WASHINGTON, D.C., August 19, 2016 (Tribune India): The US has accepted more than 53,000 Hindu refugees since 2005, almost all from Bhutan, the State Department has said. Between 2005 and August this year, as many as 53,662 Hindu refugees — 53,015 from Bhutan — have been accepted into the US. Of the remaining 647, Sri Lanka topped the list with 383, followed by Nepal (144), Myanmar (95), India (11), Pakistan (six), Vietnam (five), Bangladesh (two) and Cambodia (one).
The latest figures from the State Department suggest the maximum number of Hindu refugees — 11,836 — came to the country in 2009, followed by 9,190 in 2011, 8,401 in 2010, 7,380 in 2012 and 6,296 in 2008. This year, 1,234 Hindu refugees have entered America so far, of whom 1,181 are from Bhutan and 36 from Sri Lanka, suggests the data obtained from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.