Alan Gomez

USA TODAY

The number of refugees arriving in the United States has dropped sharply this year because of President Trump's threats to bar their entry, even though his order for a total 120-day ban has been blocked twice by federal courts, a USA TODAY analysis of government figures shows.

The U.S. accepted 2,070 refugees in March, the lowest monthly total since 2013, according to State Department data. April ended with 3,316 refugees admitted, the second-lowest total since 2013.

"The statements from this administration about refugees are shocking to me," said Kay Bellor of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which resettled 13,000 refugees in 26 states last year. "It's language I've never heard used with refugees, who have always enjoyed bipartisan support because they're the best part of what the U.S. does."

Refugees are a special class of migrants who seek asylum because war, persecution or natural disasters have forced them to flee their home countries. Worldwide, there are more refugees than at any time since World War II as a result of so many regional conflicts, according to the United Nations.

Faced with that crisis, President Barack Obama increased the number of refugees the U.S. accepts each year from 70,000 in fiscal year 2015, to 85,000 in 2016 and a proposed 110,000 in 2017. That compares to about 1 million Germany accepted in the past year. Trump, however, wants to lower that number to 50,000 because of concerns that terrorists might try to enter the U.S. posing as refugees.

Trump's executive orders in January and March suspended the refugee program to improve the vetting procedures.

A federal judge in Seattle blocked Trump's original order, which included a 90-day ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations. A federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trump's second attempt to institute the travel ban just hours before it was set to go into effect on March 15. The administration is appealing those rulings that concluded the bans are unconstitutional.

The legal wrangling resulted in the refugee program being suspended for only seven days. But Trump’s order to reduce the annual cap for admissions to 50,000 remained in effect for nearly two months until blocked by the judge reviewing the revised ban in March. The State Department said in a statement that it “adjusted the pace of refugee arrivals” simply to respond to the lowered refugee cap.

The U.S. has admitted more than 42,000 refugees in fiscal year 2017, which began Oct. 1 during the Obama administration. That means fewer than 8,000 spots would be available in the five remaining months of the fiscal year if Trump's ceiling is enforced.

Among the refugees whose admission to the U.S. are on hold is schoolteacher Ahmed Najafi, 32, who has spent two years in Turkey after fleeing Iraq because he became a Christian. His refugee status was recognized in August, and the International Catholic Migration Commission was handling his paperwork to be resettled in the U.S. But shortly after Trump announced his first travel ban, the agency "told me my case was deferred," Najafi said. "But they never gave me any reason for this delay."

"For me, the delay is particularly hard because of my conversion to Christianity," said Najafi. "My family no longer speaks to me, I'm shunned by other refugees from Baghdad ... and under sharia, (Muslim law) people think that the right thing to do is kill me."

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Syrian refugee Mohammed Mohanna has been stuck for three years in Turkey, where he said "it is very hard to live as an openly gay man."

"It looked like I was going to America, at least that's what UNCHR (the United Nations refugee agency) told me in January," said Mohanna, 36, an optometrist from Damascus. The International Organization for Migration "was working on my travel documents just days before the travel ban came in."

"The resettlement agency said they were aware of the severity of my case but told me, 'There is nothing we can do to expedite your file,'" he said. "I need somebody to help me with this problem not just say, 'sorry, we know it's difficult.'"

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Services, which advocates for lower levels of immigration, said he is encouraged to see the administration slowing down the number of refugees entering the country. Krikorian said the U.S. should help refugees living abroad rather than reward a select few with admittance to the U.S.

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“Do you feed one refugee caviar and the others get nothing, or do you feed all of them rice and beans?” he said. “Refugee resettlement is immoral. We do it only because it makes us feel good.”

No matter how the courts ultimately rule on Trump's travel ban, the president has authority to drastically lower the number of refugees admitted to the U.S.

For now his plan to reduce the number is blocked by court rulings. But Anna Greene, senior director of policy and advocacy for the International Rescue Committee, which resettled about 1,000 refugees a month last year, said there's no question Trump eventually will be able to set his own cap. That's why, she says, the State Department is slowing down its refugee applications — it knows that fewer people will get in.

"You don't build an enormous population of hundreds of thousands of (applicants) if your target is going to be in the tens of thousands," she said.

That uncertainty is wreaking havoc not just on refugees hoping to reach the U.S., but on American workers who help them get there.

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Danielle Drake is the community relations manager for US Together, an Ohio organization that resettles refugees in Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. Drake, a former real estate agent, negotiates with landlords to find homes for the refugees.

Drake said the agency helped place nearly 1,000 refugees in 2016. "Then we had no one in March," she said. "Not one person."

US Together, which relies on the nearly $1,000 it receives from the federal government for each refugee it processes, has seen its budget collapse, forcing the layoff of nearly half its 40-person staff. Drake decided to leave, as well.

Other groups also have felt the sting. In March, Bellor's Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service's local affiliates laid off about half of their resettlement staff — over 100 workers. Church World Service laid off 547 workers in March, mostly those who were processing refugee cases in Africa.

"The decision to reduce our staff was a direct result of these executive orders, which sabotage our ability to offer vital services, support and counsel to families seeking to rebuild their lives in safety," said Church World Service president and CEO John McCullough.

Contributing: Jacob Wirtschafter in Cairo

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