{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-durbin-raskin-jayapal-condemn-trump-administrations-unlawful-refugee-cap/", "Padilla, Durbin, Raskin, Jayapal Condemn Trump Administration\u2019s Unlawful Refugee Cap", "2025-10-31", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.-08), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.-07), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration\u2019s decision to slash refugee admissions to 7,500 \u2014 almost entirely limited to white Afrikaners from South Africa \u2014 without the legally required consultation with Congress:\n\n\u201cThe Trump Administration just announced that it will gut the United States\u2019 refugee admissions program \u2014 slashing the annual cap to a mere 7,500 refugees, an astonishing 94% cut over last year and the lowest level in our nation\u2019s history. To add insult to injury, the Administration is skipping over the tens of thousands of refugees who have been waiting in line for years in dire circumstances to come to the United States and it is instead prioritizing a single privileged racial group \u2014 white South African Afrikaners \u2014 for these severely limited slots.\n\n\u201cThis bizarre presidential determination is not only morally indefensible, it is illegal and invalid. The Administration has brazenly ignored the statutory requirement to consult with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees before setting the annual refugee admissions ceiling. That process exists to ensure that decisions of such great consequence reflect our nation\u2019s values, our humanitarian commitments, and the rule of law, not the racial preferences or political whims of any one president.\n\n\u201cThe reason for this evasion is evident: the Administration knows it cannot defend its egregious policy before Congress or the American people. While nearly 130,000 vetted, approved refugees \u2014 men, women, and children fleeing persecution and violence \u2014 wait in limbo after being promised a chance at safety, Donald Trump is looking to turn refugee admissions into another political giveaway for his pet projects and infatuations.\n\n\u201cWe reject this announcement as both unlawful and contrary to America\u2019s longstanding commitment to offer refuge to the persecuted. To twist our refugee policy into a partisan straightjacket is to betray both our legal obligations and our moral identity as a nation.\u201d\n\nLast month, Padilla, Durbin, Raskin, and Jayapal blasted the Trump Administration\u2019s blatant violation of federal law in refusing to consult Congress on refugee admissions.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-durbin-raskin-jayapal-condemn-trump-administrations-unlawful-refugee-cap/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.428175251930952, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}