Report: Minnesota Sees Significant Drop In Number Of Refugees Coming In

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Last year, Minnesota saw the lowest number of refugees come to the state in more than a decade.

Using data from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, The Star Tribune reports that Minnesota, which regularly takes in thousands of refugees a year, only took in 663 refugees in 2018.

To put that in perspective, in 2016 Minnesota took in just over 3,000 refugees. A decade before that, when President George W. Bush was in office, the number was over 5,000 refugees.

The reason for the recent drop in refugees coming to Minnesota stems from the Trump administration's drastic limiting of the number of refugees entering the country.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has lowered the refugee cap in the United States to 30,000 people, a significant drop from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration in response to the refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war.

This year, the Trump administration is expected to lower the refugee cap even further.