The number of refugees coming into the United States has been cut by half during the first three months of President Donald Trump's presidency from the numbers who came in during former President Barack Obama's last three months, new Department of Homeland Security statistics reveal.
For the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2017, taking place during Obama's final months, more than 25,000 refugees were admitted. But in the second quarter, during Trump's first months, more than 13,000 were admitted.
When compared to the same time periods in Fiscal Year 2016, the first quarter arrivals for FY 2017 were 86 percent higher than the first quarter of FY 2016. However, the numbers for the second quarter of FY 2017, compared to the second quarter of FY 2017, 12 percent fewer were admitted.
For both fiscal years, most refugees came in from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and Myanmar, the report shows.
The records, meanwhile, showed that more aliens became naturalized U.S. citizens during the fiscal year quarter after Trump took office than for the last three months of Obama's presidency.
During Trump's first three months, 159,000 aliens became naturalized, while 106,000 were naturalized when Obama's presidency wrapped up. The numbers were lower by 32 percent and 11 percent, respectively, compared to the similar quarters in FY 2016.
Most of those naturalized came from Mexico, India, the Philippines, China, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
Trump cut the refugee ceiling when he took office, setting it at 50,000 compared to Obama's ceiling of 110,000 refugees, reports The New York Post.
Congress' budget allows 75,000 refugees, and according to the U.S. State Department, the United States is resettling 900 arrivals a week in order to meet the budget constraints.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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