AP Memo: Trump Administration Set to Reevaluate Biden-Era Refugee Admissions
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to conduct a comprehensive review of all refugees admitted to the United States during the Biden administration, according to a memo obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The move signals a significant shift in U.S. refugee policy and has drawn sharp criticism from immigrant advocates.
The memo, signed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow and dated Friday, asserts that refugee screening during the Biden administration prioritized “expediency” and “quantity” over thorough vetting. It calls for a full review and re-interview of all refugees admitted between January 20, 2021, and February 20, 2025—a group numbering nearly 200,000 people.
Edlow wrote that USCIS will compile a list of individuals to be re-interviewed within three months. The agency also immediately suspended green card approvals for refugees who arrived during the specified period.
“USCIS is ready to uphold the law and ensure the refugee program is not abused,” Edlow stated in the memo.
Refugee advocates strongly condemned the move, arguing that refugees already undergo extensive background checks and security screenings before being admitted to the United States. Many refugees wait years in difficult conditions before their applications are approved.
“This plan is shockingly ill-conceived,” said Naomi Steinberg, vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy at HIAS, a refugee resettlement agency. “This is a new low in the administration’s consistently cold-hearted treatment of people who are already building new lives and enriching the communities where they have made their homes.”
The review represents the latest in a series of changes to the U.S. refugee program. Earlier this year, the administration suspended refugee admissions and set an annual cap at 7,500—the lowest number since the program’s establishment in 1980. Most spots were reportedly allocated to white South Africans.
Between October 2021 and September 2024, the Biden administration admitted 185,640 refugees, with the largest groups originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Syria. Refugee admissions exceeded 100,000 in the most recent full year.
Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project, criticized the review as both cruel and wasteful. “Refugees are already the most highly vetted immigrants in the United States,” Aly said. “Besides the enormous cruelty of this undertaking, it would also be a tremendous waste of government resources to review and re-interview 200,000 people who have been living peacefully in our communities for years.”
The move is expected to face legal challenges from advocacy organizations, including IRAP, which is already involved in litigation against the administration’s suspension of refugee admissions.
As the policy unfolds, it places uncertainty over the futures of thousands of refugees who have already begun rebuilding their lives in American communities.
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