Refugee Fact Sheet
FACT: Refugees coming into the United States are NOT security risks
Refugees come to the US legally after having proven they have a well-founded fear of persecution. They are rigorously vetted by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), then the United States government conducts interagency checks at the National Vetting Center, which uses “advanced technology to consistently apply the highest integrity vetting processes across the checks.”
Numerous federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and Department of State work with international and American intelligence agencies and law enforcement partners before refugees are cleared for travel. This all must be completed while the refugees are still overseas.
FACT: Refugees are here legally and can become citizens
Refugees are required to apply for lawful permanent residence status (“green cards”) after being in the U.S. for 1 year. They are eligible to apply for citizenship 5 years after arrival and must have a green card before applying for citizenship. The citizenship test (only administered in English) requires English proficiency to answer civics questions correctly.
A national study conducted by Princeton University estimated that only 36% of American-born citizens would be able to pass the citizenship test.
FACT: Refugees pay their own way
To travel to the United States, refugees take out a travel loan with the International Office of Migration (IOM) for the cost of their travel, which they must begin to pay back after being in the United States for 6 months.
Refugees’ payment history on this loan affects their credit rating. For refugees to apply for their green cards 1 year later, refugees must first pay legal fees to immigration attorneys and fees to civil surgeons for the required medical clearance exams in order to apply for green cards. The medicall fees alone are $250-$500 per person, not including fees for required vaccines and testing. A refugee family of four typically pays over $2000 in legal and medical fees just to apply.
https://refugees.org/travel-loan-information
FACT: Refugees contribute positively to the economy
A 2024 study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services calculated that refugees contributed a net benefit to the US economy of $124 billion between 2005-2019. The net benefit was apparent at the federal, state and local levels, with the largest net benefit at the federal level.
https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/fiscal-impact-refugees-asylees
FACT: Refugees are less likely to commit crimes than US-born citizens
National studies overwhelmingly find that immigrants of all legal statuses commit crimes at lower rates than those who were born in the United States.
According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (www.nber.org/papers/w31440), immigrants in the United States have had lower incarceration rates than the native-born population since at least 1870 (when such data were first recorded). In 2020, immigrants were 60% less likely to be incarcerated than the U.S. born.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/immigrants-and-crime