How does the refugee process work, and why has the U.S. struggled to increase admissions?

Since 1975, the U.S. has welcomed nearly 3.5 million refugees displaced by war and violence across the globe. But recently, the U.S. refugee program has failed to respond to displacement crises, and U.S. admissions of refugees have reached historic lows.

The U.S. did not use its refugee system to resettle more than 70,000 Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan last year after the Taliban seized their country, and the program will not be the main mechanism through which the U.S. will welcome some of the millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Due to Trump-era restrictions and the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. refugee admissions reached back-to-back record lows in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. President Biden set a goal of receiving up to 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2022, but fewer than 9,000 refugees were resettled during the first six months.