SecWar says there are no plans for U.S. to host Middle Eastern refugees
Amid the combat operation against Iran, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth clarified American policy on taking refugees from the embattled region
by Summer Lane | March 6, 2026
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed this week that the United States has no plans to provide sanctuary for Middle Eastern refugees amid the ongoing military operation against Iran.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s no plan for a wave of Middle Eastern refugees in the United States of America,” Hegseth told reporters.
He added, “I think, as the president has pointed out for a long time, there are a lot of countries in the region who would be capable of providing that kind of support, if need be, but that’s certainly not something we’re planning on.”
This likely comes as a relief to many Americans who have often borne the brunt of support for displaced refugees in the past amid prior wartime campaigns.
In 2021, for example, then-President Joe Biden authorized the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate efforts to receive tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in “Operation Allies Welcome” amid the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In fiscal year 2024, more than 100,000 refugees were admitted into the U.S. Since 1975, the U.S. has accepted around 3.7 million refugees. It’s also worth noting that the United States has also taken in millions of illegal immigrants, as well. According to Pew Research, illegal immigration reached a record-breaking 14 million in 2023, but some have suggested that the illegal population far exceeds this official number.
President Trump has suggested that Joe Biden, in his four years in the Oval Office, allowed as many as 21 million people to enter the U.S. illegally.
On Friday, the president said that his administration was working to move “thousands” of people throughout the Middle East at the moment.
“We are moving thousands of people out of various Countries throughout the Middle East,” he wrote. “It is being done quietly, but seamlessly. The State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, is doing a great job!”
It appears the State Department’s focus here is on moving out Americans who have been stranded in the Middle East because of the U.S.-Iran-Israel conflict.
