Washington, D.C. (November 18, 2021) – A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies examines Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 refugee resettlement admissions.
Unlike past years, the Center’s report does not include the religions of resettled refugees, because this statistical category, among others such as age, gender, education etc. is no longer available through the refugee admissions data reporting provided by the Refugee Processing Center (RPC) which is operated by the State Department.
Dr. Nayla Rush, the Center’s senior researcher and author of the report, said, “Past publicly available information regarding resettled refugees is no longer available. This could be linked to the deployment of a new IT system, but the Biden administration warns of limited accessibility even after the system is set to go this December, citing ‘data protection and refugee privacy concerns’. These concerns are questionable , as anonymous data is in no way detrimental to refugees, while access to detailed information for researchers and policymakers is essential. Statistical patterns are, indeed, necessary to design appropriate policies and provide suitable help for refugees and their hosting communities alike.”
Refugee Resettlement Roundup highlights:
• In FY 2021 (October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021), a total of 11,411 refugees (18 percent of Biden’s announced target of 62,500) were resettled in the United States.
• Specific data on resettled refugees, including religion, gender, education, etc., used to be publicly available through the “interactive reporting” tool on the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) online platform operated by the U.S Department of State. With the deployment of a new IT system, these categories are no longer available. It is unclear whether they will ever be made accessible again under a Biden administration that seems more concerned about “data protection” and “refugee
privacy” than it is about transparency.
• FY 2021 admissions were at their lowest levels since the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. They are even lower than any year under the Trump administration, including FY 2020, which saw the lowest level of refugee admissions during the Trump administration, due the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Biden blamed Trump for this shortfall. But monthly refugee admissions under Trump (except during the official suspension of the resettlement program by UN agencies due to the Covid-19 pandemic) were higher than those during Biden’s first three months. It is only when the Biden administration decided to increase the ceiling that admissions increased, which can lead one to believe that the low refugee admissions were more a matter of will than the result of a “broken” refugee program.
• Refugee admission numbers under Biden were adversely affected by the border crisis and its burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). This crisis was (and still is) diverting limited federal agency resources. Refugee officers who should be in charge of resettling refugees are focusing instead on border crossers who, for the most part, are using asylum claims as an entry ticket to the United States, while true refugees are waiting to be resettled here.
• Biden did not reverse his predecessor’s decision to stay out of the two UN Global Compacts (one on migration, the other on refugees), nor was he pressured by refugee/migrant advocates or UN leaders to do so. Trump was vehemently criticized at the time for not endorsing these UN compacts. On the other hand, Biden did reverse his predecessor’s climate policies (as he did with many of Trump’s immigration policies) almost immediately after taking office, but 10 months into his presidency, he is showing no inclination to endorse either compact.
