WASHINGTON, June 20 — The United States—facing massive controversy over immigration—received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, the OECD said in a report published Wednesday.

Asylum requests went up 26 per cent in the US to 330,000, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its annual International Migration Outlook.

Germany, which has been the top destination for asylum seekers in the rich nations’ club since 2013, meanwhile saw a 73 per cent drop in applications in 2017 to 198,000, the report said.

Italy followed with 127,000 asylum requests, followed by Turkey with 124,000 and France with 91,000.

In the US, 40 per cent of the applications came from people leaving El Salvador, Venezuela and Guatemala.

The report was released as President Donald Trump faces a cacophony of criticism over his administration’s practice of separating migrant children from their parents on the US-Mexico border. — AFP