Executive Order 14013: Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration
President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Directed agencies to rebuild refugee processing and resettlement, improve family reunification and produce a report on climate change and migration.
Status: Revoked.
Is Executive Order 14013 still in effect? No. EO 14148 section 2(x), EO 14154 section 4(a)(v) and EO 14163 section 5 expressly revoked EO 14013 on January 20, 2025. Those revocations ended this executive direction, not the Immigration and Nationality Act or every individual’s statutory eligibility. EO 14163’s separate admissions suspension and later litigation require their own records. EO 14148, section 2(x); EO 14154, section 4(a)(v); EO 14163, section 5.
What does Executive Order 14013 do?
EO 14013 directed agencies to rebuild refugee processing and resettlement while maintaining security review and fraud detection. It revoked EO 13815’s enhanced-vetting framework, EO 13888’s state-and-local involvement order and a 2017 screening memorandum, then required agencies to identify related actions and recommend which should continue, change or end. The operative policy reversal was not an instruction to abandon every security check. Official source.
The order also covered special immigrant visas for Iraqi and Afghan allies. State was assigned reviews of eligibility administration, delays, verification of service, Chief of Mission procedures and groups potentially needing legislative protection. For refugees generally, the agencies were to designate senior coordinators, examine staffing and vetting, improve case-file access and consider treatment of committed partnerships that could not legally be registered as marriages. Official source.
A separate climate-migration report was assigned to the national-security adviser, consulting State, Defense, Homeland Security, USAID and intelligence officials. State and HHS were to plan expanded community sponsorship and partnerships. These were reporting and capacity-building assignments, not the creation of a statutory climate-refugee immigration category or a guarantee that every person referred for resettlement would qualify. Official source.
The May 3, 2021 admissions determination explicitly connected its action to EO 14013, but used separate statutory authority to raise the annual ceiling. EO 14013 itself did not admit 62,500 people or guarantee admission to a particular applicant. The climate report documents one requested output; it is not evidence that all the SIV, fraud, sponsorship and backlog plans were delivered by their separate deadlines. Determination 2021–06; October 2021 report.
Before and after
Before the order
The refugee program operated under earlier screening and state-and-local resettlement measures, and the new administration identified processing and capacity concerns. EO 14013 replaced those specific executive directions with rebuilding instructions while retaining the statutory refugee definition and individual eligibility decisions. Official source.
After the order
The administration published its climate-migration report in October 2021, documenting one of the required policy outputs. Rebuilding instructions also required plans to address backlogs and review special-immigrant procedures. In January 2025, EO 14148 revoked this order and EO 14163 separately directed a refugee-program suspension effective January 27, subject to specified exceptions and review. Neither the original rebuilding direction nor its reversal can alone establish the outcome of a particular applicant’s case. Official source.
Who had to do what
| Agency / official | Direction | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| State and Homeland Security Secretaries | Inventory actions under the revoked directives and recommend retaining, reversing or modifying them; section 2(c). | Within 90 days of February 4, 2021; report through the national-security adviser. |
| State Secretary; Defense and Homeland Security consulted | Review Iraqi/Afghan SIV administration, eligibility, delays, National Visa Center training, coordinator tracking and reopening; assess additional at-risk populations and possible legislation; sections 3(a), 3(d). | Reviews and reports within 180 days of signing. |
| State Secretary; Defense consulted | Review Chief of Mission approval: fair access, alternative service verification, qualifying-contract evidence, supervisor citizenship, employment delays and fraud controls; sections 3(b)–(c). | Review results to the President within 180 days of signing. |
| State and Homeland Security Secretaries | Make SIV policies public; section 3(e). Publish USRAP policies with safeguards and develop case-file access options, State consulting DHS for the latter; sections 4(m)–(n). | Initial policies and access options: 180 days from signing. Later SIV revisions: within 30 days of issuance; later USRAP policies: within 30 days of adoption. |
| National-security adviser / designated NSC Senior Director | Designate the director to coordinate refugee agencies and vetting partners; transmit the specified reports. Prepare the climate-migration report with State, Defense, DHS, USAID and DNI; arrange public report or summary; sections 4(a)(i), 6. | Climate report within 180 days of signing. No separate numerical coordinator or public-release deadline. |
| State and Homeland Security senior coordinators | State oversees refugee processing; DHS coordinates vetting/adjudication review, including follow-to-join and post-decision processing; sections 4(a)(ii)–(iii). | Secretaries designate senior employees; no numerical deadline. |
| OMB Director / United States Digital Service | Assign technology, process and data experts to processing, vetting, fraud detection and decisions; collaborate on the backlog-related vetting review; sections 4(a)(iv), 5(a). | No fixed assignment deadline; review informs the plan due within 120 days. |
| State and Homeland Security Secretaries | Report existing fraud measures and a plan for enhancements; section 4(b). | Within 30 days of signing. |
| Homeland Security Secretary; State consulted | Promptly consider capacity expansion, biometric sharing and remote interviews; consider adjudication safeguards, record access, representation at no government cost, explanations and review for non-security/non-fraud denials; ensure training for vulnerable claims; sections 4(c), 4(g)–(i). | Capacity consideration: promptly. Report on section 4(g) actions within 180 days after each action, not after signing. No numerical training deadline. |
| Office of Personnel Management | Support lawful hiring authorities, including expanded direct hiring, for refugee adjudication; section 4(d). | No numerical deadline. |
| All refugee-vetting agency heads / National Vetting Governance Board | Heads submit staffing, check thresholds and objection-rate data, disaggregated by age, gender and nationality. Board considers staffing/process changes and shares recommendations with agency heads, including OMB; section 4(e). | Agency data within 30 days of signing; no separate numerical deadline for the Board meeting or recommendations. |
| Security Advisory Opinion agencies | Meet to consider proposed country-list and other referral-criteria changes; section 4(f). | Within 60 days of signing. |
| State and Homeland Security Secretaries | Consider derivative-spouse recognition for committed partners unable to marry or register; consider NGO direct-referral mechanisms, with State consulting DHS; sections 4(j), 4(l). | Partnership-action report within 180 days after action. No numerical NGO-referral deadline; consideration is not automatic recognition. |
| State and Health and Human Services Secretaries | Plan community sponsorship, cosponsorship and public-private partnerships; section 4(k). | Plan within 120 days of signing, through the national-security adviser. |
| State Secretary; Attorney General and DHS consulted; DNI consulted for submission | Develop and adhere to a backlog plan; submit it with process recommendations. DHS consults State, the Attorney General and DNI and collaborates with the Board and USDS on vetting review; section 5. | Plan within 120 days of signing; seek the statutory average-processing goal, not automatic approval of overdue cases. |
| Defense Secretary, USAID Administrator and DNI; State and DHS also consulted | Consult with the national-security adviser on the climate-migration report; section 6. Defense also consults on SIV reviews; DNI on the section 5 vetting work. | Climate/SIV reports within 180 days of signing; backlog plan within 120 days. These are consultation roles, not separate additional reports. |
These are the original assignments, not findings that every deliverable was completed. The 30-, 60-, 90-, 120- and 180-day periods have different triggers; the action-triggered reports in sections 4(h) and 4(j) are not due 180 days after signing. Full signed directions, sections 2–6.
What happened next
Biden signs EO 14013 and revokes the specified earlier refugee directives. Official source
EO 14013 was published at 86 FR 8839, five days after signing. Authenticated publication.
Presidential Determination 2021–06 separately raised the FY2021 admissions ceiling to 62,500 under INA section 207(b), following congressional consultation. This was authorized capacity, not a count of people admitted. Separate admissions determination.
The White House publishes its climate-migration report; the report specifies a month rather than an exact publication day. Official source
EO 14148 section 2(x) revoked EO 14013; EO 14154 section 4(a)(v) and EO 14163 section 5 also expressly revoked it the same day. Initial rescissions; Energy order revocation; Refugee order revocation.
EO 14163’s directed suspension of refugee admissions takes effect, subject to its exceptions and review. Official source
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
The climate report’s introduction describes EO 14013 as signed on February 9, 2021. The authenticated order instead gives February 4 as the signing date and February 9 as publication. This guide follows the signed instrument for that distinction. The report discusses protection options; it is not a statute establishing a climate-refugee visa. Signed instrument and publication heading; Report, introduction and protection discussion.
The order worked within the INA refugee program and existing Iraqi and Afghan special-immigrant statutes. The SIV review expressly distinguished administrative improvements from protection that would require legislation. It did not itself set a new annual admissions ceiling, dispense with statutory security requirements or create a climate-based visa. Agencies had to act consistently with law and appropriations, and the order disclaimed enforceable private rights. Later program restrictions and litigation require separate records rather than assumptions from the original review instructions. Official source.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
- Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration
- White House: Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration, October 2021
- Executive Order 14163, January 20, 2025
- EO 14148 — section 2(x)
- EO 14154 — section 4(a)(v)
- EO 14163 — section 5 and separate suspension
- Presidential Determination 2021–06 — May 3, 2021 admissions ceiling
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 9, 2026. How we research →
Additional evidence review: October 16, 2026. Read the original assignments and all three January 20, 2025 revocation clauses, the May 3, 2021 ceiling determination and the climate report. These records do not establish fulfillment of every original deadline or resolve every later refugee-program case.