They must have found something at the USCIS or a thousand Burmese living in the US right now wouldn’t have gotten a letter to report to a USCIS office.
Was there fraud in transit country, Malaysia???
(Checking Wrapsnet I see that since FY06 we have admitted a whopping 167,583 Burmese people and they were coming before 2006 and are still coming, see map below.)
Here is a short article at the Des Moines Register about the “summons” Burmese living in Iowa have received:
Dozens of refugees in Iowa received letters from immigration officials asking them to appear for an interview and provide information that validates their status.
The refugees are from the country formerly known as Burma, a group that has grown in the past five years to include more than 8,000 living in Iowa.
[….]
She [Abigail Sui] said at least 50 refugees in Iowa, all who came from Burma and to the U.S. through Malaysia, got the letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department that requested the in-person interview. One letter required travel to Indianapolis, while a refugee from Indiana appeared at the USCIS offices in Des Moines for an interview Monday, according to EMBARC.
[….]
“A current USCIS investigation has raised concerns about identity and biographic information provided to USCIS in a number of cases involving Burmese refugees, including many who have resettled in the U.S.,” said Sharon Rummery, a USCIS public affairs officer based in San Francisco.
She said in an email that the USCIS sent 1,000 requests for interviews nationwide that “will help determine the refugee’s immigration status or eligibility for future immigration benefits.”
The interviews are voluntary, but Sui said that she thinks consequences are possible if the refugees do not go.
Already facing resettlement hardships, the refugees would have to fund a trip to the interviews and take time off work, said Sui. In addition, no interpreters would be made available.
Can you hear the immigration lawyer stampede now—no taxpayer-funded interpreters is a big no-no! And, how dare the Trump Administration dig more deeply into the US Refugee Admissions Program.
More here.
Here is a map from the US State Department’s Refugee Processing Center showing where the 167,583 Burmese have been placed since FY06. Obviously there is an error as there is no number on the dark blue Indiana. Texas takes top honors.
My archive on the Burmese may be found by clicking here.
Most of the Burmese are not Muslims but in the last few years, the US has begun admitting larger numbers of the so-called ‘Rohingya,’ Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh.