The US will allow no more than 30,000 refugees into the country in the coming year, down by a third from last year’s cap, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has announced.
The latest cut reflects a victory by White House hardliners on immigration over both the state department and the Pentagon. When Donald Trump took office the ceiling on refugees the US was prepared to welcome each year was 110,000. Trump lowered that to 45,000, and significantly fewer were actually allowed in.
The new ceiling marks a historic low since the US Refugee Act was introduced nearly 40 years ago.
In announcing the cut, Pompeo said that the US would also process the applications of over 280,000 new asylum seekers, adding that over 800,000 asylum seekers were already in the US awaiting judgment on their claims.
In recent decades, the US has been the main destination for the world’s refugees, admitting three out of four million worldwide since the passing of the 1980 Refugee Act. However, the number of refugees admitted each year has dropped dramatically from the more than 200,000 in 1980.
Source: The Guardian
