U.S COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS
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USCRI’s Statement Celebrating the Presidential Determination

October 8, 2021

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) applauds President Biden’s issuance of the Presidential Determination that sets a goal to welcome 125,000 refugees in the coming fiscal year. This number represents a drastic increase in admissions from recent years, and the highest admissions goal set since 1993. USCRI commends President Biden for working to rebuild the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and open our country’s doors to more of the world’s most vulnerable people.

This year, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide has exceeded 80 million for the first time since World War II. The vast majority of these people languish in dreadful and isolated refugee camps or urban slums for decades or even generations, without hope or human dignity, and forgotten by the international community. With the proliferation of climate-related displacement, conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now more important than ever to ensure that these refugees can be resettled so they can restart their lives in a safe and permanent home.

Although 125,000 refugee admissions is an admirable goal, there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the USRAP and implementing organizations like USCRI can meet this goal. Due to the program’s decimation under the previous administration, the Biden administration must work diligently to rebuild and strengthen the USRAP to ensure that we can welcome 125,000 refugees at a time when refugee resettlement is more important and necessary than ever before.

“We applaud the administration’s decision to admit 125,000 refuges for FY 2022. America’s humanitarian values have provided us with immense benefits as a nation,” USCRI’s President and CEO Eskinder Negash said. “The extraordinary contributions of refugees and immigrants to technology, business, engineering, education, and the arts — to name a few — have built our country’s wealth both materially and culturally — ordinary people becoming extraordinary citizens. We look forward to seeing what these new Americans will become and accomplish in the future.”


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