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.