Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, President Biden announced an increase in refugee admittance to 62,500 for the fiscal year. 

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Senior Advocacy Manager of United We Dream, said:

“Our movement spoke up and reminded President Biden of his promises, and he listened. After community pushback, it’s great to see President Biden move away from the historically low refugee admittance number set by the prior administration. President Biden cannot continue to allow white nationalism to be the default, and must continue listening in order to recognize how policies in place from the prior administration were set with the intention to harm Black and brown immigrants. This includes policies that he has yet to revoke, like Title 42, which has led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Black immigrants. 

This is not a zero sum game. As a nation we have the resources and responsibility to both extend a hand and treat people coming to seek refugee at our border with dignity and respect, while also fixing the injustices in our immigration system that separates loved ones, caged people, and leaves millions of undocumented people without a pathway to citizenship. We will continue to hold President Biden and his administration accountable to our community, and we encourage him to continue embracing a transformative new path forward on immigration that rejects the xenophobic notion that we must trade citizenship for immigrants already living in the US with pain and trauma for those coming to seek refuge at our borders.”