US needs to maintain refugee resettlement program, Baker Institute expert says

The United States needs to both maintain its refugee resettlement program and continue to provide international aid that supports countries hosting the vast majority of refugees, according to a new report from Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Historically, the U.S.'s role as a resettlement country has been crucial, said Kelsey Norman , fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute and author of the issue brief, "The End of the Largest Resettlement Program in the World?” At its peak from 1990 to 1995, 116,000 refugees arrived in the U.S. each year on average. This number plummeted in 2002 following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but from 2008 to 2017 an average of 67,000 refugees arrived in the U.S. each year, reaching a high of nearly 85,000 in 2016. Following President Donald Trump's inauguration, the number of refugees resettled in fiscal year 2017 fell to 53,000, followed by just 22,500 in 2018. For the first time ever, Canada surpassed the U.S. as the world's primary resettlement country. For fiscal year 2020, which began Oct.