Since October 1, 2016 — the first day of Fiscal Year 2017 — 2,959 Somali refugees have been admitted into the United States.
(State Department, Refugee Processing Center)
According to Breitbart, Somali refugees first started seeking asylum in the United States in 1986, yet the rate at which they are entering the country — across the first two months of the fiscal year — has never been higher.
The FY2017 figures — taken from the State Department’s continually updating online database — mark a more than 30 percent jump from the previous, highest rate, recorded in FY2005 when 2,171 refugees entered the country across the same timeframe.
(State Department, Refugee Processing Center)
If the refugee influx continues at the current rate — more than 42 per day — the United States can expect to welcome 15,652 Somali refugees to its shores for the entire year.
Furthermore, 764 Somali refugees have entered the United States since November 28, 2016.
In other words, roughly 25 percent of all Somali refugees entering the country in FY2017 did so in the 10 days after a Somali refugee went on an Islam-inspired stabbing spree at Ohio State University. (RELATED: Everything We Know About Abdul Razak Ali Artan)
(State Department, Refugee Processing Center)
An overwhelming majority of the refugees said they were of the Muslim faith, with 2,840 self-identifying themselves as non-denominational followers and 117 as Sunni Muslims.
(State Department, Refugee Processing Center)
So far in FY2017, Somali refugees have been settled in 39 states and Washington, DC, with Arizona (161), Kentucky (198), New York (313), Ohio (192), Texas (145) and Georgia (107) being the heaviest hit.
United States intelligence agencies have maintained that terrorist groups will try to smuggle operatives into refugees seeking asylum in the West. (RELATED: CIA Director Warns ISIS Plans To Exploit Immigration System)
CIA Director James Brenna testified before Congress in June that the United States had not diminished ISIS’ “global reach,” and that the terrorist group “has a large cadre of Western fighters who could potentially serve as operatives for attacks” abroad.