MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2021) Nearly half of American voters are opposed to the plans of US President Joe Biden's administration to increase the number of refugees allowed into the country to 62,500, a new survey reveals.
According to a Morning Consult/Politico poll released on Wednesday, 47 percent say they are against raising the refugee cap, while 37 percent are in favor of it.
Just over 30 percent of Democrats said they backed the move, while 67 percent of Republicans said they were strongly against it.
A total of 15 percent of US voters say border security, terrorism and foreign policy are among their top concerns, while 37 percent say they are worried about economic issues.
The Morning Consult/Politico poll was conducted on May 7-9 among 1,994 registered US voters.
Biden announced on Monday that he would raise the refugee admissions cap from its historic lows during the Donald Trump administration (15,000) to 62,500 for fiscal year 2021, after receiving pushback from fellow Democrats for keeping the Trump-era caps in place.
US media reported citing a Biden administration official that the cap had been previously set at 15,000 because resources for refugees were running thin amid a surge of migrants arriving via the United States border with Mexico.
As part of his announcement on Monday, Biden said the US was unlikely to meet the higher goal of admitting 62,500 refugees due to the need to hire new staff to process the admission. But he said such steps would allow the administration to increase the admissions cap again next fiscal year to 125,000.
