This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
After receiving criticism for saying he wouldn’t immediately increase the refugee cap, President Joe Biden reversed Monday and announced the refugee admissions cap would be set at 62,500 for the rest of the 2020 fiscal year. Biden had promised he would increase the Trump administration’s cap this year, which was set at 15,000, the lowest it has been since the refugee program started in 1980. But he changed that plan last month before once again reversing. Former President Donald Trump lowered the refugee cap every year he was in office. Biden has promised the cap will be set at 125,000 next year. BuzzFeed News
In other federal immigration news…
Four Migrant Families Reunited After Advocates’ Work
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the Biden administration will reunite four migrant families this week after they were separated under the Trump administration. The four families include at least one child under the age of three split from their parents, and at least two of the families were separated in late 2017 ahead of Trump’s zero tolerance policy. Al Otro Lado, an immigration advocacy organization, says the announcement shows the Biden administration is taking credit for reunification it didn’t make happen. “The only reason these mothers will be standing at the port of entry is because Al Otro Lado negotiated their travel visas with the Mexican government, paid for their airline tickets and arranged for reunification,” said Carol Anne Donohoe, managing attorney at AOL’s Family reunification project. NBC News
Schumer Pushes for Immigration Changes in Infrastructure Backup Plan
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is planning to use a fast-track budget to legalize undocumented immigrants if bipartisan immigration talks fail. Schumer privately told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he is “actively exploring” how to include a revision of immigration laws in Biden’s infrastructure plan and pass it through budget reconciliation, people briefed on the matter say. Reconciliation would allow the measures to pass the Senate with 51 votes, blocking them from a filibuster and Republican opposition. This strategy is part of Schumer’s backup plan in case meetings between 15 senators in both parties don’t yield a compromise. The New York Times
