Refugees in America: Quotas, Challenges, and Where Most of the Money Goes

Administration looks to help refugees assimilate and adopt American values

Eritrean and Ethiopian Christian refugees pray outside a small Orthodox church near the Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on March 28, 2017.

WASHINGTON—Only a tiny portion of the American taxpayer money slated for refugees goes toward resettling them in the United States.

The vast majority of money helps to stabilize people overseas until it is safe for them to return to their home country—and that is the preferred (and cheaper) option, according to the State Department and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).