Maximum Number of Refugees Allowed (US)

Maximum number of refugees that can be admitted to the United States
graph by the Migration Policy Institute; slow reveal by Lee Melvin Peralta

(Slide deck includes notes and questions to elicit discourse)
Melvin also created a Desmos activity from this slow reveal!

Type of Graph: line graph

Visualization Source: Migration Policy Institute, “U.S. Annual Refugee Resettlement Ceilings and Number of Refugees Admitted, 1980-Present.” https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-annual-refugee-resettlement-ceilings-and-number-refugees-admitted-united.

Data Source: Migration Policy Institute Data Hub

Paired Texts:

• Key facts about refugees to the US (Pew Research Center, October 7, 2019)
• Trump Slashes Refugee Cap to 18,000, Curtailing US Role as a Haven, by Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs (New York Times, September 26, 2019)
• Trump Administration Slashes Refugee Limit for the Third Consecutive Year, to a Historic Low of 18,000, by David Nakamura,  Maria Sacchetti, and  Seung Min Kim (Washington Post, September 26, 2019)
• US slashes refugee limit to all-time low of 18,000 (BBC, September 27, 2019)

Who is a refugee? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvzZGplGbL8
Follow up worksheet: https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/59d231bf4

Where do refugees come from? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrR5hwp45mc
Follow up worksheet: https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/59d233807

Potential Math Content: line graph, estimating points on a line graph, scale along the y-axis

Potential Content Connections: immigration, refugee resettlement, social policy, politics