Trump's administration plans to slash the number of refugees

On Wednesday, the trump administration announced that it would reduce the number of refugees coming to the United States from the following year, CNN reported. The administration slashed the number of refugees to its lowest level since the 1980s after the president got the authority to set a maximum number of refugees on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, and other specific criteria.

Except for a few times, that ceiling has usually never slipped below 67,000, which was set by Ronald Reagan.

No more than 45,000 refugees

Under the new proposed plan, the US will not allow more than 45,000 refugees in 2018, which isn't even half the number proposed by the administration of former President Barack Obama.

The last time fewer than 45,000 refugees were accepted into the US was in 2006 when only 41,223 were admitted. In 2002, only 27,131 refugees were allowed to enter the US after the 9/11 attack, which was the lowest resettlement number ever.

The US will accept only 19,000 refugees from Africa, 22,000 from the Middle East, East, and South Asia, and 1,500 from the Caribbean and Latin America.

It will be the lowest intake of refugees in ten years taken by the United States under the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

Officials' statements

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), transferring the refugees from an asylum country to another one (like the US) that allows them to come and grants them permanent settlement is known as resettlement. The agency also said that less than 1% of refugees in the world are resettled according to the UNHCR. Most are living in the developing countries where they should apply for asylum.

The U.S. Department of State will consult with Congress regarding the new cap, and it will be put into effect by the end of September. The State Department has already informed the U.S.

Senate and House judiciary committees about the new cap, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Currently, Germany is the only country which has accepted the highest number of refugees and migrants. Since 2015, it has granted full refugee status to more than 1 million Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, and others.

Stephen Miller, Trump's senior adviser for policy, and some other officials tried to set the coming year's cap as low as 15,000. According to the new policy, the refugees should find shelter in their own nations instead of coming to America.