Thursday September 20, 2018
The number of Christian refugees admitted into the United States has risen substantially under President Donald Trump while the number of Muslim refugees resettled in the U.S. has plummeted, a report said.
The Trump administration approved allowing in more Christian refugees while cutting the number of Muslim refugees resettled in the U.S.
The Christian share of refugees resettled in the U.S. rose from under 50 percent in 2016 to 71 percent in 2018, according to Axios.
The Muslim share dropped from 50 percent to 15 percent.
The Trump administration this year has admitted 2,341 Muslim refugees to the United States. In 2016, the Obama administration admitted 30,201 Muslim refugees for settlement.
Total refugee inflow dropped from 85,994 in 2016 to a little over 21,058 in fiscal year 2018, ending Sept. 30, the Axios report said.
Refugee resettlement from countries with known Islamic terrorist problems has substantially decreased under the Trump administration, according to Reuters. About 250 Somali refugees have been resettled in the U.S. this year. At this same time during 2016, under Obama, about 8,300 Somali refugees had been allowed to resettle in the U.S.
For fiscal year 2019, starting Oct. 1, the Trump administration will resettle 30,000 foreign refugees, the lowest refugee cap in nearly four decades, Breitbart News reported.
Officials say refugee settlement in the United States is very expensive. “We can house, feed, and provide medical care for hundreds of thousands more refugees closer to their homes and do so more rapidly than we could possibly do here in the United States,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sept. 17. “The ultimate goal is the best possible care and safety of these people in need, and our approach is designed to achieve this noble objective.”
Since 2000, more than 1.5 million foreign refugees have been resettled across the U.S.