Biden expands refugee admission to foreign nationals from multiple continents

On the same day that President Joe Biden said he’d reduced illegal border crossings by 60% at the southwest border, he announced Monday a sweeping extension of refugee admissions for foreign nationals and “habitual residents” of countries in multiple continents.

The authorization is two-fold.

The first expands a refugee admission process to 125,000 foreign nationals from countries around the world.

The second opens a refugee admission process to foreign nationals and those with “habitual residence in” Cuba, Iraq, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Eurasia, the Baltics, among others, with no numerical limitation.

Biden issued the sweeping measure through a memo issued to the Secretary of State (Presidential Determination No. 2024-13 on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal 2025), saying he was authorized to do so “by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, in accordance with section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act … and after appropriate consultations with Congress.”

Doing so, he says, “is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

The authorization is for fiscal 2025, which begins Oct. 1.

The first authorization is to allow 125,000 “refugees of special humanitarian concern” by region from multiple continents:

• Africa: between 30,000 and 50,000
• East Asia: between 10,000 and 20,000
• Europe and Central Asia: between 2,000 and 3,000
• Latin America/Caribbean: between 35,000 and 50,000
• Near East/South Asia: between 30,000 and 45,000

The allocation ranges “are intended to provide flexibility as needs arise, but the total admissions among all of the regions may not exceed 125,000,” the memo states.

The State Department is required to provide notification to the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary committees. It is also authorized “to transfer unused admissions allocated to a particular region to one or more other regions, if there is a need for greater admissions for the region or regions to which the admissions are being transferred.”

Biden also authorized the State Department to provide taxpayer-funded assistance to so-called refugees through the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962.

Providing taxpayer funded assistance to or on behalf of those applying as refugees and for admission to the United States, Biden says, “as part of the overseas refugee admissions program will contribute to the foreign policy interests of the United States and designate such persons for this purpose.”

The second authorization allows foreign nationals or habitual residents of the below countries to apply for refugee status:

• Cuba
• Eurasia and the Baltics
• Iraq
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras. 

It also states that those allowed to apply for refugee status include “in certain circumstances, persons identified by a United States Embassy or by an authorized State Department referral partner in any location,” meaning from anywhere in the world.

The memo stipulates no numerical limits. If their refugee application is approved, they will receive taxpayer-funded assistance and be released into the U.S.

The authorization is for fiscal 2025 “for the purpose of admission to the United States,” the memo states.

Biden says he issued it “after appropriate consultation with the Congress.”