THE ISSUE: âThe Biden administration initially announced it would raise the refugee cap to 62,500 for this year, news that set refugee resettlement agencies like Church World Service to work preparing to assist more families,â LNP | LancasterOnlineâs Gillian McGoldrick reported last week. But then came an unwelcome development. The White House announced earlier this month that the refugee cap would remain at 15,000 â the same historic low set by the Trump administration. That decision drew fierce protest and pushback from refugee agencies, human rights advocates and some Democrats, prompting the Biden administration to backtrack again and set a May 15 deadline for announcing a new 2021 cap.
Eliza Asendeâs home in Lancaster city, which she shares with three of her sisters and two of their children, is already crowded. But sheâd happily accommodate her other sisterâs family of five if it meant theyâd be allowed to come to the United States.Â
Asende and her family in Lancaster would even return to a refugee camp in Africa if it meant they could be together, they said Monday through an interpreter.Â
Asendeâs sister, her sisterâs husband and their three children are currently living in a refugee camp in Tanzania after fleeing the many armed conflicts in their native country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her sisterâs family was scheduled to arrive in Lancaster on March 4, which would have been the first reunion of the sisters since 2015.