Why It Matters

A Congressional Research Service report published September 3 revealed that 117.8 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide in 2025. This forcible relocation was due to "persecution, conflict, violence, human right violations, or events seriously disturbing public order," according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The United States has historically led global resettlement efforts in both UNHCR submissions and financial contributions but in January, President Trump issued an executive order suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program, allowing refugee entry only if the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security determine their entry is in the U.S. national interest.

The Big Picture

The scale of the displacement crisis dwarfs available resettlement capacity. Of the 117.8 million forcibly displaced people in 2025, 41.6 million were refugees and 9 million were asylum seekers. Since 2016, refugee numbers have nearly doubled, while asylum seekers have more than tripled. Yet less than 1 percent of refugees without options to return home or integrate locally may be eligible for resettlement in another country. The United States has substantially curtailed its role in that narrow channel. UNHCR resettlement submissions to the United States dropped from 159,790 in 2024 to 11,500 in 2025. Global UNHCR submissions fell from 203,777 in 2024 to 35,000 in 2025. The organization's global funding dropped $1.2 billion, nearly 25 percent, in calendar year 2025 compared to 2024. The refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal year 2026 was set at 7,500. Most of those slots are reportedly reserved for white Afrikaners from South Africa, however, narrowing the program's geographic scope.

The Bottom Line

The suspension and funding cuts have created a cascade effect: fewer submissions to resettlement countries, reduced UNHCR capacity to process cases, and minimal U.S. participation in addressing a crisis that has grown over the past decade.

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