The number of refugees to be admitted into the United States over the next 12 months has been slashed to a record low of 18,000 – a move that has been slammed by human rights groups and others, according to the New York Times.
The number of refugees allowed into the country has gone from 110,000 asylum seekers allowed during Barack Obama’s final year in office to 30,000 last year under the Trump administration.
The administration says many of the 18,000 slots have already been allocated, with 4,000 to go to Iraqis who worked with the US military and 5,000 for people persecuted for their religion.
To back up the new cap on asylum seekers, Trump also signed an executive order to that effect on Thursday.
In a press release, the state department said that over 350,000 people are expected to seek asylum over the next year. It added that “the current burdens on the US immigration system must be alleviated before it is again possible to resettle a large number of refugees.”
The new cap on asylum seekers was intended to alleviate “burdens” on authorities at the southern border, according to the State Department press release, which also said it aims to clear a “backlog” of claims by people from Central America.
According to The Guardian, this latest cap on asylum seekers is in line with the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration goals – bringing to an end the nation’s refugee program and its status as a leader in accepting people fleeing persecution around the world.
“This is a very sad day for America,” said David Miliband, the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, in a statement. “Refugee Resettlement is an essential lifeline that the US provides for the most vulnerable refugees at a time of unprecedented global crisis.”
Amnesty International said in a statement: “The fact is, the US has the capacity to accept far more refugees than this. We know that we can vet them and resettle them at rates far higher than this – because the US has done it for decades.”
