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Trump Slashes Refugee Cap to 18,000, Curtailing U.S. Role as Haven

Refugees were rescued Thursday by a Greek Coast Guard ship near the island of Samos.Credit...Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Trump has decided to slash the American refugee program by almost half, greatly dimming the United States’ role in accepting persecuted refugees from most parts of the world, the State Department announced Thursday.

The administration said it would accept 18,000 refugees during the next 12 months, down from the current limit of 30,000 and a fraction of the 110,000 President Barack Obama said should be allowed into the United States in 2016, his final year in office.

Even that low figure may overstate the number of slots that could be open for unanticipated crises, since many of the openings have been allocated. The Trump administration will reserve 4,000 refugee slots for Iraqis who worked with the United States military, 1,500 for people from Central America and 5,000 for people persecuted for their religion, senior administration officials said. The additional 7,500 slots are for those who are seeking family unification and have been cleared for resettlement.

That will eliminate many opportunities for people fleeing war and persecution throughout the world to resettle in the United States, which until Mr. Trump took office was the world’s leading destination for refugees.

Administration officials said the change was merely to accommodate that huge increase in people seeking asylum, 350,000 expected in all. The total influx then could reach 368,000.

“President Trump is prioritizing the safety and security of the American people by making sure we do not admit more people than we can vet,” the administration said Thursday evening.

Religious and humanitarian groups reacted harshly. Jennifer Sime, a senior vice president at International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization, said the order broke with 40 years or precedent.

“This measure completely ignores the welcome that communities have provided to refugees, as well as the important contributions resettled refugees have made to these communities all across the country,” Ms. Sime said.

The Rev. John L. McCullough, president of Church World Service, a resettlement agency, declared, “With one final blow, the Trump administration has snuffed out Lady Liberty’s torch and ended our nation’s legacy of compassion and welcome.”

The cap is not the only change that could limit refugee entries. The number admitted into the United States will also depend on the jurisdictions that choose to accept them. President Trump signed an executive order requiring state and local governments to provide written consent to the federal government in order for them to accept refugees.

The administration will also no longer have carve-outs for specific regions of the world, with the exception of three Central American countries. Last year, the United States accepted 11,000 people from Africa, 4,000 from East Asia, 3,000 from Europe and Central Asia, 3,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 9,000 from Southeast Asia.

Mr. Trump’s decision is part of a broader effort, led by Stephen Miller, a White House adviser and architect of the president’s immigration agenda, to reduce the number of legal and illegal immigrants flowing into the country.

Mr. Miller and his allies in the administration argue that the drastic reduction of the refugee program is required because of the increase in the number of asylum seekers trying to enter the United States at the Mexican border.

There is a backlog of almost one million cases in the immigration courts in the United States, many of which are asylum seekers. On a conference call with reporters, senior administration officials argued that the administration’s resources are better spent processing those cases than bringing more refugees into the United States.

“The current burdens on the U.S. immigration system must be alleviated before it is again possible to resettle large number of refugees,” the State Department said in a news release. “Prioritizing the humanitarian protection cases of those already in our country is simply a matter of fairness and common sense.”

But critics of the administration say that the asylum situation at the southwestern border should not be an excuse for abandoning potential refugees from hot spots around the world.

They point out that the backlog in the immigration courts is largely the result of cases where the asylum seekers’ requests need to be evaluated. Most refugees who arrive in the United States have already been screened and vetted before they arrive.

The critics note that the United States was able to process close to 30,000 refugees in the current year even as the number of asylum cases rose in the spring.

Administration officials said they had to take tough steps to limit refugees because they were dealing with an ongoing crisis at the southern border. But that crisis appears to be abating. Apprehensions at the border have declined since more than 144,200 migrants were taken into custody in May, the highest monthly total in 13 years. Border authorities arrested more than 64,000 migrants at the southwestern border.

Most of those migrants crossing the border are fleeing gang violence and persecution in Central America, raising questions over whether the 1,500 refugees allotted for the region will be nearly sufficient.

The acting secretary of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, has also signed separate deals with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that would require most migrants to apply for asylum in that country in an effort to keep the migrants from journeying to the United States.

But those countries are still plagued by violence and corruption, and advocates have said they are not equipped to shield those seeking protections.

Advocates and immigration lawyers also say the administration is abandoning a moral duty by the United States to be a world leader in the effort to help people in dire situations. They argue that other countries take their cue from the actions of American presidents.

“The shockingly low refugee admissions goal and the executive order will all but ensure that people in need of safety will be left in dangerous conditions and separated from their families,” said Betsy Fisher, the director of strategy for the International Refugee Assistance Project. “These policies will prevent refugees from being resettled, even though communities across the nation stand ready to welcome them.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Cuts Refugee Program Again, Placing Cap at 18,000 People. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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