seekers,” Pompeo said in a statement. “These expansive figures continue the United States’ long-standing record as the most generous nation in the world when it comes to protection-based immigration and assistance.” NBC News reports that the 45,000 refugee cap this past year is “less than a third” of Obama-era levels.
