Post Ana Jonke. Colgate Class of 2023.

Over the past four years, the Trump administration has made significant changes to immigration policy. Such drastic changes have greatly affected and continue to affect the status and security of refugees and those seeking asylum. Additionally, these policies which change the status of refugees hold negative impacts on the U.S. economy.

Bans and quotas on refugees first began taking place when in early 2017, the Trump administration suspended the entire U.S. refugee admissions program for 120 days to conduct a security review.[1] Additionally, the Trump administration indefinitely suspended entry of Syrian refugees to the U.S.[2] This change is especially significant due to the recent civil war beginning in Syria in 2011: 5.6 million Syrians are refugees, and another 6.2 million people are displaced within Syria.[3] Furthermore, the Trump administration lowered the 2017 fiscal year refugee admissions ceiling from 110,000, under the Obama administration, to 50,000.[4] By the end of 2017, the U.S. government resettled about 33,000 refugees, while other nations collectively resettled a total of 69,000.[5]

These restrictions and quotas on refugees have continued, even heightened, up to now. Most recently, the Trump administration has ordered the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the U.S. be cut down to 15,000 for the 2021 fiscal year, moving further down from the administration’s previous refugee ceiling of 18,000 in 2020.[6] This is not only the fourth time where the Trump administration has lowered the quota for refugees seeking asylum, but this has also set the record for the lowest limit since the modern refugee program was established in 1980.[7] One such argument for these low quotas is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh the benefits.[8]

The Trump administration is making strong efforts to block flows of refugees and those seeking asylum from settling in the U.S. However, these preventative measures could potentially have negative effects on the U.S. economy. Between 2005 and 2014, researchers found that refugees and asylees from 1980 contributed $63 billion to government revenues than they used in public services.[9] This contribution is much more than the original cost to resettle in the U.S. Furthermore, refugees are an important share of the American workforce. Male refugees of working age had a 67 percent employment rate from 2009 to 2011, instead of native-born males, who only had a 60 percent employment rate from 2009 to 2011.[10] Refugee women were just as likely as native-born women to be employed.[11] Such industries include manufacturing, health care, and general services.[12]

A study which compared refugees to economic immigrants found that refugees who arrived in 1980 earned 20 percent more than economic immigrants after ten years.[13] This data was measured during the same time period as economic immigrants, proving that refugees make more, if not the same, amount as economic immigrants.[14] As economic contributors, refugees, over time, pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. It is estimated that they pay $21,000 more in taxes than they receive in benefits.[15]

These changes to immigration policy, specifically, policy that affects refugees, potentially hold dangerous consequences for the U.S. economy in the following years. Refugees contribute to the American economy by increasing the number of workers in the work force, while simultaneously being able to make profit for the government, much more than the original cost to resettle. Hosting refugees in the U.S. is beneficial for the economy, as has been proven since 1980, and the Trump administration’s strict quota on refugee admission undermines the incredibly valuable assets refugees provide as economic and fiscal resources.