Trump Administration to Reduce Refugee Admittance Cap to Record Low

The Trump administration is proposing a reduction to the refugee admittance cap for the 2019 fiscal year.

In 2018, the U.S. had its lowest ever refugee admittance cap at 45,000 people, but for the 2019 fiscal year, the Trump administration is proposing a cut by 15,000, allowing for 30,000 refugees to potentially be admitted. According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, this would be the lowest ever cap in the refugee admissions program’s 43-year history.

Reportedly, Pompeo maintains that the U.S. is still the most generous nation to refugees, regardless of the admittance cap. 

Nonetheless, the proposal was met with opposition, some refugee resettlement agencies and human rights groups, calling it “appalling,” “an affront to American communities,” and “a shameful abdication of our humanity in the face of the worst refugee crisis in history.”

According to the United Nations, there are more than 68 million displaced people, including more than 25 million refugees worldwide. 

As of last Friday, the U.S. has admitted 20,825 refugees which is the second lowest number of refugees admitted since the program’s beginning, second only to 1977, ABC News reports.

In the 2017 fiscal year, 53,716 refugees were admitted into the U.S. The 2017 fiscal year was split between the Obama and Trump administrations.

Obama had set an initial cap of 110,000 refugees, which was…