The United States Can’t Welcome More Refugees Without Reforming Its Resettlement System

Pao Ge Vang, 5, waits for the school bus to take him home after his second day in kindergarten at Herndon-Barstow Elementary School in Fresno, California, on Dec. 10, 2004. The Vangs are among thousands of Hmong refugees who fled Laos for Thailand 30 years ago and were part of the current U.S government resettlement program for up to 15,000 Hmong. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

On Feb. 4, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order to raise the annual refugee resettlement cap to 125,000 and restore the United States’ position “as a leader in refugee resettlement.” His order, a sharp reversal in U.S. refugee policy, revokes a presidential memorandum by former President Donald Trump that limited admissions under the guise of preventing terrorism. Yet it will not go far enough.

In his last year in office, former President Barack Obama approved resettlement for up to 110,000 refugees per year. But the Trump administration slashed these rates in half, allowing only 53,700 refugees into the country in fiscal year 2017. In subsequent years, the numbers dwindled even further, with Trump capping the refugee ceiling at 18,000 for the fiscal year 2020. In reality, only 11,814 individuals were resettled.