Asylum seekers in the US excluded from humanitarian aid 0:51
(CNN) -
President Donald Trump spent years limiting the number of refugees arriving in the United States.
Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to set the annual refugee admissions limit at 125,000.
But first, your team will have to deal with the damage left behind.
The refugee limit, which determines how many refugees can be admitted to the United States, must be approved by the president.
But while the cap has often been seen as a target to be reached, the actual number of refugees admitted has been insufficient under the Trump administration.
This year, the Trump administration set a refugee limit of 15,000, the lowest level since 1980.
"The program this incoming administration is inheriting is in its last breath," said Danielle Grigsby, director of policy and practice for Refugee Council USA.
"It will take both political will and early investment in repealing policies for the program to start operating as it can and is planned."
On Tuesday, transition officials reiterated Biden's commitment to restoring America's immigration system, but warned it would take time, given the abundance of policy changes in the past four years.
"The infrastructure within the government, as well as the infrastructure in the NGO community, has been severely affected in the last four years, so we are evaluating that to determine how fast the administration can move," said an official from the transition to journalists during a press call on Tuesday.
advertising
"It's a huge challenge, really, because the current administration damaged so many things," the official said.
Biden echoed that during his year-end address Tuesday, when he said he will keep his promises but it will take time, particularly with policies related to the US-Mexico border.
«It will be done and it will be done quickly.
But you won't be able to do it on the first day, lift all the restrictions that exist, "said Biden.
Increasing refugee admissions has been a focus between Biden's transition team and the Department of Homeland Security, which plays a role in the process, according to a source familiar with the discussions, noting that the team is evaluating what that must be fixed to eventually achieve Biden's goal.
When asked if the Biden administration would strive to set that cap in fiscal 2021, a transition official said it is "early to say," adding that it "depends on the state of the infrastructure, which is something we are determining. ».
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Monday during a Heritage Foundation event that his department is providing information to the Biden-Harris transition team, adding that the process "is going as well as it can go."
"We are exchanging information, we are providing them with information," Wolf added, listing covid-19, immigration policies and refugees as focuses of the transition team.
How the refugee limit is set
Each year, the administration sets a limit on the number of refugees that can be admitted to the United States.
Historically, the number of admissions has fluctuated based on world events, although it has generally been high.
From fiscal years 1990 to 1995, for example, many refugees who came to the United States were from the former Soviet Union, according to the Pew Research Center.
In the final years of the Obama presidency, the administration raised the refugee ceiling from 85,000 in fiscal 2016 to 110,000 in fiscal 2017, amid the Syrian crisis.
Barbara Strack, former chief of the Division of Refugee Affairs, part of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), was involved in the initiative to increase the cap and warned that rebuilding the program will take weather.
Still, signaling an intention to increase arrivals is significant, argued Strack.
"I still think that it is worthwhile for the administration to share that goal publicly because it allows the State Department, USCIS and [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] to begin working toward that level," he said.
"He gives everyone his orders to work on."
Strack recalled that when the Obama White House had instructed the administration that the refugee ceiling would go up from 85,000 to 100,000, “I had the administration start hiring refugee officials, basically as fast as it could get them on board so that we were prepared. '
The administration later announced that the limit would be 110,000.
Recruitment will likely be a critical component for the Biden administration as it attempts to increase refugee interviews.
The diversion of refugee officials to work on asylum cases in the past two years has left the pipeline largely empty of refugees who are advanced in the system, said a source familiar with the process.
But there are also challenges that come up with covid-19, including USCIS interview teams unable to travel.
Domino effect
The decline in the refugee ceiling under Trump has also had a ripple effect on the U.S. resettlement process, particularly for agencies tasked with helping refugees settle.
Resettlement agencies help locate refugees once they have been admitted to the United States, introducing them to services, helping them get jobs, and familiarizing them with new communities.
In some cases, the help provided by the offices can be as simple as showing people the local bus route or teaching them how to use the financial system.
For the past two years, agencies have had to make adjustments like closing offices or pausing their placement programs, including Catholic Charities of Dallas.
That group has been resettling refugees for more than 40 years.
Towards the end of the Obama administration, the organization resettled nearly 1,000 refugees in one year, according to Dave Woodyard, executive director of Catholic Charities of Dallas.
This year it only resettled three unaccompanied refugee children.
The last arrival of an adult was in December 2018.
The drastic decrease in arrivals resulted in an 80% reduction in resettlement team personnel.
"You lose languages, you lose dialects, you lose understanding," Woodyard said.
"They have been through a very difficult process."
Woodyard expressed confidence that Catholic Charities could rebuild to accommodate an increase in refugee arrivals.
"All the intentional barriers and hurdles that the administration put in place are the reason this program is where it is," added Grigsby.
He outlined a number of steps the organizations hope the incoming administration will take, including immediately raising the current fiscal year cap, allowing referrals from the United Nations refugee agency, and restoring vulnerability-based allocations, among others.
Ashley Feasley, policy director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a refugee resettlement agency, said her organization advocates that Biden's team appoint a senior White House coordinator to coordinate the Federal agencies and other stakeholders in rebuilding the refugee admissions program.
The ambition to significantly increase the refugee limit will require patience, transition officials said Tuesday.
But the commitment alone has already inspired confidence among groups working quickly to renew their own programs after years of uncertainty and prepare for the day of the arrival of more refugees.
Refugees
