No Christians among 132 Syrian Refugees Who Entered U.S. Since Paris Attacks
There are no Christians among the 132 Syrian refugees who sought asylum in the United States since the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, a report says.
The U.S. State Department has welcomed 132 Syrian refugees since the Paris attacks, and all of them are Sunni Muslims. Records from the State Department Refugee Processing Center do not reflect any admission of a Christian, Alawite, or other members of religious minorities in Syria since Nov. 13, according to CNS News.
Based on the center's data, 72 of the 132 Syrian refugees are male, while the remaining 60 are female. Thirty-nine of the male refugees are ages 14 to 50 and 53 are below 14. The latter is composed of 30 boys and 23 girls, the report details.
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Since the Paris attacks erupted, the public has been concerned about terrorists infiltrating the West by posing as refugees. U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to provide settlement for 10,000 Syrian refugees for the fiscal year of 2016 has also come under the spotlight in the wake of the attacks, Breitbart reports.
Since the beginning of the fiscal year 2016, the U.S. has welcomed 423 Syrian refugees, 418 of which are Sunni Muslims and only five are Christians. This trend is consistent with the Syrian civil war in 2011. At that time, the United States admitted a total of 2,296 refugees from Syria and 2,137 of them are Sunni Muslims, 53 are Christians, and the rest are from other religions.
Based on the records, majority of the Syrian refugees granted asylum in the United States are Sunni Muslims. While Syrian Christians have been the target of persecution by jihadists groups in that country, they make up only 2.3 percent of the refugees granted asylum in the United States since the beginning of the war.
The small number of Christian refugees entering the United States may be due to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) referral. Most of the refugees that the UNHCR refers for resettlement in the United States are Muslims because the Christians are afraid to register because they are being persecuted even in UN refugee camps, the report explains.
Despite the criticism of Obama's refugee program, the United States continues its efforts to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees for the fiscal year 2016.
