Biden moves to dramatically increase refugee admissions

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President Biden on Thursday announced that his administration will move to dramatically increase the number of admissions of refugees into the U.S. -- the latest significant shift in immigration policy in his administration.

"Today, I'm approving an executive order to begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program to help meet the unprecedented global need," he said in a speech at the State Department.

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"It’s going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged but that's precisely what we’re going to do," he said.

Biden said he will increase the number of refugees the U.S. brings in each year from 15,000 to 125,000. That number would be higher than that under President Barack Obama by 15,000.

Biden said the aim is to raise it for the first full fiscal year, beginning in October, and that he would work with Congress to make what he called a "down payment" on that sooner.

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Ahead of the speech, the Associated Press reported that Biden intends to do away with the narrower categories of eligibility that were formed under President Donald Trump and replace them with a long-standing referral system by the U.N.

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It marks the latest in a number of sweeping reforms to immigration by Biden that largely reverse the policies of his predecessor.

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He has so far stopped construction of the wall at the southern border, moved to strengthen protections for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), set up a task force to reunify migrant families separated in the U.S., and has proposed an immigration bill to give a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

His Department of Homeland Security has also moved to place a 100-day pause on deportations, but that has been blocked due to a legal challenge from Texas. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.