(CNN) The Biden administration will raise the refugee ceiling to 62,500 people this fiscal year, the White House confirmed, after receiving swift criticism last month when President Joe Biden kept the lower Trump-era cap in place. "I am revising the United States' annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year," Biden said in a lengthy statement Monday. Biden said he plans to set a goal of 125,000 refugee admissions for fiscal year 2022 as well, in line with a commitment he made in his first foreign policy address at the State Department. The administration abruptly reversed course last month, when it announced that Biden would sign an emergency determination that kept this year's refugee cap at 15,000, but not raise it as he had committed to doing. The move faced immediate blowback from refugee groups and Democratic lawmakers frustrated by the sudden shift.

Source: CNN May 03, 2021 19:59 UTC