On March 4, 1980, nearly three decades later, Congress completed the final action on ‘’The Refugee Act of 1980. It was the first major reform of the refugee provisions of the U.S immigration law. This act was created to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for admission into the U.S and to provide effective resettlement and absorption of these refugees.
The major objectives of the refugee act were to form a new definition of refugee that was more or less like the one created at the Protocol on the Status of the Refugees. It was to raise the cut from 17,400 to 50,000 refugees admitted each fiscal year.
It was also required to provide emergency support procedures for when that number exceeded the 50,000 mark. The Act created an Office of refugee Resettlement. This office was responsible for administering and funding federal programs for domestic refugees.
