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Refugee Resettlement - USA

Page history last edited by Robert Hackett 10 years, 3 months ago

Note: please note that this issue brief should (a) link back to the issue overview on this topic, (b) be focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (c) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotes for each of the items.  See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you. 

 

 

Link here to the Refugee Resettlement overview page for the goal statement related to this issue brief 

 

 

Scope of the Problem


  • The thrust of U.S. refugee policy is to have people working as soon as possible, with rudimentary English language skills that are based on what is necessary for work readiness.  Refugees entering the U.S. are expected to find work within 6 months of arrival. Refugees arrive with very different skills dependent in part on the culture and way of life they had in their country of origin, the pathway of transition between home country and final destination, and the characteristics of the host country to which they resettle.[1
  • The World Refugee Survey 2008 estimates that more than 8.5 million people have been warehoused for 10 years or more. 
  • Refugees and asylum seekers worldwide totaled 14,047,300 at the end of 2007 with more than 6 million from the Middle East and North Africa; 2.8 million from Africa, and more than 2.5 million from South and Central Asia.[1]
  • The longest "warehoused" population is the Palestinians (59 years) in the Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon, and the largest overall refugee population is the Afghans (2,790,900) in Iran and Afghanistan.[2]

 

 

Past Policy  


  • The first legislation in the U.S. specific to refugees was the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, largely in response to the displacement of eleven million people during World War II. This was followed by the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, which approved the admission of another 200,000 refugees to the U.S. from war-torn European countries and Communist countries [3]. The Refugee Relief Act was implemented to " . . . encourage defection of all USSR nations and key personnel from the satellite countries in order to inflict a psychological blow on communism and . . . material loss to the Soviet Union" [3] Resettlement policies after WWII principally reflected an emphasis on assisting those fleeing from Communist regimes.  

  • In 1952, after the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the U.S. passed the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which addresses legal concerns regarding refugees, and also prohibits the practice of refoulement.[4]

  • The Federal Refugee Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-212, 94 Statue 102) determines the legal basis for refugee admissions to the U.S. The Act redefined refugee status by removing the requirement that a refugee be leaving a Communist country and established standard procedures for the flow of refugees in non-crisis times as well as during international emergencies. The Act further established the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for the resettlement of refugees in the United States.  The Director of ORR is appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  It emphasizes "resources for employment training and placement," "economic self-sufficiency," "employment-related services," and directs the agency to "develop and implement . . . policies and strategies for the placement and resettlement of refugees within the United States," while taking into account the population already in the area and the availability of employment and affordable housing opportunities.[5]

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Current Policy  


  • The United States is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, but is to the 1967 Protocol.[6]

  • The current U.S. policy on refugee admissions is a program described as "a critical humanitarian undertaking that demonstrates the compassion of Americans for the world’s most vulnerable people" and "a foreign policy tool permitting us to help refugees who have been persecuted or fear persecution and require resettlement as a durable solution."[7] The Proposed Refugee Admissions for each fiscal year is a report to the Congress and is submitted in compliance with Section 207(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The President’s budget in 2008 requested funding for 70,000 refugees, including an additional 10,000 admissions from any region of the world in emergency situations. 

  • The projected admissions for 2008 were to arrive from Africa (16,000); East Asia (20,000); Near East/South Asia (28,000); Europe & Central Asia (3,000); Latin America/Caribbean (3,000). The arrivals from the Near East and South Asia represented primarily ethnic minorities and others from Burma who have been in refugee camps in Thailand and Malaysia for up to twenty years.  Also targeted as groups due to their need for resettlement were Burundians in Tanzania, Bhutanese in Nepal, Iranian religious minorities, and Sudanese Darfurians in refugee camps in Iraq.[8]

  • The Refugee Act gives the Director of ORR the authority to implement programs to facilitate their resettlement after arriving in the United States, such as orientation, English language training and job training, while the Secretary of State, through the Bureau of Population, Refugees, & Migration (PRM) implements programs for refugees who are waiting to be admitted to the U.S.

  • The Bureau of PRM focuses on refugees, other migrants and "conflict victims" with a goal of protection from dangerous conditions. The Bureau states that it works to develop "durable" solutions, defined as:

    • Repatriation - going home when they are no longer at risk of persecution.

    • Local Integration - settling permanently in the country to which they have fled

    • Resettlement - settling permanently in a third country.

  • The UNHCR estimates that fewer than 1% of refugees worldwide are resettled permanently in a third country.[9]

 

 

Key Organizations/Individuals   


  •  Ralston H. Deffenbaugh, Jr., President, LIRS (Lutheran Immigrant & Refugee Services) www.lirs.org.

  • Lavinia Limon, President, USCRI (United States Committee on Refugees & Immigrants) www.uscri.org

  • Bureau of Population, Refugees & Migration (PRM), U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/g/prm.

  • Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr.

     

 

Bibliography   


 

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Footnotes

  1. World Refugee Survey, 2008.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Homan, P. (1996). Refugee resettlement in the U.S. In David W. Haines (Ed.), Refugees in America in the 90s: A reference handbook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
  4. USCIS
  5. Office of Refugee Resettlement: Policy Guidance & Reporting Forms, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/policy/refact1.htm.
  6. USCRI
  7. Proposed Refugee Admissions for the Fiscal Year 2008: Report to the Congress (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/91978.pdf, retrieved 5/6/09).
  8. Proposed refugee admissions, 2008.
  9. U.S. Department of State. http:www.state.gov/g/prm/c25756.htm.

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