Defining terms: What you need to know about refugees and immigrants

The terms “immigrant” and “refugee” are often conflated, but their meanings are distinct.

Immigrants are non-citizens who move to the U.S. with the intention of settling. Refugees are immigrants, but very few immigrants are refugees.

In the U.S., “refugee” is an explicitly legal status granted to asylum-seekers who demonstrate a fear of persecution if they stay in their home country. Asylum-seekers must apply for refugee status, and those who are granted the status are resettled in the U.S. Immigrants do not have to demonstrate any such fear, though some apply for refugee status after immigrating.

The term “immigrant” generally includes undocumented immigrants, who stay in the country illegally. Since asylum-seekers must legally apply for refugee status, all refugees in the U.S. are here legally.

The annual refugee ceiling, or the maximum number of refugees the U.S. will accept per year, has always changed annually. In 1980, when the Refugee Act was signed, the refugee ceiling was set at 231,700, according to the Migration Policy Institute. In 1984, it was 72,000. During the first Trump administration, it was pushed to historic lows: from 85,000 in 2016 to 18,000 in 2020, the lowest it had ever been. Now, the second Trump administration is eyeing a ceiling of 0.

Refugees make up a very small percentage of total migration. A report from the Michigan Center for Data Analytics showed that Michigan had a net gain of 67,608 international migrants in 2024. Only 3,495 had refugee status, according to Bridge Michigan.

Of the 740,300 immigrants the American Immigration Council estimates to live in Michigan, 75,900 are refugees. Another 110,700 are estimated to be undocumented.

Refugee arrivals increased in Michigan and nationwide during the Biden years, both because of the change in administration and wars in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and others. A report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said 530 refugees resettled in Michigan out of 11,450 nationwide; in 2023, Michigan resettled 2,450 out of 60,050 nationwide.

Catholic Charities of Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton counties has resettled 17,000 refugees since 1975, according to its website. That number has varied from year to year. Before the Trump administration terminated contracts with resettlement organizations, they were contracted to resettle 550 in 2025.