IMMIGRATION/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Over many years, the U.S. has resettled more refugees than any other nation, but the U.S. commitment has not kept pace as the number of refugees in need of resettlement has rapidly risen, a new report from the Pew Research Center finds.
Since 1980, the U.S. has resettled about 3 million people displaced from their home countries due to conflict, violence or persecution, according to the Pew report.
Until recently, the number accepted here has gone up at times of greater need. Today, though, there are a record 17.2 million displaced people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. About one million are identified as eligible for resettlement each year, but far fewer are actually placed.
In 2016, the U.S. accepted about 97,000 refugees, but that did not keep pace with demand, according to a Pew analysis of UNHCR data. President Donald Trump has cut the annual ceiling to 45,000 for 2018, a historic low.
‘Annual admissions from 2014 onward would have had to exceed well over 100,000 refugees to emulate past American responses to refugee surges, such as in the 1990s,’ the Pew report said.”
-Laura Meckler, “U.S. Refugee Admissions Don’t Meet Global Needs, Report Finds,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 12, 2017 10:51am