Washington, D.C. — A report today indicates that the U.S. resettled about 25,000 refugees in the fiscal year that ended Friday.
The preliminary figure from the State Department would represent more than double the number of refugees the U.S. resettled in 2021: a record low of 11,445. But it would fall far short of the 2022 “ceiling” of 125,000 — a cap that is unchanged for fiscal year 2023.
The number of refugees resettled through the Refugee Admissions Program excludes at least 130,000 Afghans and Ukrainians who entered the U.S. under humanitarian parole or as asylum seekers at the border, with no assurance of future permanent status.
The reported increase in refugee interviews in the past year is large, from 9,100 to 44,000. At full capacity, the program handled more than 100,000 interviews per year.
“There have been steps in the right direction compared with 2021, and the final number for 2022 suggests a jump in resettlement in September,” said Danilo Zak, Assistant Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the National Immigration Forum. “We still have a long way to go. President Biden and Congress must continue rebuilding and resourcing our resettlement infrastructure.”
Earlier this year, Zak and his fellow Assistant Vice President of Policy and Advocacy Dan Kosten outlined a strategy for setting refugee resettlement levels.