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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the United States would cap the number of refugees allowed into the country at 30,000 for fiscal year 2019, a move rights advocates described as “shameful” and “outrageous”.
The cap, announced on Monday, is a sharp drop from a limit of 45,000 the US set for this year, which was about half the number of refugees admitted to the country in 2016.
“We proposed resettling up to 30,000 refugees under the new refugee ceiling as well as processing more than 280,000 asylum seekers,” Pompeo said in an announcement at the State Department, calling the US “the most generous nation in the world when it comes to protection-based immigration.”
“This year’s proposed refugee ceiling must be considered in the context of the many other forms of protection and assistance offered by the United States,” he said.
