[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 96 (Monday, June 8, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2660-S2661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EMERGENCY PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION ON REFUGEE ADMISSIONS FOR FISCAL
YEAR 2026
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the
attached letter in the Congressional Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington DC, June 8, 2026.
President Donald J. Trump,
The White House,
Washington, DC.
Dear President Trump: On May 21, 2026, you issued an
Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions
for Fiscal Year 2026, increasing the refugee admissions goal
from 7,500 to 17,500. We offer the following observations and
recommendations on your Administration's shameful efforts to
gut the refugee admissions program.
We have identified multiple legal defects with the
Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions
for Fiscal Year 2026. First, your Administration did not
conduct the appropriate consultation required by Immigration
and Nationality Act (INA) section 207(a)(2) before the
President may increase the refugee admissions goal in
response to an unforeseen refugee situation. INA section
207(e) defines an appropriate consultation as including
``discussions in person by designated Cabinet-level
representatives of the President with members of the
Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives to review the refugee situation or emergency
refugee situation.'' The purported consultation on May 21
occurred with the Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy
Secretary of Homeland Security, and no attempts were made to
ensure that members of the Committee on the Judiciary of the
Senate could attend. Prior to the consultations for Fiscal
[[Page S2661]]
Year 2026, there are no recorded instances of a consultation
occurring without at least one cabinet level official. The
consultation therefore did not meet statutory requirements
for an appropriate consultation. This follows multiple
instances in the first Trump Administration when the
Executive Branch violated the Refugee Act by failing to hold
timely and meaningful consultations with Congress.
We also observe that there is no ``unforeseen refugee
emergency'' in South Africa justifying an increase in the
refugee admissions goal. Congress created a process in the
Refugee Act of 1980 under which the President can increase
the refugee admissions allocation when a crisis resulted in
an unexpected impact on countries of first asylum or when a
U.S. response would alleviate grave humanitarian concerns or
promote national interests. The Senate Judiciary Committee
report on the Refugee Act (S. Rept. 96-256) listed the
following examples: a ``sudden exodus of people from a
country where there had been no refugee flow before,'' ``a
substantial increase in the number of refugees in an area of
the world where 'normal flow' refugees were anticipated, but
urgent new numbers developed,'' or ``any catastrophic
circumstance affecting an asylum area requiring immediate
action.''
No such unforeseen emergency was described by the
Administration's briefers during the consultation or through
supplemental materials. To justify the increase in refugee
admissions, your designees pointed to an increase in ongoing
reports of ``rhetoric'' attacking Afrikaners by the South
African government. However, in your Executive Order issued
on February 7, 2025, entitled, ``Addressing Egregious Actions
of the Republic of South Africa.'' you cite ``hateful
rhetoric and government actions'' by the South African
government against Afrikaners--if we accept these
representations as accurate, continued rhetoric was not
unforeseen. Similarly, the Report to Congress on Proposed
Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions
for Fiscal Year 2026 discusses a raid by South African
officials on a U.S. Refugee Processing Center. By all
accounts, the U.S. government had contracted officials to
work in the Center without lawful work authorization, and
enforcement action against individuals working unlawfully
could hardly be called unforeseen. During the consultation,
your designees further admitted that South Africa's official
policies regarding Afrikaners have not changed since the
previous consultation in November 2025.
By contrast, there are numerous forced displacement crises
and conflicts worldwide that would justify an emergency
increase in the ceiling, including, for example, in Sudan,
Burma, and Haiti. During the consultation, some members
raised resettlement of refugees from Iran, including
religious minority community members and political
dissidents. Escalating violence in South Sudan, including
attacks on civilians, led 100,000 people to flee into
Ethiopia in March 2026 alone. Since the November 2025
consultation, escalating violence in the Democratic Republic
of Congo between the Congolese Armed Forces and M23 rebel
group led more than 40,000 people to flee to Burundi in a
single week. Since early March 2026, more than one million
people in Lebanon, or 20 percent of the country's population,
have been internally displaced due to escalating hostilities
in the Middle East.
Your designees also stated that only Afrikaners are being
considered for an exception to the bar on refugee admission.
On January 20, 2025, you signed Executive Order 14163,
putting an indefinite pause on the U.S. Refugee Admissions
Program. This Executive Order allows the Secretaries of State
and Homeland Security to admit refugees to the United States
on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion, but only so
long as they determine that the entry of such noncitizens as
refugees is in the national interest and does not pose a
threat to the security or welfare of the United States. On
December 19, 2025, the Secretary of State designated this
authority to the Deputy Secretary, the Deputy Secretary for
Management and Resources, and the Under Secretary for Foreign
Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Freedom.
During the consultation, however, the designees noted that
only Afrikaners are currently being excepted from the
Executive Order and could not describe a process by which any
other applicant for refugee admission may be considered for
an exception. There were 42.5 million refugees worldwide at
the end of 2025, including many who present no threat to the
security or welfare of the United States, and whose admission
would be in the national interest of the United States. For
example, many refugees remain separated from their families
in the United States. Thousands of Afghan allies remain
stranded abroad after risking their lives to serve alongside
our servicemembers. There are also 123,000 fully vetted
refugees who were in the pipeline to come to the United
States on the first day of this Administration, 12,000 of
whom had their travel to the United States scheduled. During
the consultation, your designees stated these refugees will
remain stranded until the policy is changed. We urge you to
consider additional refugees for exceptions to the ban on
refugee admission under Executive Order 14163.
The U.S. refugee admissions program has been the gold
standard of vetting and served as a key diplomatic tool for
46 years. The program was created by Congress with the
express purpose to give ``statutory meaning to our national
commitment to human rights and humanitarian concerns.'' Your
decision only to admit as refugees members of a group favored
by your Administration is a betrayal of our nation's
longstanding bipartisan commitment to serve as a safe haven
for those fleeing persecution. We urge you to conduct an
appropriate consultation that complies with the law and to
admit refugees impacted by the emergencies described above.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin,
Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary.
Alex Padilla,
Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on
Border Security and Immigration.
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