According to this CNN report the first Bhutanese refugees have arrived in America in what CNN describes as one of the “world’s largest resettlement efforts.” For the refugee industry to function and for all the volags to continue to receive their government funding and keep their operations going, it’s important for them to have a continuous steady flow of refugees. The volags would like nothing more than to go back to the glory days of huge numbers of refugees coming at once.*
KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) — Bhutanese refugees began arriving in the United States on Tuesday, the first wave of what the United Nations describes as one of the world’s largest resettlement efforts.
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The U.S. has offered to resettle 60,000 of the estimated 107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now living in seven U.N. camps in southeastern Nepal — their home for the past 17 years. Six other nations — Australia, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark — have offered to resettle 10,000 each.
Here is where the first will be resettled.
The first group, arriving throughout the week, includes 121 refugees. They are being sent to New York; Chicago, Illinois; Syracuse, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and other cities, the International Organization for Migration said.
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The United Nations said several families had arrived in New York as of Tuesday, and more are en route to locations in Texas, Arizona and Maryland.
You might have seen the news that Bhutan had its first democratic election this week (it had been a monarchy) and you would think that that might mean they would be open to taking ethnic minorities back, but so far it looks like the trend (as in most of the world!) toward Ethnic Nationalism applies here also. Everyone wants to live with their own kind.
The US continues to push for third country resettlement of the Bhutanese despite the controversy that it has created in the camps.
The United States’ resettlement plan has divided the refugee community, as members disagree over whether it is best to resettle in the United States or hang onto hopes of returning to Bhutan.
*Note: The glory days were when tens of thousands of Vietnamese came followed by huge waves of refugees from the former Soviet Union. Numbers of refugees coming to the US were drastically reduced in the years immediately following 9/11. Many volags would have been forced to close their doors because their pay is tied to the number of refugees they resettle. During those dry years the taxpayers continued to fund the volags at the level they had been accustomed to prior to 9/11. That is why the refugee industry needs large and steady streams of refugees. No refugees, no fat pay checks.