Fewer refugees resettled in the US

For the first time since the 1980 US Refugee Act, the number of refugees resettled in the US dropped to be less than all other countries combined in 2017, according to new data compiled by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and published by Pew Research Center.

While many of the top nations that resettle refugees have seen a drop-off (Canada, second to the US, saw 20,000 fewer refugees resettled in 2016 compared to 2017), the US had 64,000 fewer refugees in 2017 than it did in 2016 when the US accepted about 97,000 refugees, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees data.

The number of refugees admitted to the US in 2017, about 33,000, is on par with the years following the 9/11 terror attacks when there was a temporary decline, but the US still took in more refugees than the rest of the world.

Pew notes that the resettled refugees are different than asylum seekers and refugees who migrate without prior approval from the government, such as those attempting to cross the American southern border.

Because President Trump capped admissions at 45,000 this year, the number of refugees in the US is expected to decrease.

Additionally, there has been a large decline Muslim refugees in the 2018 fiscal year, with the amount of Muslim refugees dropping more than any other religious group.

While the fiscal year has not yet completed, the published numbers are far behind the 39,100 refugee admissions at this point in fiscal 2017, according to the data.

Some of Trump’s restrictions, including a travel ban on seven countries that was recently upheld by the Supreme Court, has been criticized for targeting refugees of majority Islamic countries.