US took 53,000 Hindu refugees over decade

Washington, August 19

The US has accepted more than 53,000 Hindu refugees since 2005, almost all from Bhutan, the State Department has said. Between 2005 and August this year, as many as 53,662 Hindu refugees — 53,015 from Bhutan — have been accepted into the US. Of the rest 647, Sri Lanka topped the list with 383, followed by Nepal (144), Myanmar (95), India (11), Pakistan (six), Vietnam (five), Bangladesh (two) and Cambodia (one).

The latest figures from the State Department suggest the maximum number of Hindu refugees — 11,836 — came to the country in 2009, followed by 9,190 in 2011, 8,401 in 2010, 7,380 in 2012 and 6,296 in 2008.

This year, 1,234 Hindu refugees have entered America so far, of whom 1,181 are from Bhutan and 36 from Sri Lanka, suggests the data obtained from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.

Comparatively, according to Pew Research Center, the US has received 28,957 Muslim refugees so far in fiscal year 2016, or nearly half (46 per cent) of more than 63,000 refugees who have entered the country since the fiscal year began on October 1 last year.

“That means already this year, the US has admitted the highest number of Muslim refugees of any year since data on self-reported religious affiliations first became publicly available in 2002,” the research center said.

After Muslims, Christians are the second-largest group of refugees to the US so far this fiscal year; 27,556 Christian refugees have entered the country, nearly as many as the number of Muslim refugees. A slightly lower share of this year’s refugees were Christian, 44 per cent than Muslim, the first time that has happened since fiscal 2006. — PTI