An executive order signed Jan. 27 by President Donald Trump suspends refugee admissions for 120 days while security procedures are reviewed, though the resettlement of persecuted religious minorities may continue during this time on a case-by-case basis. Under the plan, the maximum number of refugees allowed into the U.S. in fiscal 2017 will likely decline from 110,000 to 50,000. Separately, admission of Syrian refugees will be suspended pending a revision of security screening measures. 
 
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 About 3 million refugees have been resettled in the U.S. since Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, which created the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program and the current national standard for the screening and admission of refugees into the country. 
 
 This is not the first time U.S. refugee admissions have been stopped. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. largely suspended refugee resettlement for three months while security measures were examined. Today, the refugee admissions process can take up to 18 to 24 months, and includes a review of applications by the State Department and other federal agencies, in-person interviews, health screenings and, for many, cultural orientations. 
 
 Here are key facts from our research about refugees entering the United States: 
 
 1 Historically, the total number of refugees coming to the U.S. has fluctuated along with global events and U.S. priorities. From 1990 to 1995, an average of about 112,000 refugees arrived in the U.S. each year, with many coming from the former Soviet Union. However, refugee admissions dropped off to fewer than 27,000 in 2002 following the terrorist attacks in 2001. This number has since trended up. 
 
 2 The U.S. admitted 84,995 refugees in the fiscal year ending in September 2016, the most in any year during the Obama administration. An additional 31,143 refugees have been admitted to the U.S. from Oct. 1 through Jan. 24, including more than 1,136 refugee admissions since Trump became president on Jan. 20. Though refugee admissions would drastically drop under Trump’s proposal, the U.S. had been on pace to reach the Obama administration’s goal of admitting 110,000 refugees in fiscal 2017, which would have been the highest number since 1994. 
 
 3 In fiscal 2016, the highest number of refugees from any nation came from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congo accounted for 16,370 refugees followed by Syria (12,587), Burma (aka Myanmar, with 12,347), Iraq (9,880) and Somalia (9,020). Over the past decade, the largest numbers of refugees have come from Burma (159,692) and Iraq (135,643). 
 
 4 Nearly 39,000 Muslim refugees entered the U.S. in fiscal 2016, the highest number on record, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. Muslims made up nearly half (46%) of refugee admissions, a higher share than for Christians, who accounted for 44% of refugees admitted. Muslims exceeded Christians on this measure for the first time since 2006, when a large number of Somali refugees entered the U.S. From fiscal years 2002 to 2016, the U.S. admitted 399,677 Christian refugees and 279,339 Muslim refugees, meaning that 46% of all refugees who have entered the U.S. during this time have been Christian while 32% have been Muslim. 
 
 5 California, Texas and New York resettled nearly a quarter of all refugees in fiscal 2016, together taking 20,738 refugees. Other states that received at least 3,000 refugees included Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois. By contrast, Arkansas, the District of Columbia and Wyoming each resettled fewer than 10 refugees. Delaware and Hawaii took in no refugees. 
 
 6 The U.S. public has seldom approved of accepting large numbers of refugees. In October 2016, 54% of registered voters said the U.S. does not have a responsibility to accept refugees from Syria, while 41% said it does. There was a wide partisan gap on this measure, with 87% of Trump supporters saying the U.S. doesn’t have a responsibility to accept Syrians, compared with only 27% of Clinton supporters who said the same. U.S. public opinion polls from previous decades show Americans have largely opposed admitting large numbers of refugees from countries where people are fleeing war and oppression. 
 
 Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Jan. 27, 2017. 
 
 Related posts: 
 
 How U.S. refugee resettlement in each state has shifted since 2002 
 
 Fewer refugees arrive in U.S., with declines in 46 states 
 
 Key facts about the world’s refugees 
 
 Topics: Immigration Attitudes, Immigration Trends, Global Migration and Demography, Migration, Foreign Affairs and Policy, U.S. Political Parties, Domestic Affairs and Policy, Immigration ||||| Fort McMurray — At some point between leaving a refugee camp in Jordan and getting settled at her new home in Fort McMurray, Ibtesam Alkarnake’s water broke. 
 
 She did not tell her husband, Medyan, or her three sons and daughter, because she hoped the baby would be born in Canada. Alkarnake’s family had no clue how close the baby was to being born as they spent nearly 24 hours in the air. 
 
 Neither did the sponsors from Fort City Church or the handful of residents who showed up to greet the arriving family Tuesday evening know she would soon give birth to a healthy boy, Eyad. They had been in Canada just under 10 hours when the baby arrived. 
 
 “She was so determined to get here and have her baby in Canada,” said Pastor Doug Doyle. “We thought she was about seven- or eight-months pregnant. She had already been cleared to fly after she had a medical check in Jordan.” 
 
 Before landing in Fort McMurray just after 8 p.m., the family had boarded a plane from Amman, Jordan, to Frankfurt, Germany. From there, they flew directly to Calgary, where they spent a few hours before boarding an Air Canada flight north. 
 
 When the family reached their apartment with Doyle and members of his church, Alkarnake was finally comfortable telling someone she was about to give birth. 
 
 “Once everything was settled in the apartment, she pulled (aside) our committee organizer and translator and explained her situation,” said Doyle. 
 
 The birth ended the family’s two-year ordeal to enter Canada, after they were forced to flee their home in Daraa nearly six years ago, during the early days of the Syrian civil war. When the family arrived in Jordan, they lived in a refugee camp with approximately 100,000 other people. 
 
 About two years ago, Fort City Church decided it would sponsor a refugee family and partnered with the Mafraq Alliance Church in Jordan for help. A selection committee felt the Alkarnake family would fit in well with Canada. Medyan is a trained truck driver and mechanic, and also has work experience in a bakery. 
 
 “Those jobs he was trained in are in high demand. We felt he had a skill set we thought was very employable,” said Doyle. 
 
 The church has raised $70,000 for the family and plans to help them integrate into Canadian society. Kim Huygen, who is part of the refugee committee, said the family is anxious to find work. But for now, mastering English is their top priority. 
 
 The church’s leadership openly discussed their plans with the congregation throughout the vetting process. Many were supportive, although some were skeptical. The turnaround came after May’s wildfire forced them to flee their own homes. 
 
 “I think our congregation reflects the diversity of opinion you would find in Fort McMurray,” said Doyle. “It was amazing how many people started thinking of them when they left their own homes that were lost or in danger. The reservations disappeared when they felt what it was like to be driven out of your home.” 
 
 On Tuesday, there was no trace of those concerns as dozens of residents cheered their arrival, waving signs welcoming them to Canada. 
 
 Miguel Borges, who is not a member of the church, brought his three children and wife to welcome them when he heard about the event online. 
 
 Borges’ father is a refugee who came to Canada from Portugal in the 1970s. At the time, Portugal was ruled by a fascist dictatorship, and was fighting lengthy wars in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. 
 
 He was getting on a fishing boat when he was drafted, and jumped ship when it docked in Newfoundland. 
 
 “I’m glad to be in Canada. We have an obligation to welcome newcomers,” he said. “The country was founded by immigrants.” 
 
 vmcdermott@postmedia.com ||||| When her water broke somewhere between a refugee camp in Jordan and her new home in northern Alberta, she did not tell a soul. 
 
 Ibtesam Alkarnake wanted so badly for her baby to be born in Canada that she kept quiet for hours, silently enduring her discomfort. 
 
 While much of the world's attention was focused on U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on refugees from Syria and restrictions on six other predominantly Muslim countries, or on the massacre at a Quebec City mosque, church sponsors were meeting the Alkarnake family at the Fort McMurray airport on Tuesday evening. 
 
 Ibtesam Alkarnake was taken to a local hospital, where her son, Eyad, was born a few hours later. 
 
 He weighed just over six pounds. 
 
 "Brute determination on the mom's part to have the baby in Canada," Fort City Church Pastor Doug Doyle said Wednesday about the final day in the family's two-year ordeal, which saw them fly from Amman, Jordan, to Frankfurt, Germany, and then on to Calgary and Fort McMurray. 
 
 Somewhere along the way, Doyle said of the young mother, "her water broke and she told no one." 
 
 Long journey from Jordan 
 
 The baby's birth was just the latest episode in a long struggle to bring the six — now seven — members of the Alkarnake family to Canada. 
 
 Their determined local sponsors overcame last May's wildfire and, more recently, fears about Muslims and refugees among a minority of the church's congregation. 
 
 "There is that concern," Doyle said. "Who are we letting into our country? And is this a safe thing to be doing for the safety of Canada?" 
 
 Churchgoers and members of the community showed up at the Fort McMurray airport on Tuesday night to welcome the family of Syrian refugees. (Submitted by Fort City Church) 
 
 Doyle and church members met the Alkarnake family for the first time at the airport's arrival lounge. Hugs and welcome posters capped off a private sponsorship that began long before the current Liberal government's refugee program kicked into high gear in 2015. 
 
 The Alkarnake family fled their bombed-out home in Syria five years ago, and had lived much of the time since then in a camp in Mafraq, Jordan, with more than 100,000 other refugees. 
 
 During their camp stay, the family went through rigorous vetting, the church told its congregation. 
 
 Doyle said he told reluctant congregation members that faith sometimes involves stepping into the unknown — perhaps especially in a case like this, when the Islamic family sponsoring these refugees does not share the church's Christian religion. 
 
 "There are some, as there are all across the country, who wonder and have concerns about that," Doyle said. "So as a church family, we have continued to talk about of all of the issues. Including, what does it mean to risk." 
 
 After a full day in the air, the Alkarnake family arrived at their new home in Fort McMurray on Tuesday night. (Submitted by Fort City Church) 
 
 Fort Mac wildfire was 'life-changing' 
 
 Doyle said it took May's wildfire, which forced about 90,000 people from their homes and destroyed 2,400 homes and buildings, to change the minds of some in the church who were apprehensive about taking in refugees. 
 
 "I think people began to realize, in a small sense but not in the same level, that they were refugees fleeing the flames of their city," Doyle said. "And that is a life-changing experience." 
 
 While the ordeal of the wildfire helped create more acceptance for a refugee family, it also raised questions about whether the church could still host them. 
 
 The Alkarnake family will spend the next year in this Fort McMurray townhouse. (Submitted by Fort City Church) 
 
 In the days after the wildfire devoured whole streets and neighbourhoods, the church didn't know if the townhouse set aside for Ibtesam Alkarnake, her husband, Medyan, and their four children would still be standing, or inhabitable. 
 
 Almost nine months after the wildfire, with most of Fort McMurray still intact, the church now believes the city will be the perfect fit for their newcomers. They will live in the townhouse, and Medyan has some job prospects, as a baker or a truck driver. 
 
 "We're going to get them learning things, like shopping here in Canada," Doyle said. "All of the basics. Just get them familiar with a totally new country." 
 
 A total of 7,004 refugees came to Alberta between November 2015 and Dec. 31, 2016, according to the latest numbers available from the provincial government. Of that total, 4,921 were from Syria. 
 
 Follow David Thurton, CBC's Fort McMurray correspondent, on Facebook, Twitter or contact him via email.
– Ibtesam Alkarnake's water broke while traveling from a refugee camp in Jordan to her new home in Canada. But the Syrian refugee told no one, not even her husband and four children, reports the Edmonton Journal. It was "brute determination on the mom's part to have the baby in Canada," pastor Doug Doyle, who welcomed the family in Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Tuesday, tells the CBC. Perhaps Alkarnake feared her labor might prevent the trip, as so many other things had threatened to do. For one thing, some members of Doyle's Fort City Church were hesitant to sponsor a Syrian family when the idea was first proposed in 2015, says Doyle. Then a wildfire spread through Fort McMurray last year, destroying 2,400 buildings and forcing 90,000 people to evacuate. But the townhouse set aside for the Alkarnake family was spared by the fire, which allowed church members to realize that the refugees were "fleeing the flames of their city," Doyle says. So after the church raised $70,000, the Alkarnakes left a camp of 100,000 refugees in Jordan, spending about 24 hours in the air on three separate flights to get to their new home. Ibtesam kept quiet all the way. Ten hours after setting foot in Canada, she gave birth to a 6-pound baby boy. The Canadian government says about 40,000 Syrian refugees have been settled in Canada since November 2015, including 14,000 who were privately sponsored. About 12,500 Syrian refugees were accepted in the US in the fiscal year ending in September, per Pew Research.