The number of refugees coming to the United States dipped sharply in July, dropping to the lowest level of monthly arrivals in more than a decade, amid temporary Supreme Court orders that largely supported the government's efforts to curb the number of displaced people allowed into the country.
By Monday afternoon, 1,224 refugees had arrived according to U.S. State Department data -- less than any other month since the 2007 fiscal year.
The number plummeted in recent weeks after the Supreme Court court determined that only refugees with close family ties to the United States will be allowed in for now.
Asked about the sharp drop in July, a State Department spokesperson referred to the July 19 order by the Supreme Court that determined the “bona fide” relationship applied to relatives, and not to the agencies that resettle refugees in the U.S. -- a decision that blocks those refugees without family already here from traveling.
The sharp decline in July also comes as the U.S. reached a reduced limit for total arrivals set by President Donald Trump. That ceiling of 50,000 refugees for the fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2016, was reached July 12. Trump has insisted on that limit since January; it is a significant reduction over the Obama-set ceiling of 110,000.
As it stands, refugees will only continue to be resettled past that limit if they can prove they have "bona fide" immediate family members already in the United States.