Trump is slashing the number of refugees. What does that mean?

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🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Every year the President of the United States determines how many refugees can enter this country. The law says he must consult Congress on this number.

But last week President Trump announced just 7,500 refugees would be admitted in the coming fiscal year – a 94% cut from the 125,000 cap set by President Joe Biden.

Sharif Aly leads the International Refugee Assistance Project - an organization that helps refugees and other immigrants navigate the legal process of resettlement. The International Refugee Assistance Project is also challenging Trump’s suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Aly joined Consider This host Juana Summers to discuss how this historic drop means for the US refugee resettlement system.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Moses M. was just a kid when he escaped a civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and then survived a massacre at a refugee camp in neighboring Burundi.
0:10.0	My tribe of Bunyan Malanga tribe was being persecuted at the time.
0:16.1	Moses M. spoke to NPR on the condition that we do not use his last name to protect his relatives
0:22.3	who were trying to seek protection in the U.S. as refugees.
0:26.3	In 2007, when Moses was 13, he and his family moved to Boise, Idaho.
0:31.7	One of the lucky ones that were also selected to be able to resettle in the United States.
0:36.6	He had to learn a new language and adapt to colder weather.
0:40.3	Trying to navigate a new life here was really hard at first, but it was better than
0:46.9	being in a refugee camp somewhere in Africa. Fast forward to present day, 10 years after
0:52.6	resettling, Moses is now in real estate. He's married and a father to a three-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.
0:59.2	I am an American citizen and a father of two, and I like to think that I do contribute to the community that I'm a part of here.
1:07.3	That is exactly what President Jimmy Carter envisioned when he signed the Refugee Act into law in 1980.
1:13.8	It was a pivotal moment that shaped U.S. refugee policy and granted pathways for resettlement.
1:20.2	Here's Carter that same year.
1:21.6	We are the most generous nation on earth in receiving refugees.
1:25.8	And I feel very deeply that this commitment should be maintained.
1:30.6	Ours is a country of refugees. According to the Migration Policy Institute, more than
1:37.0	three million refugees have been admitted since 1980. And the number of refugees admitted to the
1:42.6	United States has never dipped below 10,000 admissions a year,
1:46.8	even after the 9-11 attacks or during the pandemic. Until now. On President Trump's first day in office,
1:54.3	he halted the arrival of refugees coming into the United States, except for Afrikaners, South Africa's white minority.
2:01.7	Trump said the country, quote, lacks the ability to absorb a large number of refugees
	...

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