Report: Half the Refugees Admitted to U.S. Are From Mostly-Muslim Countries

Brittany M. Hughes | September 14, 2016
DONATE
Font Size

The United States admits more refugees from predominantly Muslim nations than from countries with any other primary faith, an MRCTV analysis of government refugee data shows.

According to information compiled by the State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services, the United States has admitted roughly 76 percent more refugees from predominantly Muslim countries than those from predominantly Christian countries so far in Fiscal Year 2016.

With only a month left to go before the end of FY2016, the Obama administration reports it’s admitted 72,367 refugees from countries across the globe, about 13,000 shy of its 85,000 cap.

Of those, 34,445 refugees admitted were from countries with predominantly Muslim populations. In fact, refugees from mostly-Muslim countries made up about 48 percent of the total number of refugees the United States has admitted in the last 11 months.

The largest single-country group of refugees from Muslim nations came from Syria, where President Obama has far exceeded his promise to admit 10,000 refugees by Sept. 30. According to the most recent data updated this week, the United States has admitted 11,491 refugees from the war-torn nation, of which only 54 (about .46 percent) are Christian.

Conversely, only 19,510 refugees admitted so far this fiscal year – about 27 percent of the total – came from countries with predominantly Christian populations.

The remaining 18,417 refugees came primarily from countries with various other predominant religions, such as Hinduism or tribal practices, along with several with countries with no discernible prevalent faith.

While the number of refugees admitted from mostly-Muslim countries has risen considerably over the past eight years, Muslim countries have been the single largest contributor of refugees to the United States over the past decade and a half, at least. The United States admitted 26,646 refugees from mostly-Muslim countries in the first 11 months of FY2001, representing about 38 percent of the total. America also received roughly 14,000 mostly-Muslim refugees that year from Bosnia and Herzegovnia, then evenly split between Muslims and Christians, following the Bosnian War.

Eight years later, the United States admitted 24,206 refugees from Muslim nations over the same time frame in 2008, representing about 39 percent of the total refugees admitted that year.

donate