RCUSA Mid-Year Report on Refugee Arrivals – Oct. 2020 to Feb. 2021
Report
March 23, 2021
Washington, DC – Before leaving office, the previous administration set a final record-breaking low refugee admissions goal for fiscal year 2021 (FY21) of just 15,000 — a programmatic decrease of over 80%. This historic low admissions goal was paired with overly restrictive categories of which refugees could be eligible for resettlement, including refugees who faced religious persecution; Iraqis who had assisted US missions abroad (“Iraqi P-2s); refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras (the “Northern Triangle”); and all “others.”
- Religious persecution — 5,000
- Iraqi P-2s — 4,000
- Northern Triangle — 1,000
- Others — 5,000
This mid-year report explores the work that remains to be done in order to restore the US refugee resettlement program.
