Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has voiced the Biden administration’s decision to lift the Trump-era refugee limit following shouts from prominent congressional Democrats.
“This is a testament to the power that has built up people’s movements, community advocates and progressive coalitions,” the progressive wrote on Twitter.
“Thank you for that and the decision of the Biden admin to respond to organizers today. Let’s get these families now in their new homes in the United States,” she added.
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On Friday, the president signed an emergency decision to expedite the admission of refugees into the U.S., but he holds the record-low 15,000 refugee cap imposed by his predecessor.
Democrats like Ocasio Cortez and Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar have condemned the move following Biden’s promise to increase the limit to 125,000 people for the next financial year.
“Completely and utterly unacceptable,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. “Biden promised to welcome immigrants, and people voted for him based on the promise.”
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The White House originally said the decision not to increase refugee limits remains “justified by humanitarian problems and is otherwise in the national interest.”
But later on Friday, the White House said Biden would rather lift the refugee cap on May 15, but there was no specification on what the new limit would look like.
“We are going to increase the number,” the president told reporters on Saturday. Biden said the ‘crisis’ at the southern border prevented the administration from being able to juggle both immigration problems with each other.
“We could not do two things at once. But now we are going to increase the number,” he added.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was consulting with advisers to determine how many refugees they would be able to allow into the U.S. by the end of the 2021 budget year in October.
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The press secretary said it was ‘unlikely’ that the US would allow the 62,500 refugees intended this year, ‘given the retired refugee admission program we inherited.’
Biden’s emergency provision removed the Trump era’s restrictions on refugees arriving from Somalia, Yemen and Syria and allocated the slots to refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Central America.
Associated Press and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.