The quotas on refugee resettlement were largely the result of budget constraints imposed by Congress in a temporary spending measure passed last fall.
WASHINGTON — The State Department this week quietly lifted the department’s restriction on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States.
The result could be a near doubling of refugees entering the country, from about 830 people a week in the first three weeks of this month to more than 1,500 people a week by next month, according to refugee advocates.
The State Department’s decision was conveyed in an email Thursday to the private agencies in countries around the world that help refugees manage the nearly two-year application process needed to enter the United States.
In her email, Jennifer Smith, a department official, wrote that the refugee groups could begin bringing people to the United States “unconstrained by the weekly quotas that were in place.”
The department’s quotas on refugee resettlement were largely the result of budget constraints imposed by Congress in a temporary spending measure passed last fall.
But when Congress passed a spending bill this month that funded the government for the rest of the fiscal year, the law did not include restrictions on refugee admissions.
Trump has sought to lower the ceiling on the number of refugees annually allowed in the country to 50,000 from 110,000.
In fiscal 2017 so far, 45,732 people have been admitted.