A State Department spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said the department had consulted the Department of Justice about its refugee quotas and had decided to adjust them.
President Trump has sought to lower the ceiling on the number of refugees annually allowed in the country to 50,000 from 110,000. Mr. Trump’s executive orders on immigration, the first of which he issued on Jan. 27, also sought to suspend all refugee admissions for at least four months. Federal judges stayed those orders, but the confusion over them has contributed to a falloff in refugees entering the United States.
While 13,255 refugees were admitted in August, that number plunged to just 2,070 in March. So far during the 2017 fiscal year, 45,732 people have been admitted, just a few thousand short of Mr. Trump’s proposed cap.
Refugee groups now predict that entries into the United States could increase so rapidly that the total number of refugees admitted by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, could exceed 70,000. That is well below the 84,994 refugees admitted in fiscal year 2016, but not by nearly as much as many advocates had feared.
Refugee advocates were delighted by the State Department’s decision.
