While migration from the Middle East into Europe and beyond has been somewhat of an issue over the past decade, the migrants became a major talking point this year, not just in the many European states taking them in, but also here in the United States. Although conflict in Syria has been the main motivation for migrating, issues in other countries, such as Afghanistan, Kosovo and Eritrea have also played a significant part. The largest acceptors of migrants have been Germany, Sweden, and France, with each country approving at least 20,000 asylum applications. In total, the European

Union has seen over 700,000 asylum claims up to July of this year. The issue reached a peak in this country after Paris suffered its second major terrorist attack this year, with one of the suspects believed to have entered France amongst a then-recent wave of Syrian refugees. President Barack Obama took action in September, when it was announced that at least 10,000 Syrian refugees would be admitted into the country over 2016, a major increase from the 1,293 refugees admitted up to December of this year. As of November, the governors of 31 states have said they would not support allowing refugees into their states, although the matter will ultimately fall to the federal government.