(Alex Pfeiffer) – President Donald Trump called Syrian refugees a “great Trojan horse” during the 2016 campaign, but his administration has resettled them in a quicker pace than President Barack Obama did.
Since Trump was inaugurated, 1,401 Syrian refugees have been resettled, State Department figures as of Wednesday reveal. This is more than double the 625 Syrian refugees resettled under President Obama in the same time frame last year.
Overall, the president has resettled about a third fewer refugees than Obama’s State Department did in this time span, as he has resettled 10,565 refugees so far and Obama resettled 14,841. Syrian refugees, however, were a particular focus of President Trump’s when he was running for office.
“Bad, bad things are gonna happen,” Trump said about Syrian refugee resettlement at an August rally.