Gov. Phil Scott has remained steady in his hope to expand Vermont’s refugee resettlement program despite the Biden administration’s flip-flopping on whether to expand refugee admissions to the country this year.
Friday morning, the Biden administration said it planned to keep the historically low Trump-era cap of 15,000 refugee admissions during fiscal year 2021, which ends Sept. 30, The New York Times reported Friday. President Joe Biden had formerly pledged to increase the cap to 62,500 in the current fiscal year and to 125,000 in fiscal year 2022.
By late afternoon, after receiving a deluge of backlash, Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, issued a statement saying that the administration will announce a new cap by May 15.
“For the past few weeks, he has been consulting with his advisors to determine what number of refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1,” the statement says. “Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, and burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely.”
Though the cap will likely remain lower, Biden reversed a Trump-era policy on Friday that bans refugees from several regions and enables flights to begin within days.
Scott asked the State Department last month to consider tripling the number of refugees it sends to Vermont over the next several years. Jason Maulucci, the governor’s press secretary, said Friday that the governor’s request still stands.
“Even if the country as a whole will not be accepting more refugees, he is still requesting that the State Department at least triple the number we welcome to the Green Mountain State,” Maulucci said in a statement.
The governor expressed disappointment about Biden’s initial decision, before Psaki reversed course.
“The governor is disappointed that the cap on refugees accepted by the United States won’t be lifted,” Maulucci said. “As you know, on several occasions over the last four years, the governor has told federal officials that he would like to accept more refugees in Vermont. He believes we have a moral obligation to welcome those seeking a better life and to achieve the American dream.”
In his letter to State Department officials, the governor said refugees “are an integral part of our efforts to grow Vermont’s economy,” and hopes to welcome more people by reversing demographic trends that have led to population decline.
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who supported the governor’s plan, joining a number of Democratic officials who decried Biden’s initial decision to keep the cap at a historic low.
“This is a serious blow for our communities in Vermont that are eager to welcome refugees as new neighbors, coworkers and friends,” Welch said in a statement, before Psaki issued the reversal. “I urge the president to reconsider his commitment for this year and to fulfill his pledge to admit 125,000 refugees in FY2022, which will allow Vermont to reach its resettlement goals.”
Pablo Bose, a University of Vermont professor who studies resettlement in the state and country, said failing to raise the cap would be disastrous to those who have fled persecution and war.
“I’m appalled,” he said. “These are people who are deserving. They are people who are the families, the children, the spouses, the grandparents of, in many cases, people who have already been in the U.S. and have been waiting patiently to go the right way through the system. This is devastating to them.”
Federal funding supplied to local refugee programs is typically based on the number of refugees a community accepts, so the decision may continue to degrade resettlement programs across the country, he said.
“If you continue to tie funding to refugee numbers, well, I just don’t know how those agencies survive right now,” he said.
Resettlement agencies provide crucial support that enables refugees to connect with a variety of helpful services once they arrive.
Amila Merdzanovic, director of Vermont’s resettlement program, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, wasn’t available for comment Friday but recently told VTDigger that the program faced major cuts in the past several years and receives most of its money from the federal government.
“Our funding was impacted quite drastically,” she said. “But the most devastating piece is all the people, refugees, that did not arrive.”
In fiscal year 2016, under the Obama administration, Vermont accepted 386 refugees, it’s second-highest number ever, and the Vermont committee had 19 full-time staff members. Last year, the state welcomed only 23 refugees, and the year before that, 115. The committee now has 12 full-time staff members.
If Vermont were to receive more refugees under Biden’s new cap, the Committee for Refugees and Immigrant funding would likely increase, enabling the organization to reinstate key support programs.
In its decision, the Biden administration pointed to a system stretched thin by a backlog of pending asylum cases, along with a surge in unaccompanied minors crossing the United States’ southern border, the Times reported.
Bose acknowledged those challenges but said the country should be able to handle both programs under separate systems.
“This country should be able to do more than one thing at a time,” Bose said. “Structurally, part of the problem is that they’ve been pulling people from other parts of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to focus on asylum cases, and so it’s straining the system.”
Bose, who has written books about a variety of communities across the country that have become home to refugees, said he’s skeptical about whether the State Department will be able to send more refugees to Vermont — the state is competing with other locations that are likely looking to continue their own programs.
“Even if Vermont is willing, if we are down to 15,000 people this year … I don’t know how we’re able to get more refugees,” he said.
If the cap remains low, the impact to communities that are expecting an influx of new residents will be harsh, he said.
“These are also people who were going to come and contribute to their new homes,” Bose said. “And this is a real blow for them as well. So yeah, it is absolutely devastating.”
