The 6,900 Syrians covered by the protected status, many of whom came to the country as students or visitors and remained after their visas expired, make up only a sliver of the roughly 90,000 Syrians living in the United States, most of whom arrived as refugees or by other legal means. There was no official estimate available on Wednesday of the number of Syrians who lack full legal status but arrived after the Aug. 1, 2016, cutoff. The Obama administration extended them for Syrians three times, and each time it allowed new applicants to join. Another 6.1 million Syrians have been forced from their homes, but are still living within Syria’s borders. Advocates for extending protected status for Syrians had been hopeful that the administration understood the depths of the challenges still facing Syria.

Source: New York Times February 01, 2018 00:35 UTC