U.S. caps refugees at 15,000 for 2021, a record low since modern resettlement program began in 1980

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has announced plans to allow only 15,000 refugees to resettle in the country in the 2021 fiscal year that began on Thursday, setting another record low in the history of the modern refugee program.

The U.S. State Department said late on Wednesday that the ceiling reflects the Trump administration's prioritizing of the "safety and well-being of Americans, especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic."

Trump, seeking re-election on Nov. 3, has taken a hard line toward legal and illegal immigration during his presidency, including slashing refugee admissions every year since taking office in January 2017.

The Trump administration has said that refugees from war-torn regions should be resettled closer to their home 
countries and that the United States extends asylum to thousands of people through a separate process.

Critics have said that the U.S. under Trump has abandoned its long-standing role as a safe haven for persecuted people and that cutting refugee admissions undermines other foreign policy goals.
 
The refugee cap was cut to 18,000 in the 2020 fiscal year that ended on Wednesday, but only 11,814 refugees were resettled, according to the latest government figures, as increased vetting and the coronavirus pandemic slowed arrivals.

A complete abdication of our moral duty and all that we stand for as a nation.- 

The 2021 plan lays out specific allocations, including 5,000 slots for refugees who suffered or fear persecution on the basis of religion; 4,000 for refugees from Iraq who helped the U.S.; and 1,000 for refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. That leaves 5,000 for all others.
 
Even though 4,000 spots were allocated for Iraqis affiliated with the U.S. during the 2020 fiscal year, only 123 had been resettled as of Sept. 25, according to government figures.
 
A law called the Refugee Act of 1980 created the modern U.S. refugee resettlement program. The cap set for refugees in the subsequent four decades has never been as low as the one planned for 2021. Before president Barack Obama left office, he set the cap for fiscal year 2017 at 110,000 refugees, but Trump slashed that in half soon after becoming president.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has pledged to raise refugee admissions to 125,000 a year if he defeats Trump in next month's election. Advocates have said the refugee program could take years to recover after Trump-era reductions.

Tens of thousands of refugees are in the pipeline awaiting arrival to the U.S., many with applications far along in the approval and vetting process.

Krish Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which helps resettle recently arrived refugees, wrote on Twitter that the administration's cuts represent "a complete abdication of our moral duty and all that we stand for as a nation."