U.S. caps refugees at 15,000 for 2021, a record low since modern resettlement program began in 1980

U.S. President Donald Trump's administrationhas announced plans to allowonly 15,000 refugees to resettle in the countryin the 2021 fiscal year that began on Thursday,setting another record low in the history of the modern refugee program.

The U.S. State Department said late on Wednesday that the ceilingreflects the Trump administration's prioritizing of the "safetyand well-being of Americans, especially in light of the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic."

Trump, seeking re-election on Nov. 3, hastaken a hard line toward legal and illegal immigration duringhis presidency, including slashing refugee admissions every yearsince taking office in January 2017.

The Trump administration has said that refugees fromwar-torn regions should be resettled closer to their home
countries and that the United States extends asylum to thousandsof people through a separate process.

Critics have said that the U.S. under Trump hasabandoned its long-standing role as a safe haven for persecutedpeople and that cutting refugee admissions undermines otherforeign policy goals.

The refugee cap was cut to 18,000 in the 2020 fiscal yearthat ended on Wednesday, butonly 11,814 refugees were resettled, according to the latest government figures, asincreased vetting and the coronavirus pandemic slowed arrivals.

Acomplete abdication of our moral duty and all thatwe stand for as a nation.-

The 2021 plan lays out specific allocations, including 5,000slots for refugees who suffered or fear persecution on the basisof religion;4,000 for refugees from Iraq who helped theU.S.;and 1,000 for refugees from El Salvador,Guatemala and Honduras. That leaves 5,000 for all others.

Even though 4,000 spotswere allocated for Iraqis affiliatedwith the U.S. during the 2020 fiscal year, only 123 hadbeen resettled as of Sept. 25, according to government figures.

A law called the Refugee Act of 1980 created the modern U.S.refugee resettlement program. The cap set for refugees in thesubsequent four decades has never been as low as the one plannedfor 2021. Before president Barack Obama left office, he set thecap for fiscal year 2017 at 110,000 refugees, but Trump slashedthat in half soon after becoming president.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has pledged toraise refugee admissions to 125,000 a year if he defeats Trump in next month's election.Advocates have said the refugee program could take years torecover after Trump-era reductions.

Tens of thousands of refugees are in the pipeline awaiting arrival to the U.S., many with applications far along in the approval and vetting process.

Krish Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigrationand Refugee Service, which helps resettle recently arrivedrefugees, wrote on Twitter that the administration's cutsrepresent "a complete abdication of our moral duty and all thatwe stand for as a nation."