{"slug":"refugee-admissions-cuts-and-state-veto-eo-13888","title":"First-Term Refugee Cuts and Executive Order 13888: Record-Low Ceilings and a State and Local Veto Courts Held Likely Unlawful","date":"2017-09-29","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"Between 2017 and 2020, President Trump cut the annual refugee admissions ceiling in four steps: 45,000 for FY2018, 30,000 for FY2019, 18,000 for FY2020 and 15,000 for FY2021, each a record low at the time. Pew Research Center reported that the US admitted about 22,500 refugees in FY2018, against nearly 85,000 in FY2016. On September 26, 2019, Executive Order 13888 went further, barring resettlement in any state or locality that did not give written consent. A federal district court enjoined the order in January 2020, and on January 8, 2021, the Fourth Circuit affirmed. It held that the resettlement agencies were likely to succeed in showing that the order violated 'the carefully crafted scheme for resettling refugees that Congress established in the Refugee Act.'","summary":"The first Trump administration cut refugee admissions to the lowest ceilings since the 1980 Refugee Act, and by executive order let states and localities veto refugee resettlement. Two federal courts held the veto likely unlawful under the Refugee Act and blocked it. The ceilings themselves were a lawful use of presidential discretion.","category":"deportation","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-10-23/pdf/2017-23140.pdf","title":"Presidential Determination No. 2017-13: Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2018 (82 Fed. Reg. 49083)","publisher":"Federal Register / U.S. Government Publishing Office"},{"url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-10-01/pdf/2019-21505.pdf","title":"Executive Order 13888: Enhancing State and Local Involvement in Refugee Resettlement (84 Fed. Reg. 52355)","publisher":"Federal Register / U.S. Government Publishing Office"},{"url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-11-06/pdf/2020-24912.pdf","title":"Presidential Determination No. 2021-02: Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021","publisher":"Federal Register / U.S. Government Publishing Office"},{"url":"https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/201160.P.pdf","title":"HIAS, Inc. v. Trump, No. 20-1160 (4th Cir. Jan. 8, 2021)","publisher":"U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit"},{"url":"https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/10/07/key-facts-about-refugees-to-the-u-s/","title":"Key facts about refugees to the U.S.","publisher":"Pew Research Center"},{"url":"https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/796912789/federal-judge-temporarily-blocks-trumps-refugee-order","title":"Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump's Refugee Order","publisher":"NPR"},{"url":"https://www.npr.org/2017/09/27/554057375/trump-administration-plans-to-cap-the-number-of-accepted-refugees-to-45-000","title":"Trump Administration Plans To Cap The Number Of Accepted Refugees To 45,000","publisher":"NPR"},{"url":"https://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-slashes-us-refugee-admissions-to-record-low/a-55114405","title":"Trump cuts US refugee admissions to record low","publisher":"DW"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["refugees","refugee admissions","Refugee Act","Executive Order 13888","resettlement","HIAS v. Trump","first term"],"relatedEntries":["refugee-resettlement-suspension","white-afrikaner-refugee-discrimination"],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-09-29","title":"FY2018 ceiling set at 45,000","summary":"Presidential Determination 2017-13 sets the FY2018 refugee ceiling at 45,000. NPR calls it 'the lowest number in years'."},{"date":"2019-09-26","title":"Executive Order 13888 signed","summary":"The order requires written consent from both the state and the locality before refugees may be resettled there. It is published in the Federal Register on October 1, 2019."},{"date":"2020-01-15","title":"District court enjoins the consent requirement","summary":"U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte grants a preliminary injunction, writing that the administration offered no rationale for 'doing away entirely with a process that has worked so successfully for so long' (NPR). The week before, Texas had become the first state to say it would refuse refugees."},{"date":"2020-10-27","title":"FY2021 ceiling set at 15,000","summary":"Presidential Determination 2021-02 sets the FY2021 ceiling at 15,000, a record low (DW)."},{"date":"2021-01-08","title":"Fourth Circuit affirms","summary":"In HIAS, Inc. v. Trump, the Fourth Circuit affirms the preliminary injunction, holding the plaintiffs likely to succeed in showing that the order and the State Department's implementing notice violate the Refugee Act."}],"location":{"name":"United States (refugee resettlement programme)","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees","provision":"The United States is a party. The Protocol governs the treatment of refugees and non-refoulement; it creates no individual right to be resettled from abroad, so resettlement ceilings are not in themselves a treaty violation."},{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 26","provision":"Equal protection of the law without discrimination"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Refugees abroad who were not admitted because of the reduced ceilings (the shortfall against prior years runs to tens of thousands a year, per Pew), and refugees who would have been barred from resettling near family in non-consenting states and localities had EO 13888 not been enjoined","perpetrators":"President Donald Trump (presidential determinations and Executive Order 13888); Department of State (implementing notice)","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Signed the annual refugee determinations and Executive Order 13888","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Department of State","role":"Issued the funding notice implementing the consent requirement","institution":"Executive branch"}],"keyPoints":["Presidential Determination 2017-13 (September 29, 2017) set the FY2018 ceiling at 45,000. Presidential Determination 2021-02 (October 27, 2020) set the FY2021 ceiling at 15,000, which DW reported as a record low. The State Department cited the COVID-19 pandemic.","Pew Research Center reported that the US admitted about 22,500 refugees in FY2018 against a 45,000 ceiling, reached the 30,000 cap in FY2019, and admitted 'nearly 85,000 refugees in fiscal 2016 alone.' Pew said the 18,000 ceiling for FY2020 would be the lowest since Congress created the programme in 1980.","Executive Order 13888 (September 26, 2019) required a process to determine whether 'the State and locality both consent, in writing' before refugees could be resettled there.","NPR reported that Texas became the first state to say it would reject refugees, shortly before Judge Peter Messitte enjoined the order in January 2020.","The Fourth Circuit (Judges Keenan, King and Harris) affirmed on January 8, 2021. It relied in part on Congress's 1986 statement that consultation with states is 'not intended to give States and localities any veto power over refugee placement decisions.'"],"legalBasis":"Refugee Act of 1980, 8 U.S.C. § 1522 (as construed in HIAS, Inc. v. Trump, No. 20-1160, 4th Cir. Jan. 8, 2021); INA § 207, 8 U.S.C. § 1157 (presidential refugee determinations)","postureNote":"The state and local consent requirement was preliminarily enjoined in January 2020, and the Fourth Circuit affirmed in January 2021. No court decision holding the ceilings unlawful was found in this review; they fall within the President's statutory discretion under INA § 207. The second-term suspension of the refugee programme is recorded separately.","relatedIncidents":["refugee-resettlement-suspension","white-afrikaner-refugee-discrimination"]}}