White House to drastically cut number of refugees US accepts to 18,000 next year
WASHINGTON _ Amid what the United Nations says is the largest displacement of people across the globe in modern history, the Trump administration plans to slash the number of refugees the U.S. will accept to 18,000 for 2020, the State Department announced Thursday.
Last year, President Donald Trump capped the total at 30,000 refugees, already one of the lowest levels since the beginning of the U.S. refugee program. By comparison, in President Barack Obama's last year in office, he set the cap at 110,000 refugees.
The sharp reduction in refugee acceptances is yet another step in the administration's aggressive drive to reduce even legal immigration to the United States, a pledge on which Trump campaigned in 2016 and one he has renewed in the run-up to his 2020 reelection bid.
_Los Angeles Times
