WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli today issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s proposed refugee ceiling for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.
“The United States is the most generous country in the world when it comes to humanitarian relief efforts, and we are committed to maintaining that leadership position. In keeping with that goal, the President has proposed that we resettle 18,000 refugees from around the world, which will be in addition to the hundreds of thousands of asylum applicants we will process. This domestic support of refugees and asylum seekers is in addition to our commitment of billions of dollars to support refugees and other displaced people around the world in accordance with the President’s 2017 National Security Strategy.
“The proposed FY 2020 refugee ceiling, as outlined by the President, takes into account our existing and anticipated humanitarian workload on all fronts and fulfills our primary duty to protect and serve U.S. citizens. The professional, dedicated men and women of USCIS continue to faithfully administer our nation’s lawful immigration system and protect its integrity in order to ensure we provide humanitarian protection to the most vulnerable who meet the requirements under the law.
“Our nation continues to face a security and humanitarian crisis at our southern border where hundreds of thousands of Central Americans who are not being persecuted in their home countries are using our asylum system to gain entry into the United States. The ongoing crisis has created an unprecedented asylum workload for USCIS and creates difficulty for legitimate asylum seekers who need protection.
“USCIS is committed to assisting those truly in need, protecting the law, and serving the American people.”
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