The Biden administration has set the refugee resettlement target at 125,000 for fiscal year 2025, a slight upswing from 2024’s 100,000.

President Joe Biden signed the Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2025 last week, setting the resettlement number at 125,000. The memorandum stated that the “admissions numbers shall be allocated among refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States” in accordance with the following regional allocations:

Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000-50,000
East Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000-20,000
Europe and Central Asia . . . . . . . 2,000-3,000
Latin America/Caribbean . . . . . . 35,000-50,000
Near East/South Asia . . . . . . . . 30,000-45,000

The memorandum also specified that the following persons may be considered refugees “for the purpose of admission to the United States within their countries of nationality or habitual residence”:

  1. Persons in Cuba;

  2. Persons in Eurasia and the Baltics;

  3. Persons in Iraq;

  4. Persons in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; and

  5. In certain circumstances, persons identified by a United States Embassy or by an authorized State Department referral partner in any location.

In a press release following the signing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that refugee resettlement “exemplifies the generosity that has always been at the core of the American spirit and reflects the critical role of the United States as a global leader in providing refuge to people fleeing persecution overseas.”

“In Fiscal Year 2024, we resettled 100,000 refugees, the largest annual number in three decades. This is a testament to our successful work to rebuild the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program with help from partners around the world and thousands of Americans across the country who have stepped up to sponsor refugees through the Welcome Corps,” added Blinken.