The Trump administration will reportedly set the refugee cap at 45,000 — the lowest in decades

Associated Press/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump intends to reduce the amount of refugees resettled in the United States in the next fiscal year to 45,000, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

That cap would be the lowest ceiling on refugee admissions since the 1980 creation of the Refugee Act, which gave the president the power to determine refugee admission levels.

The 45,000 figure will not be formally settled until Wednesday, after the Trump administration consults with Congress, the Journal reported.

Trump, within his first days in office, has already dramatically reduced the refugee cap to 50,000 from the 110,000 President Barack Obama sought to admit for fiscal year 2017. The New York Times had first reported last week that Trump was mulling whether to reduce the cap for fiscal year 2018 to a figure below 50,000.

Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, one of the staunchest immigration hardliners remaining in the White House, had reportedly pushed for a cap as low as 15,000, according to the Times. Homeland Security officials, meanwhile, recommended at a recent meeting that the limit be lowered to 40,000.

Axios reported on Monday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had signed off on a memo recommending that admissions be capped at 45,000.

Refugee resettlement organizations in the US expressed dismay at the news on Tuesday. They had been pushing the Trump administration to set next year's refugee cap at at least 75,000, and said a further reduction in admission levels would drain their resources and force the shuttering of many resettlement programs.

"Reports of a ceiling as low as 45,000 are deeply troubling at a time of global crisis," Hans Van de Weerd of the International Rescue Committee said in a statement to Business Insider.

"The decision to arbitrarily slash refugees admitted would represent a sad day for America, and a bad day for the world's refugees. Setting a record-low cap on refugee resettlement, the White House is showing a stunning cruelty toward those fleeing our common enemies — enemies who intend to paint the US as indifferent to refugees' suffering."

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