The Obama administration resettled 9,935 refugees in the United States in October, the first month of FY 2017, according to the Department of State’s interactive website.
At this monthly rate, the administration is on a path to resettle more than 119,000 refugees in the country during the twelve months of FY 2017, which will end on September 30, 2017.
Four thousand five hundred and fifty-five of these refugees, or 45.8 percent, were Muslim.
Should this pace continue throughout FY 2017, the number of refugees resettled in the United States will increase by 34,000 over the 85,000 who were resettled in the United States in FY 2016, the amount proposed by President Obama and authorized by Congress.
At present, the Department of State and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which together manage the refugee resettlement process, are operating under the ten week interim budget authority authorized by Congress for FY 2017 that end on December 9.
The Obama administration has proposed increasing the number of refugees resettled in the United States in FY 2017 to 110,000, but Congress has not approved that increase.
Nonetheless, the Department of State and ORR are bringing refugees in at a much higher rate than FY 2016, and even at a higher rate than the Obama administration has proposed for FY 2017.
The refugee resettlement issue has been front and center in the presidential contest between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump and running mate Mike Pence have vowed to suspend the resettlement of refugees from Syria and other countries “that have been compromised by terrorism” if elected. Trump repeated that promise at two campaign rallies in Michigan on Monday, one in Grand Rapids, and a second later in the day in Warren, which is in Macomb County, a suburb of Detroit.
Clinton, in contrast, has promised to increase the number of Syrian refugees annually by 550 percent, from the 10,000 originally proposed by the Obama administration for FY 2016 to 65,000 per year.
The Obama administration ended up resettling 12,500 Syrian refugees in FY 2016 out of the total 85,000 resettled in the United States that year.
Though Clinton has been careful to avoid further comment on the number of refugees that would be resettled under her administration, her ideological allies at Refugee Council USA, the lobbying arm for the politically powerful refugee resettlement industry, have proposed increasing the number of refugees resettled in the United States to 200,000 in FY 2017.
As Breitbart News has reported previously, many critics of the federal refugee resettlement industry believe that if Clinton is elected president she will increase the number of refugees resettled in the United States to at least the 200,000 annual level proposed by Refugee Council USA.
By more than a two to one margin, polls indicate that voters disagree with Hillary Clinton’s plans to increase the number of Syrian refugees resettled in the United States annually to 65,000 and the Refugee Council USA’s proposals to increase the total number of refugees resettled to 200,000 annually.
In the most recent Breitbart/Gravis national poll, conducted between October 25 and October 26, 63 percent of voters said they disagreed with Hillary Clinton’s position on increasing the number of refugees resettled in the United States, while 26 percent agreed with her position.
Texas, which recently informed the Obama administration that it is withdrawing from the federal refugee resettlement program in January, received more refugees in October–1,097–than any other state.
California (814), New York (554), Arizona (551), Michigan (550), Washington (498), Ohio (452), Georgia (365), Pennsylvania (335), and North Carolina (312) rounded out the top ten states for refugee resettlement in October.
One thousand two hundred and ninety-seven Syrian refugees, 1,282 of whom were Muslim (98.8 percent), were among the 9,935 refugees resettled in the United States in October.
Michigan was by far the top destination state for Syrian refugees, with 206 during October.
California (140), Texas (89), Arizona (88), Pennsylvania (70), Florida (69), Ohio (65), Maryland (63), New York (60), and Georgia (59) rounded out the top ten states for Syrian refugee resettlement in October
California and Michigan were the top two states for Syrian refugee resettlement in FY 2016 as well, when 12,500 Syrian refugees were resettled in the United States.
At the current monthly rate, more than 15,000 Syrian refugees will be resettled in the United States in FY 2017.
Grassroots opposition to Syrian refugee resettlement in Michigan has increased significantly over the past several months.
In September, L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County, Michigan county executive, said he intends to sue the federal government over the resettlement of refugees, many of whom are Syrian, in the county on the grounds it has failed to comply with the consultation clause of the Refugee Act of 1980.
In October, the trustees of Watership Township, also in Oakland County, unanimously passed a resolution stating that the township would not cooperate with the federal refugee resettlement program.
During the first ten months of calendar year 2016, CNS News reports:
The Obama administration has resettled 13,210 Syrian refugees into the United States since the beginning of 2016 – an increase of 675 percent over the same 10-month period in 2015.
Of those, 13,100 (99.1 percent) are Muslims – 12,966 Sunnis, 24 Shi’a, and 110 other Muslims – and 77 (0.5 percent) are Christians. Another 24 (0.18 percent) are Yazidis.
During the Jan.-Oct. period in 2015, 1,705 Syrian refugees were admitted, of whom 1,664 (97.5 percent) were Muslims and 29 (1.7 percent) were Christians.
Meanwhile the surge of Syrian refugee admissions initiated by the administration last February has continued into the new fiscal year, now one month-old: A total of 1,297 were resettled during October – a 593 percent increase over the 187 admitted in October 2015.
One thousand three hundred and fifty-two Somali refugees, 1,350 of whom were Muslim (99.8 percent) were among the 9,935 refugees resettled in the United States in October.
As Breitbart News reported previously, Somali refugees have experienced high rates of active tuberculosis (TB) and caused public health concerns in states in which they have resettled, particularly in Minnesota, where at least 304 refugees have been diagnosed with active TB over the past six years.
New York, with 138 Somali refugees resettled in October, and Minnesota, with 135 Somali refugees resettled in the month, were the top two destination states for Somali refugees in October.
Ohio (93), Texas (90), Arizona (79), Washington (72), Kentucky (69), Missouri (49), Pennsylvania (45), and Michigan (43) rounded out the top ten states for Somali refugee resettlement in October.
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