The US has committed to taking in 125,000 refugees over the next financial year, the White House says.

President Biden has recently signed the Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2025.

The document again set the refugee admissions target at 125,000 for the next year, the same number for each year of the Biden administration.

The move comes as the level irregular asylum seeker arrivals at the US’ border with Mexico is becoming a contentious issue in the run up to the November 5 US Presidential election.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the intake was in keeping the US’ traditional approach to refugees.

“Refugee resettlement exemplifies the generosity that has always been at the core of the American spirit and reflects the critical role of the United States as a global leader in providing refuge to people fleeing persecution overseas,” he said.

In 2024 financial year, the US resettled 100,000 refugees, the largest annual number in three decades.

“This is a testament to our successful work to rebuild the US Refugee Admissions Program with help from partners around the world and thousands of Americans across the country who have stepped up to sponsor refugees through the Welcome Corps,” Mr Blinken said.

“Refugee resettlement is orderly, subject to rigorous vetting, and benefits and enriches American communities. In cities and towns throughout America, refugees contribute to urban revitalization, add to the vibrancy of local communities, and drive America’s competitiveness and innovation on the global stage,” he said.

Mr Blinken said that over a 15-year period, refugees contributed almost $US124 billion to the US economy.

“Resettlement offers the unique opportunity of a better life to some of the world’s most vulnerable people, at a time of historic global levels of displacement,” he said.

“Building on the administration’s efforts to strengthen refugee resettlement and the generous support from Americans across the country, the refugee admissions target of 125,000 ensures the United States will continue to be a global leader in providing safety and opportunity for those facing persecution around the world.”

In 2020 the previous Trump administration slashed the number of refugees it allowed to resettle in the United States.

President Trump imposed a 15,000 cap on refugees, a record low in the history of the country’s modern refugee program.

But the number refugees who actually arrived during her tenure was significantly lower, with some estimates putting the figure at 11,000.

Refugee advocates and NGOs at the time called the cap ‘immoral and un-American’.

However, the Biden administration has decided not to extend a two-year program that allows migrants from certain nations into the U.S. if they came by plane with sponsorship.

The program began in 2022 with Venezuelans and was an effort to provide an alternative legal pathway for migrants who were increasingly coming to the US-Mexico border while the administration simultaneously cracked down on illegal crossings.

It later expanded to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans – the nationalities of the migrants who most frequently tried to cross the border. The program allowed them to live and work in the US for two years while they sought other legal status.

Officials said that migrants at the two-year mark must apply for another type of legal status, depart the country or face deportation.

There are multiple different pathways for many of the nationalities, including what’s called “temporary protected status” for Venezuelans and Haitians, which allows them to stay in the US because of extreme violence, unrest or devastating natural disasters in their home countries.