Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 Facts about refugees in America
5 Facts about refugees in America
Jan 5, 2026 8:49 AM

Today is World Refugee Day, an annual observance created by the United Nations to memorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees.” Here are five facts you should know about refugees and refugee policy in the United States.

1. The U.S. government defines “refugee” as any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

2. Thefirst refugee legislation in the United Stateswas theDisplaced Persons Act of 1948, which brought 400,000 Eastern Europeans to the U.S. Other refugee-related legislation included theRefugee Relief Act of 1953(which brought in 214,000 refugees munism) and theFair Share Refugee Act of 1960(which mostly brought those still living in displaced persons camps after World War II). The U.S. government also used the Attorney General’shumanitarian parole authorityto bring refugees into the country, beginning in 1956 with Hungarian nationals and ending with hundreds of thousands of Indochinese refugees in the 1970s.

3. The number of refugees admitted into the U.S. each year is decided by the President. Before the beginning of each fiscal year, the President, in consultationwith Congress, establishes anoverall refugee admissions ceilingas well as regional allocations. So far in So far during the 2017 fiscal year, 45,732 people have been admitted. The total number of refugees authorized for admission in 2015—the last year for which official statistics are available—was 69,920. The largest regional allocation was from Burma (18,386), Iraq (12,676), Somalia (8,858), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (7,876).

4. Since 1975, the U.S. has resettled more than3 million refugees, with nearly 77 percentbeing either Indochinese or citizens of the former Soviet Union. Since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980, annual admissions figures have ranged from a high of 207,116 in 1980, to a low of 27,100 in 2002. In 2013, theleading countries of nationalityfor refugee admissions were Iraq (28 percent), Burma (23 percent), Bhutan (13 percent), and Somalia (11 percent). Seventy-five percent of refugee admissions in 2013 were from these four countries. Other leading countries included Cuba (6.0 percent), Iran (3.7 percent), Democratic Republic of Congo (3.7 percent), and Sudan (3.1 percent).

5. TheOffice of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)is the federal government agency charged withproviding benefits and servicesto assist the resettlement and localintegration of refugee populations. Some of the ORR programs include Refugee CashAssistance and Refugee Medical Assistance (for up to 8 months); Refugee Social Services, such as job and language training (for up to 5 years); and temporary custody and care to panied refugee children. But according to a recent paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, by the time refugees who entered the U.S. as adults have been here for 20 years, they will have paid, on average, $21,000 more in taxes to all levels of government than they received in benefits over that time span.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
‘A Church That Walks Serene’
“Let us not forget: we are a pilgrim church, subject to misunderstanding, to persecution, but a church that walks serene, because it bears the force of love.” ― Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love It is no secret to Christians that being one is not easy. However, the public practice of Christianity is ing more and more difficult world-wide. The recent kidnapping of two Orthodox bishops in Syria is but one story of the on-going violence towards Christians in...
Augustine on ‘Spiteful Benevolence’
“Help me help you.” Yesterday in conjunction with this week’s Acton Commentary I looked at Tim Riggins’ gift of freedom to his brother and the corresponding sense of responsibility that resulted. When Tim takes the rap for Billy, Billy has a responsibility to make something of his life. As Tim puts it, that’s the “deal.” When Tim feels that Billy hasn’t lived up to his end, it causes conflict. Tim’s gift has created an obligation for the recipient. This reality...
Fatherhood as Vocation in Richard Scarry’s ‘The Bunny Book’
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question we are routinelyaskedas youngsters, with the more cliché responses ranging from “fireman” to “astronaut” to “explorer.” Yet,as I’ve argued previously,we needn’t limit such contemplations to work outside of the home. As Karen Swallow Prior recently noted, using terminology from aKnot Yetstudy, family needn’t be viewed as a “capstone”to personal achievement,but should instead be seen as a “cornerstone” —an anchor and foundation from which those who are called...
Verizon Shareholders Reject Net Neutrality Resolution
Last week, Verizon Communications Inc. shareholders rejected a wireless network neutrality proxy resolution from two prominent Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility members, Nathan Cummings Foundation and Trillium Asset Management Corporation. As this writer noted in a March 28, 2013, blog post concerning a similar proxy resolution submitted to AT&T Inc., advocacy of network neutrality is far removed from the ICCR’s goals of furthering social justice because it kills jobs, deters technical innovations and drives up consumer bills. The NCF and...
The Injustice of US Educational Attainment
mencement ceremonies once again are being celebrated around the country, I was reminded again of the moral crisis of US education. Elise Hilton recently surveyed the dismal employment rate among young adults in the US, writing that we have moved in twelve years from having the best rate in the developed world to being among the worst, following the path of Greece, Spain, and Portugal. She highlights two possible solutions. The better one is from Acton’s director of research Samuel...
Rev. Sirico: Fighting Poverty through the Free Market
At the beginning of the month, Rev. Robert Sirico traveled to El Salvador to speakat ENADE XIII (Encuentro Nacional de la Empresa Privada,). This event is put on every year by the National Association for Private Enterprise of El Salvador and its theme this year was “bettering business, transforming lives.” Rev. Sirico gave the closing presentation at the event and spoke about the effectiveness of businesses in the fight to end poverty. He said that neither piety nor charity can...
The Regulators Are Coming for Bitcoin
Last month, in my series on Bitcoin, I wrote that for the crypto-currency to succeed it will one day have to e trusted by more mainstream consumers, which requires adding such features as regulatory oversight and a centralized monetary authority—the very features of other currencies that Bitcoin was created to avoid. That day may ing sooner than later: Senior officials at a top US financial regulator are discussing whether Bitcoin, the controversial cyber-currency, might fall under their regulatory remit. Bitcoin...
R&L Preview: Peter Schweizer on our Cronyist Culture
After being sentenced to federal prison in 2001 for racketeering, Louisiana’s former governor Edwin Edwards, long famous for his corruption and political antics, humorously quipped, “I will be a model prisoner as I have been a model citizen.” In his 1983 campaign for governor against incumbent David Treen, Edwards bellowed, “If we don’t get Dave Treen out of office, there won’t be anything left to steal.” The kind of illegal corruption once flaunted by Edwards is on the decline. There...
Obama Administration Finally Recognizes Bible Publisher is a ‘Religious Employer’
After apparently recognizing the absurdity of arguing that a Bible publisher is not a “religious employer,” the Obama administration has dropped its appeal in the case of Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius. “For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court,” said Matt Bowman senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, who represented Tyndale in the case. Following the government’s request, the U.S. Court of Appeals...
Tim Riggins’ Gift
In this week’s Acton Commentary, I explore the dynamics between gift, gratitude, and stewardship. The proper response to a gift that has been given is gratitude, and the proper expression of es in faithful stewardship. I’ve heard it repeated in many times and in many places that for a gift to truly be a gift, there must be no responsibility of response on the part of the recipient. As I write in “Gift, Gratitude, and the Grace of Stewardship,” that...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved