Biden is expected to announce increase in amount of refugees admitted into US

The Biden administration plans to announce on Thursday that it will increase the number of refugees who can come to the United States, a move toward building up refugee admissions after years of historic low arrivals under former President Donald Trump, according to two sources familiar with the plans.

Posted 12:16 a.m. Feb 4, 2021 — Updated 12:16 a.m. Feb 4, 2021

Priscilla Alvarez

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Kevin Liptak, CNN

CNN — The Biden administration plans to announce on Thursday that it will increase the number of refugees who can come to the United States, a move toward building up refugee admissions after years of historic low arrivals under former President Donald Trump, according to two sources familiar with the plans.

President Joe Biden, who pledged to raise the cap during the campaign, is expected to announce his intention to increase the number of refugees allowed into the US during a visit to the State Department, according to one source. The Trump administration set a refugee cap of 15,000 for this fiscal year, the lowest since 1980. It's unclear by how much the Biden administration will increase that cap.

The refugee cap must be approved by the president. Biden has pledged to set an annual admissions cap of 125,000, though the plan is to wait until October, when the next fiscal year begins, to set that cap, according to one of the sources.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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