A Better Way to Absorb Refugees

Since the start of the Trump presidency, refugee admissions have fallen considerably, and recent reports suggest they will fall further still. Without the consent of Congress, President Trump can only do so much to curb immigrant admissions overall. But he does have expansive authority over refugee admissions, and he is using it to implement at least part of his restrictionist agenda.

Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the president, in consultation with Congress, is charged with setting a refugee ceiling, a hard limit on total refugee admissions, which can be adjusted in tune with changing foreign-policy priorities. During the Obama years, the refugee ceiling started at 80,000 in the 2010 fiscal year, the level set at the tail end of the George W. Bush administration. President Obama then lowered the ceiling to 76,000 in FY2012 and to 70,000 in FY2013 before raising it to 85,000 in FY2016 and, in the last year of his tenure, to 110,000 in FY2017. Having campaigned on