Did New Orleans accept 10,000 Syrian refugees after Paris attacks?

Claims that 10,000 refugees from Syria have arrived in New Orleans only two days after the November Paris attacks in France are spreading online.

The claims have been published on a number of sites known for promoting far-right rhetoric and anti-immigration ideology. Such sites also have a history of publishing inaccurate information designed to promote agendas as opposed to representing genuine news, which seems to be the case here.

Firstly, the photo (below) used to illustrate many of these claims about refugees coming to New Orleans, or indeed America. A reverse image search shows that the image was taken in September 2015 and shows refugees in Budapest, Hungary (slide 11.)

Taken in Budapest, not New Orleans

Secondly, there have been no reports that the United States has just accepted a large number of Syrian refugees into the country at this time, or that if they had, they would be all heading to New Orleans. The United States has claimed it will be making preparations to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees over the course of the 2016 fiscal year (that started October 1st 2015) but these refugees will be taken on steadily over the course of the year. They will not be transported to the United States at the same time, and it is highly unlikely that they will all be placed in one area.

What’s more, NOLA.com – a local news website in New Orleans – in response to the social media rumours, claimed that the total number of Syrian refugees arriving there since January 2015 amounted to a mere 14, quoted from the US State Department. From the NOLA website –

Despite blog posts and social media rumors indicating that thousands of Syrian refugees had already arrived in the New Orleans area, the U.S. State Department reported only 14 Syrian nationals have resettled in Louisiana since Jan. 1.

It is clear that plenty of right-wing, anti-immigration websites are distorting this news with misleading headlines and inaccurate information, perpetrating fear just after the tragic Paris attacks when they know readers will be wary of issues concerning immigration and terrorism, which such websites clearly link together.

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The bottom line…

-The United States agreed some time ago to accept 10,000 refugees from Syria in the 2016 fiscal year, and these will arrive steadily during this year.

-There have been no reports that a substantial number of refugees have arrived straight after the Paris attacks or that they all went to New Orleans.

-The photo used in the articles of refugees had nothing to do with the United States.

-The US State Department statistics show that a small number of refugees from Syria have settled in New Orleans

-Refugees undergo an extensive screening test to try and ensure that they do not have extremist views that will make them a danger to the security of the United States.