The United States has resettled roughly 21,000 Syrian refugees since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, with the vast majority arriving between 2016 and 2024.1Migration Policy Institute. Syrian Immigrants in the United States That total sits against a global displacement figure of 5.5 million Syrians. Since January 2025, new Syrian refugee admissions have been effectively halted under executive actions that suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and, later that year, imposed a travel ban on Syrian nationals.
Admissions Year by Year
Syrian refugee arrivals were minimal in the early years of the war. Between fiscal years 2011 and 2015, the U.S. admitted fewer than 2,000 Syrians combined through the refugee program.2Bipartisan Policy Center. Refugee Process, Security Screening, and Challenges Fiscal year 2016 was the turning point: the Obama administration resettled more than 10,700 Syrians in that single year.3Every CRS Report. Syrian Refugee Admissions and Resettlement in the United States By the end of calendar 2016, the cumulative total had reached about 18,000.4Migration Policy Institute. Syrian Refugees in the United States
Numbers fell sharply during the first Trump administration, which imposed travel restrictions on several majority-Muslim countries including Syria and cut overall refugee ceilings. The Biden administration reopened admissions, resettling 4,560 Syrians in fiscal year 2022, 10,780 in 2023, and 11,240 in 2024. Across the decade from 2014 to 2024, Syria accounted for about 11 percent of all refugee admissions to the United States.5Office of Homeland Security Statistics. Refugees: 2024 Annual Flow Report
Where Syrian Refugees Settled
Resettlement through 2016 spread across most of the country, but a small group of states absorbed a disproportionate share. California and Michigan each took in about 11 percent of Syrian refugees, followed by Texas at 8 percent. Arizona and Illinois each received more than 1,000. Alabama, Mississippi, and Wyoming received none.6ReliefWeb. Syrian Refugees in the United States
More recent Census data covering 2020 through 2024 show California as home to 28 percent of Syrian immigrants overall. Michigan, New York, and Florida each held about 7 percent, and Texas about 6 percent. Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, and Chicago together accounted for more than a third of the Syrian-born population.1Migration Policy Institute. Syrian Immigrants in the United States
Refugees vs. the Broader Syrian-Born Population
The refugee count is only one piece of Syrian presence in the United States. Syrian immigration long predates the civil war. Census data analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute show the Syrian-born population growing from 22,000 in 1980 to 55,000 in 2000 and 60,000 in 2010, then roughly doubling to 122,000 by 2024. The recent jump was driven largely by the post-2011 refugee wave and family reunification.1Migration Policy Institute. Syrian Immigrants in the United States
Roughly 261,000 people in the U.S. were either born in Syria or reported Syrian ancestry as of 2024. About 70 percent of Syrian-born residents had naturalized. Thirty-seven percent of adults held a bachelor’s degree or higher, a quarter lived in poverty, and nearly half of those age five and older reported limited English proficiency.1Migration Policy Institute. Syrian Immigrants in the United States
Why Admissions Stopped in 2025
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,” suspending entry of all refugees under USRAP effective January 27, 2025. The order halted new referrals, case processing, interview scheduling, and travel bookings, and directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend decisions on pending applications and report every 90 days on whether the program should resume.7The White House. Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program Case-by-case exceptions were permitted when the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security jointly determined an admission was in the national interest, but no criteria were defined.8International Refugee Assistance Project. Explaining Current U.S. Refugee Resettlement Policies The Welcome Corps, a private refugee sponsorship program launched in 2023, was terminated on February 26, 2025.9Welcome.US. Latest Changes to Refugee Admissions and the Welcome Corps
The fiscal year 2026 refugee ceiling was initially set at 7,500, described as a historic low, with admissions directed primarily toward Afrikaners from South Africa.10Federal Register. Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026 A later emergency determination raised the ceiling to 17,500, but those additional slots were also allocated for Afrikaners, not Syrians or other refugee populations.11Federal Register. Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026
On December 16, 2025, Proclamation 10998 added Syria to a list of 19 countries subject to a full suspension of immigrant and nonimmigrant entry, effective January 1, 2026. The proclamation cited Syria’s lack of a “central authority for issuing passports or civil documents” and the absence of “appropriate screening and vetting measures” in the post-Assad transitional period.12The White House. Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States The ban applies to Syrian nationals outside the United States on the effective date without a valid visa; existing visas were not revoked.13NAFSA. Proclamation December 16, 2025 Travel Ban
A December 2, 2025, USCIS policy memorandum separately imposed an indefinite hold on the processing of immigration applications, including green card adjustments and travel documents, for individuals listing a designated high-risk country as their place of birth or citizenship.14USCIS. Pending Applications for Additional High-Risk Countries The administration also directed re-reviews of refugee cases approved between January 2021 and February 2025.9Welcome.US. Latest Changes to Refugee Admissions and the Welcome Corps
Temporary Protected Status Ends
Roughly 6,100 Syrians in the United States held Temporary Protected Status, a designation first granted in March 2012 that lets nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict or disaster remain and work legally.1Migration Policy Institute. Syrian Immigrants in the United States In September 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of Syria’s TPS designation effective November 21, 2025, arguing that the fall of the Assad regime meant Syria no longer met the program’s conditions.15USCIS. Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Syria
Seven Syrian nationals challenged the termination in *Dahlia Doe v. Noem*. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York blocked the termination on November 19, 2025, and the Second Circuit declined to stay her injunction in February 2026. The Supreme Court granted certiorari before judgment on March 16, 2026, consolidating the case with a similar challenge over TPS for Haiti.16International Refugee Assistance Project. Dahlia Doe v. Noem: Challenging the Government’s Termination of TPS for Syrians On June 25, 2026, the Court ruled 6–3 in *Mullin v. Doe* that the TPS statute bars judicial review of the Secretary’s determination to terminate a designation, lifting the lower-court injunctions and clearing the way for the government to end TPS for both Syria and Haiti.17Supreme Court of the United States. Mullin v. Doe, No. 25-1083
Where Things Stand Now
The situation in Syria itself shifted in December 2024, when Bashar al-Assad’s government fell after a rapid opposition offensive and Assad fled to Russia.18U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Six Months Post-Assad: A Safe Return Remains Out of Reach A transitional government under Ahmad al-Sharaa was announced in March 2025 with a five-year mandate.19UK Government. Country Policy and Information Note: Returnees After Fall of Al-Assad Regime, Syria By late 2025, more than 3 million displaced Syrians had returned home, including over 1.2 million from neighboring countries. Roughly 4.5 million Syrian refugees remain in neighboring countries, most below the poverty line.20UNHCR. Historic Return of Displaced Syrians Presents Opportunity and Urgent Need
For Syrians already in the United States, the executive order suspending refugee admissions does not affect existing immigration status.8International Refugee Assistance Project. Explaining Current U.S. Refugee Resettlement Policies Family-based immigration petitions processed outside the refugee program remain unaffected by the USRAP suspension, though the December 2025 travel ban and USCIS processing hold have created additional obstacles for Syrian nationals seeking to enter the country or adjust status through other pathways.14USCIS. Pending Applications for Additional High-Risk Countries With the Supreme Court’s June 2026 ruling clearing the way for TPS termination and no sign that refugee admissions will resume for Syrians in the near term, the legal avenues for Syrian nationals to reach or remain in the United States have narrowed considerably.