[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 216 (Friday, November 6, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 71219-71221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-24912]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 216 / Friday, November 6, 2020 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 71219]]


                Presidential Determination No. 2021-02 of October 27, 
                2020

                
Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions 
                for Fiscal Year 2021

                Memorandum for the Secretary of State

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States, in 
                accordance with section 207 of the Immigration and 
                Nationality Act (the ``Act'') (8 U.S.C. 1157), after 
                appropriate consultations with the Congress, and 
                consistent with the Report on Proposed Refugee 
                Admissions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 submitted to the 
                Congress on September 30, 2020, I hereby determine and 
                authorize as follows:

                The admission of up to 15,000 refugees to the United 
                States during FY 2021 is justified by humanitarian 
                concerns or is otherwise in the national interest. This 
                refugee admissions ceiling incorporates more than 6,000 
                unused places from the FY 2020 refugee admissions 
                ceiling that might have been used if not for the COVID-
                19 pandemic.

                Refugee admissions during FY 2021 shall be allocated 
                among refugees of special humanitarian concern to the 
                United States in accordance with the following 
                allocations:

                    1. Refugees who:

 have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution on 
account of religion;

or

 are within a category of aliens established under subsections (b) 
and (c) of section 599D of Title V, Public Law 101-167, as amended (the 
Lautenberg and Specter Amendments) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000

                    2. Refugees who are within a category of aliens 
                listed in section 1243(a) of the Refugee Crisis in Iraq 
                Act of 2007, Title XII, Div. A, Public Law 110-181, as 
                amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                . . . . 4,000
                    3. Refugees who are nationals or habitual residents 
                of El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras . . . . . . . . 
                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000
                    4. Other refugees in the following groups:

 those referred to the United States Refugee Admissions Program 
(USRAP) by a United States Embassy in any location;

 those who will be admitted through a Form I-730 following-to-join 
petition or who gain access to the USRAP for family reunification through 
the P-3 process;

 those currently located in Australia, Nauru, or Papua New Guinea 
who gain access to the USRAP pursuant to an arrangement between the United 
States and Australia;

 those who are nationals or habitual residents of Hong Kong, 
Venezuela, or Cuba; and

 those in the USRAP who were in ``Ready for Departure'' status as 
of September 30, 2019. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
5,000

                    Total refugee admissions ceiling: . . . . . . . . . 
                . . . . . . . . . 15,000

                Additionally, after consultation with the Secretary of 
                Homeland Security, the Secretary of Health and Human 
                Services, and the Attorney General,

[[Page 71220]]

                and upon notification to the appropriate committees of 
                the Congress, you are further authorized to transfer 
                unused admissions from a particular allocation above to 
                one or more other allocations, if there is a need for 
                greater admissions for the allocation to which the 
                admissions will be transferred.

                Additionally, I specify that persons from certain high-
                risk areas of terrorist presence or control, including 
                Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, shall not be admitted as 
                refugees, except those refugees of special humanitarian 
                concern: (1) who have been persecuted or have a well-
                founded fear of persecution on account of religion; (2) 
                were referred to the USRAP by a United States Embassy 
                in any location; or (3) who will be admitted through a 
                Form I-730 following-to-join petition or who gain 
                access to the USRAP for family reunification through 
                the P-3 process. The threat to United States national 
                security and public safety posed by the admission of 
                refugees from high-risk areas of terrorist presence or 
                control is significant and cannot be fully mitigated at 
                this time.

                Consistent with section 101(a)(42) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 
                1101(a)(42)), and after appropriate consultation with 
                the Congress, I also specify that, for FY 2021, the 
                following persons may, if otherwise qualified, be 
                considered refugees for the purpose of admission to the 
                United States within their countries of nationality or 
                habitual residence:

                    a. persons in Cuba;
                    b. persons in Eurasia and the Baltics;
                    c. persons in Iraq;
                    d. persons in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador; 
                and
                    e. in exceptional circumstances, persons identified 
                by a United States Embassy in any location.

                Consistent with section 412(a)(2) of the Immigration 
                and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1522(a)(2)), I also 
                specify that, for FY 2021, newly admitted refugees 
                should be placed, to the maximum extent possible, in 
                States and localities that have clearly expressed their 
                willingness to receive refugees under the Department of 
                State's Reception and Placement Program. Such 
                cooperation ensures that refugees are resettled in 
                communities that are eager and equipped to support 
                their successful integration into American society and 
                the labor force.

                Consistent with section 2(b)(2) of the Migration and 
                Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (22 U.S.C. 2601(b)), I 
                hereby determine that assistance to or on behalf of 
                persons applying for admission to the United States as 
                part of the overseas refugee admissions program will 
                contribute to the foreign policy interests of the 
                United States, and I accordingly designate such persons 
                for this purpose.

[[Page 71221]]

                You are authorized and directed to publish this 
                determination in the Federal Register.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, October 27, 2020

[FR Doc. 2020-24912
Filed 11-5-20; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4710-10-P