That’s according to an analysis of government data released Tuesday by the Washington, D.C. -based think tank Pew Research Center – which found that the US has received 28,957 Muslim refugees (46%) so far this year, compared with 27,556 Christian refugees (44%).
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The U.S. has admitted 28,957 Muslim refugees so far, or 46 percent of total admitted refugees, during the current fiscal year that ends September 30.
More than half of the Muslim refugees in 2016 are from two countries – Syria (8,511), which is embroiled in a devastating civil war, and Somalia (7,234), Pew data shows.
Christians follow closely behind at 27,556 admitted, or 44 percent of the total.
This year, around 6,552 refugees, around 10%, are of different faith.
With more than a month remaining in the fiscal year it is unclear if the current trends will hold for the full term.
Why any meaningful number of Muslims were admitted to the United States in the year following the 9/11 Muslim attacks on NY and Washington is beyond me, but perhaps some day we can ask George W. Bush about that whole “Islam means peace” thing. Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan round out the top five Muslim-majority countries.
The refugee count is around 63,000, 22,000 less than the 85,000 ceiling set by the Obama administration during the beginning of the fiscal year.
Other countries combined for just shy of 10 percent of all Muslim refugees. The administration is around 86 per cent of the way toward its goal. That brought the total number of Syrian refugees admitted into the country to nearly 8,000. Earlier this year, the USA government made a goal of opening its doors to 10,000 Syrian refugees.
Refugees, however, are processed overseas where they go through a rigorous interview process. When their applications are approved, refugees travel to the U.S.to be resettled by nonprofit groups associated with the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
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The Pew Research Center recently analyzed data from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.
