(VOA) The U.S. reached its self-imposed cap of 30,000 refugee arrivals Monday, the last day of the 2019 fiscal year, as the Trump administration eyes another major reduction in refugee admittances from across the globe for 2020.
More than half of refugees from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019, came from African nations, with Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for nearly 13,000 of those admitted.
Myanmar (4,932), Ukraine (4,451), Eritrea (1,757), and Afghanistan (1,198) rounded out the top five countries of origin. Iraq and Syria followed, each with fewer than 600.
Last year, the White House set the admissions ceiling at 45,000, of which less than half — 22,491 refugees — were resettled in the U.S.
Last week, the U.S. State Department announced it is seeking to resettle only 18,000 refugees in the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
