It may be that President Trump wants to look tough on immigration, given his big hints about supporting a DACA amnesty in a few months. So a New York Times front page story about decreased refugees may indicate a strategy to that end.

Refugees add up. Pew Research noted earlier this year that around three million refugees have been deposited in the US since Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980. And refugees are diverse, like the 16,370 Congolese admitted in fiscal 2016 along with 39,000 Muslims the same year.

An annual chart beginning with 2002 shows an upward drift:

In addition, the refugee program is not popular among registered voters. A Pew poll taken last October found 54 percent of responders said that other nations should sort out their own problems, and the US therefore did not have a responsibility to admit refugees from Syria and similar regions.

The New York Times story was reprinted in the Gulf News (located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates) without any annoying limits. So click away: