White House says it intends to raise cap on refugees by May 15 or sooner

By Lawrence Hurley Posted on April 19, 2021

FILE PHOTO: Migrants from Central America use the sinks at the “House of the Refugee”, which gives temporary shelter to migrants released by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) due to overcrowded facilities, in El Paso

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Monday that it had every intention of raising a cap on U.S. refugee admissions and would do so by May 15 if not sooner.

President Joe Biden signed an order on Friday limiting U.S. refugee admissions this year to the historically low 15,000 cap set under his predecessor Donald Trump.

“This was always meant to be just the beginning,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “We … have every intention to increase the cap and to make an announcement of that by May 15 at the latest.”

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Jeff Mason, Editing by Franklin Paul)