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Refugees and Asylees

A refugee is a person outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. An asylee is a person who meets the definition of refugee and is already present in the United States or is seeking admission at a port of entry. Refugees are required to apply for Lawful Permanent Resident (“green card”) status one year after being admitted, and asylees may apply for green card status one year after their grant of asylum.

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Office of Homeland Security Statistics Resources

Report Title (Link to Report) Report Description
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics This annual report includes a collection of tables that provides data on foreign nationals who applied for asylum or refugee status. It also includes tables on those who were granted lawful permanent residence; were admitted into the United States on a temporary basis; were naturalized; or who were the subject of enforcement actions, including noncitizen inadmissibility determinations, apprehensions, removals, and returns.
Refugees and Asylees Annual Flow Report This annual report presents information on persons admitted to the United States as refugees, those who applied for asylum in the United States, and those granted asylum in the United States, providing information such as country of birth, state and core-based statistical area of residence, age and sex, and type and class of admission, country and world region of nationality, case priority or basis of claim, and relationship to principal applicant.

Immigration Enforcement and Legal Processes Monthly Tables

This set of tables includes monthly data on credible fear screenings and parole processes. It also includes data on immigration enforcement including encounters, CBP One appointments, administrative arrests, book-out outcomes, book-ins, detention, removals, returns, repatriations.
State Immigration Data Sheets This annual set of tables provides 10 years of data for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with data on refugee arrivals and total asylum grants (affirmative and defensive combined), including raw counts and per capita counts, along with state rankings for each within each year. They also include data on total, new arrival, and adjustment lawful permanent residents; I-94 nonimmigrant arrivals; and naturalizations.
Legal Immigration Adjustment of Status Report This quarterly report provides tables with preliminary legal immigration counts based on data available one month after the reporting period and details the number of adjustments of immigration status, presenting data broken out by type of adjustment, type and detailed class of admission, and country of nationality.
Credible Fear Cases Completed (FY 2009-2022) and Referrals for Credible Fear Interview (FY 2016-2022) Total Credible Fear cases completed for FY 2009-2022 and top twenty-five nationalities referred for a Credible Fear Interview FY 2016-2022.
Asylum Workload by Top Twenty Nationalities: FY 2014-2022 Asylum cases filed, cases completed, and pending for top twenty-five nationalities with a breakdown for cases completed by cases granted, cases denied, referral to immigration judge, and cases closed.
Asylum Processing Rule Cohort Reports

This monthly report describes processing and outcomes under a new rule–to ensure those subject to expedited removal who are eligible for asylum are granted relief quickly and those who are not are promptly removed–for noncitizens identified as potentially suitable for placement in the rule, as well as demographic information about the population placed in the rule.

COVID-19 Vulnerability by Immigration Status This report presents population estimates by four categories of immigration status–lawful permanent residents (LPRs), resident nonimmigrants, refugees and asylees, and unauthorized immigrants–and addresses unique COVID-19-related risks each status group may face.
Last Updated: 01/05/2024
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