Data released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security shows that the number of refugees allowed into the United States fell by half shortly after President Trump took office. The decline was in large part due to a sharp upsurge in admissions under former President Barack Obama in the final three months of his administration.
DHS reported that approximately 13,000 people were admitted as refugees during the first three months of Trump’s administration, compared with 25,000 for the previous quarter. However, the 25,000 refugees were an 86 percent increase over the same period in 2015, indicating that Obama significantly eased restrictions as his administration was winding down.
Had the admissions rated remained flat in the final three months of the Obama administration, the decline under the Trump would have been a mere 12 percent, the department said.
The majority of the refugees came from Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Myanmar and the Congo. Trump attempted to ban all refugees from Syria and Somalia through executive orders but courts have declared the orders unconstitutional.
The admission rates may decline further. In a March executive order, Trump directed the secretary of state to deliver a report “detailing the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program at the Federal, State, and local levels, along with recommendations about how to curtail those costs.”
