Your tax dollars:
We told you here in June of 2013 that the US was aiming to resettle 50,000 Congolese (DR Congo) refugees over the next few years and the US State Department has been busy, busy, busy getting the flow started. Indeed this article tells us something we didn’t know—they want to get the 50,000 here by 2019!
If you visit the statistics at the Refugee Processing Center (US State Department) you will see that at the close of Fiscal year 2014 on September 30th, we resettled 4,540 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the year (Don’t look at the map where someone has left out DR Congo! or case numbers, look at individuals numbers listed for DR Congo in chart below map).
Apparently enough of them are here to begin studying their needs, in this case, their need for costly mental health treatment (also needed by the Bhutanese). The report (partially funded by the UN) suggests “leveraging local resources.” Of course that means the feds aren’t going to pay for it—state and local taxpayers will! Wyoming are you listening!
From the University of Texas:
AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. government must do more to address the needs of Congolese refugee “women at risk” through trauma-related services and social support, according to a report by the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA) at The University of Texas at Austin and the Department of Sociology & Social Work at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
The report issued recommendations for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which is responsible for resettling 50,000 Congolese refugees in the United States by 2019. The recommendations are based on a study of refugee women from the Democratic Republic of Congo who have resettled in the United States after decades of unrest in their homeland.
“The women who participated in our study experienced multiple traumas and hardship,” said Noël Busch-Armendariz, lead author of the report and director of IDVSA in The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. “This study provides empirical evidence to inform the tremendous efforts already underway to meet the needs of Congolese female refugees.”
Although the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program emphasizes economic integration through job placement, the report finds that many refugee women had unmet needs for trauma-related services, social support and longer-time financial support, said IDVSA researcher and project director Karin Wachter. The study was partially funded by a $15,000 grant from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). [So the UN is basically telling Americans to spend more money on this problem they created for us!—ed]
Leveraging and long-term service = your money!
“Access to long-term services to address trauma and loss is essential for this population,” said Maura B. Nsonwu, the lead researcher from North Carolina A&T. “The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program could leverage local resources for these services, such as domestic violence and sexual assault centers in cities who receive Congolese refugees.”
So what does the US get out of this arrangement when mentally-impaired single mothers raise large numbers of children in your town?
See our ‘health issues’ category with more posts on the refugee health problems you pay for.