2,142 Refugees Admitted into the U.S. in May

A total of 2,142 refugees were admitted into the U.S. in May, bringing the total number admitted during the first eight months of FY 2018 to 14,331.

At this rate, less than 22,000 refugees will be admitted before the fiscal year ends on September 30, which will be the lowest annual level of admissions since the program was established more than 30 years ago by the Refugee Act of 1980. and is slightly less than half of the 45,000 refugee “cap”, or ceiling, announced for FY 2018 by President Trump in September.

The decline in the number of refugees admitted to the U.S., and the significant change in the top countries of origin of those refugees, represents a fulfillment of one of President Trump’s major campaign promises.

“In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, refugee admissions plunged to 2,840 during the first four months of FY 2002 (October 1, 2001 to January 31, 2002), and 5,340 the first four months of FY 2003 (October 1, 2002 to January 31, 2003) during the administration of George W. Bush. … Overall, refugee admissions for FY 2002 were 27,110. They increased slightly to 28,881 in FY 2003, then jumped up to 52,818 in FY 2004, peaking at 84,995 in FY 2016, the last full year of the Obama administration,” Breitbart News reported in February.

“The number and composition of refugees who have been admitted to the United States under the Trump administration differs dramatically from the Obama administration,” Breitbart News reported last month:

In FY 2016, for instance, the last full year of the Obama administration, a total of 84,995 refugees were admitted to the United States.

As for countries of origin, 36,696 refugees in FY 2016 were from the seven countries President Trump designated as “hotbeds of terrorism” in Executive Order 13769, as Breitbart News reported:

During FY 2016, the last full year of the Obama administration, the number of arrivals from those seven countries was much higher. A total of 36,696 refugees arrived that year from those seven countries: Somalia (9,020), Iraq (9,880), Sudan (1,458), Syria (12,587), Iran (3,750), Yemen (0), and Libya (1).

Forty-six percent of those arrivals in FY 2016 were Muslim, while 44 percent were Christian.

During the first eight months of FY 2018, only 498 refugees have been admitted from the seven countries designated as “hotbeds of terrorism”: Somalia (250), Iraq (113), Sudan (56), Syria (46), Iran (32), Yemen (0), and Libya (1).

Fifteen percent of the refugees admitted so far in FY 2018, or 2,184 out of 14,331, are Muslim, while 66 percent, or 9,496 out of 14,331, are Christian.

Though still significantly lower than previous years, May’s 2,142 admissions were the second highest monthly admissions in FY 2018: April (1,639), March (1,913), February (1,927), January (1,368), December (2,217), November (1,858), October (1,248).