Legal permanent resident "green cards" to Muslims have rocketed 29 percent under President Obama, a trend likely to increase due to the population explosions in the Muslim world, according to figures from the Department of Homeland Security.

An analysis of DHS data by the Immigration Reform Law Institute during the Obama administration found that 18 percent of all green cards, granting legal immigration residence, went to those from majority Muslim nations in fiscal year 2014, up from 14 percent the year Obama was elected. According to the analysis, immigrants from Muslim nations accounted for 178,403 of the 1 million green cards distributed in fiscal 2014, the last year data is available for.

If immigrants from India, where Islam is big but not dominant, are included, said the analysis, the percentage of green cards increases to 24 percent.



Muslim immigrants have been caught in the crossfire of the presidential election due to recent terror attacks around the world and the administration's bid to bring in 130,000 refugees from Muslim-controlled Syria.

Republican Donald Trump has called for tighter vetting of Muslim immigrants, while Hillary Rodham Clinton has doubled down on the president's agenda and called for more refugees, who are initially vetted by the United Nations.

The jump in immigration from nations that harbor or sponsor terrorists and terrorism was especially high, according to the Institute's analysis of DHS data.

Ian M. Smith of the Immigration Reform Law Institute said the change in immigration percentages is impacting the country.

"Why is the government forcing religious and cultural diversity on its own people? Does this administration see the historic majority of the nation as somehow deficient? I don't see why the demographic makeup of the country has to be changed so dramatically," he said.

Drawing attention to countries, including France, where there are heavily Muslim enclaves, he added, "Once these figures reach a point where Muslims in this country reach a critical mass, will we have no-go areas like we see in France? Will we see rape gangs like we see in England?"

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com