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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Wednesday penned a letter to President Joe Biden in advance of next week’s United Nations General Assembly calling for a robust Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions to lead efforts to address the growing global displacement crisis.
In addition to underscoring escalating levels of displacement worldwide and the necessity of balancing new and protracted resettlement needs, the Chairman urged the Administration to continue to strengthen the global refugee protection regime and reaffirm our country’s long tradition of providing safe haven to those in need.
“The United States has a long, bipartisan legacy in providing refugees protection through resettlement. During this time of great global need, the United States must lead,” Chairman Menendez wrote.
Chairman Menendez also urged the Administration to redouble its efforts to rebuild the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which has admitted only 15 percent of the FY22 admissions goal of 125,000.
“An ambitious marker to set an admissions goal must be paired with implementing the key policy and programmatic reforms to turn this vision into a reality and resettle as many refugees as possible next fiscal year,” Chairman Menendez said. “The Administration should expedite family reunifications, expand overseas refugee adjudication capacity, improve refugee vetting efficiencies, strengthen domestic resettlement capacity, and ensure due process and transparency. … Mounting global need demands bold leadership by the U.S. government in refugee protection and resettlement.”
