LAT: ‘A look at the decline in refugees entering the U.S. under Trump’

Los Angeles Times:

Courts may have stymied President Trump’s efforts to restrict travel from six majority-Muslim countries and ban all refugee resettlement, but that has not stopped the number of refugees entering the United States from sharply declining.

Monthly refugee arrivals have plummeted in all but four states in the current fiscal year, according to a report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

The study, based on analysis of U.S. State Department data, shows a decline in refugee arrivals from 9,945 in October to 3,316 this April.

“This decline has been felt by 46 of the 50 states, and only four states had a higher number of refugees in April 2017 than they had in October 2016,” said Phillip Connor, a Pew research associate. “What is significant here is that we had a decline nationally for the first five months straight of the fiscal year, which is the longest consecutive decrease on record.”

…The decline in the number of refugees is also negatively affecting organizations that assist the newcomers. “A lot of NGOs have had to lay off a significant number of staff,” said Gottschalk.

At least 300 personnel working for such resettlement agencies have been laid off nationwide, according to humanitarian officials.

Zogg said World Relief had suspended its resettlements in Orange Count and Catholic Charities had closed their offices in San Bernardino.