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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 6 october 2021

Refugee admissions hit record low, despite Biden’s reversal

fice until almost four months administration says is needed be accelerated to add person-
after the last fiscal year began. to rebuild the program. nel overseas, do more remote
interviews and relieve the
The State Department did Refugee advocates said the enormous backlog of refugee
not immediately respond to record-low number reflects applications.
a request for comment about the damage done by the
the number. Trump administration to the She said that while the pro-
program. Before the 2021 gram was gutted by the
The 11,445 refugee admis- budget year, the lowest num- Trump administration, it is
sions total falls far below the ber of refugees allowed in now Biden’s responsibility to
nation’s cap of 62,500 for the was during the 2020 budget revive it.
2021 budget year that Biden year when the number hit
set in May. It’s also below the 11,814. “If we are to reach President
record-low ceiling of 15,000 Biden’s goal of welcoming
that Trump had initially set The historical yearly average 125,000 refugees, the admin-
for the year. was 95,000 under previous istration must be aggressive
(AP) — Refugee admis- troops withdrew from Af- Republican and Democratic and innovative in ramping
sions to the United States ghanistan, ending the 20-year Biden initially indicated administrations. up processing,” she said in a
fell to a record low during war there. Many of those Af- he would not override the statement.
the 2021 budget year, de- ghans were allowed into the 15,000-person cap, saying in The Biden administration
spite President Joe Biden’s country under a different le- an emergency determination has expanded the narrow eli- Mark Hetfield of HIAS, an-
pledge to reverse the sharp gal status known as humani- that it “remains justified by gibility criteria put in place by other resettlement agency,
cuts made by the Trump tarian parole, which is why humanitarian concerns and his predecessor that had kept agreed that Biden “should
administration, according they are not included in the is otherwise in the national out most refugees, among have done better.”
to figures obtained by The refugee tally. interest.” other steps. But critics say
Associated Press. it’s not enough and that the “What this record low num-
Still the number highlights But that brought sharp re- Biden administration has ber really shows ... is that the
A total of 11,445 refugees Biden’s challenges in revers- buke from Democratic allies moved too slowly. administration needs to re-
were allowed into the United ing the restrictive refugee who criticized him for not move the red tape and other
States during the budget year policies set by former Presi- taking the symbolic step of It remains to be seen whether obstacles that hinder the re-
that ended on Thursday, ac- dent Donald Trump’s admin- authorizing more refugees refugee admissions will reach settlement program from ef-
cording to a person with ac- istration, which targeted the this year. The White House anywhere near the 125,000 fectively responding to emer-
cess to the information who program as part of a broader quickly reversed course and cap that Biden has set for the gencies like Afghanistan,” he
spoke on condition of ano- campaign to slash both legal raised the cap, though Biden current budget year, which said.
nymity because they were and illegal immigration to the said at the time that he did started Friday.
not authorized to release the United States. not expect the U.S. would Biden, who co-sponsored
figure. meet the new 62,500 ceiling Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, legislation creating the refu-
The U.S. president deter- with only four months left in president of the Lutheran gee program in 1980, has said
That number does not in- mines the cap on refugee the 2021 budget year, given Immigration and Refugee reopening the door to refu-
clude the tens of thousands admissions each budget year, the ongoing restrictions put Service, one of nine U.S. gees is “how we will restore
of Afghans brought to the which runs from Oct. 1 to in place due to the coronavi- agencies working to resettle the soul of our nation.”
United States as American Sept. 30. Biden didn’t take of- rus pandemic and work the refugees, said efforts need to

Oklahoma judge blocks 2 abortion laws, allows 3 others

(AP) — An Oklahoma dam, a staff attorney for the cal professionals can detect sions to the states where they of the judge’s ruling on Mon-
judge on Monday tempo- New York-based Center for cardiac activity, which is usu- rightfully belong,” Daniels day will have reverberations
rarily blocked two new Reproductive Rights, which ally around the sixth week of said. throughout the entire South.
anti-abortion laws from challenged the five new pregnancy.
taking effect next month, Oklahoma laws. “Every day Women have been increas- “Oklahoma clinics were al-
including a measure simi- that law remains in effect, About 11 women from Texas ingly seeking out-of-state ready inundated with patients
lar to a Texas abortion ban we’re talking about really cat- received abortion services at abortions as Republican leg- from both Texas and Okla-
that effectively bans the astrophic fallout.” the Trust Women clinic in islatures and governors pass homa, and if these laws take
procedure after about six Oklahoma City in August. ever-more restrictive abor- effect, many Oklahoma abor-
weeks of pregnancy. The medication-induced That number increased to tion laws, particularly in the tion providers won’t be able
abortion restrictions in- 110 last month, said Rebecca South. At least 276,000 wom- to provide care,” Braid said in
District Judge Cindy Truong clude requirements previ- Tong, co-executive director en terminated their pregnan- a statement. “Where will all
said she would allow three ously struck down by the of Trust Women. Similar in- cies outside of their home these patients go? Politicians
other anti-abortion laws to Oklahoma Supreme Court. creases are being reported at states between 2012 and are trying to trap them, and
take effect Nov. 1, which one Those include an admitting abortion clinics in Colorado, 2017, according to a 2019 As- they are succeeding. But we
abortion rights advocate said privileges requirement that Kansas, Louisiana and New sociated Press analysis of state will not stop fighting these
would be “catastrophic” to has been struck down by the Mexico. and federal data. restrictions.”
the ability of women to ac- U.S. Supreme Court and an
cess abortion services in the ultrasound requirement that State Sen. Julie Daniels, a The trend appears to have ac-
state. Those three would is more restrictive than an Bartlesville Republican who celerated over the past year.
create new restrictions on ultrasound law the state Su- sponsored four of the five Abortion clinics in neigh-
medication-induced abor- preme Court already struck anti-abortion bills that were boring states began seeing an
tions and require all doctors down. challenged in Oklahoma, increase in calls from Texas
who perform abortions to be said the laws are designed to after Republican Gov. Greg
board-certified in obstetrics Abortion clinics in Okla- make abortions safer, though Abbott banned abortions
and gynecology. homa already are being she acknowledged her ulti- in March 2020 for nearly a
overwhelmed by patients mate goal is to save the lives month under a COVID-19
“The OB-GYN requirement from Texas, where the U.S. of fetuses. executive order.
will immediately disqualify Supreme Court allowed a
more than half of the doc- law to take effect on Sept. 1 “My goal has always been to Dr. Alan Braid, the owner of
tors providing abortions in that made it illegal to per- save the life of the unborn Tulsa Women’s Reproductive
the state,” said Rabia Muqad- form abortions once medi- child and return these deci- Clinic, said the consequences