Many Rivers to Cross: Current Developments and Challenges in US Refugee and Asylum Policy

The Moynihan Institute’s Migration Group presents John Slocum, executive director of Refugee Council USA.

Globally, the number of
forcibly displaced persons overwhelms available pathways to protection. While
the United States is the historic leader in refugee resettlement, refugee
admissions fell sharply during the Trump administration. President Biden has done
much to restore refugee resettlement, but emergency admissions of Afghans and
Ukrainians absorbed much of the resettlement system’s capacity.

The Biden
Administration recently announced plans to sharply increase refugee
admissions from Latin America, but it continues to impose restrictions on
asylum-seekers trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. And the GOP-controlled
House of Representatives is intent on further restricting access to asylum,
which is a key component of refugee protection.

These developments are being
addressed by a number of promising program and policy innovations; but the
short-term political clock is ticking, and the world faces the longer-term
challenge of climate-forced displacement.