The ostensible reason that refugee resettlement numbers are dropping this year is that security has been tightened and so (we are told) the screening process is delaying the arrival of refugees. I think that may be part of it, but I also think the dire labor situation is finally dawning on the brains in Washington.
But, resettlement agencies are whining because they are paid by the head to resettle refugees and no refugees = no pay for them.
So here we have a story from Houston about the crying agencies. However, readers should take a few minutes and read this post from 2009—Refugee Horrors in Houston—about how some of these agencies were acting as callous head-hunters for big companies.
By the way, Texas now receives the third highest number of refugees in the nation behind California and Florida (see 2008 Annual Report to Congress Appendix).
From the Houston Chronicle:
The number of refugees resettling in the U.S. and Houston has dropped considerably this year because of new security measures, according to the U.S. State Department.
Nationwide, refugee arrivals have declined more than 30 percent, from nearly 54,000 in the first nine months of fiscal year 2010 to about 37,000 during the same period this year.
“We are committed to conducting the most rigorous screening in order to ensure that those being admitted through the refugee program are not seeking to harm the United States,” according to a statement from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Government officials attribute the slowdown to a new “pre-departure” check that went into effect in late 2010. The additional screening is intended to identify information that might have come to light since initial biographical and biometric checks were conducted.
In a case that grabbed headlines in Kentucky recently, two Iraqi refugees were accused of conspiring to send cash and weapons — including Stinger missiles and sniper rifles – to al-Qaida in Iraq. The pair, who came to the U.S. in 2009, were charged in May.
Statewide, the number of refugees resettled in Texas so far this fiscal year is down about 35 percent to 3,730. The slowdown has been keenly felt in Houston, a city that welcomes more refugees than any other in Texas. Last month, for example, 75 refugees arrived in Houston, compared to 132 in June 2010.
“Basically what the state has told us is that because of these new security procedures for this fiscal year, which ends in September, we’re going to see about 70 percent of the number of refugees that we would have anticipated,” said Jeff Watkins, community executive director for YMCA International Services in Houston.
Agencies cutting back
Fewer arrivals means less funding for YMCA International and four other local refugee resettlement agencies, which receive per-capita grants from the State Department to help refugees transition into their new lives in the U.S.
It’s all about the $$$!