No Slowdown in Refugee Arrivals as Borders Close and Travel Bans Grow Worldwide

I’ve been mentioning in recent posts*** that I have seen no news about curtailing refugee arrivals as travel bans grow world wide, so I just checked the arrival data at the Refugee Processing Center and sure enough there is no slowing of refugee arrivals.

***Update*** UN suspends refugee travel for at least a few weeks so as not to expose refugees to coronavirus.

 

Here (below) is a map of where 1,768 refugees who arrived in the US were placed between February 15th and yesterday.

Thinking maybe a slowdown was evident if I checked the numbers for the last week, I found that we ‘welcomed’ 488 refugees to your towns and cities in the last seven days. No slowdown.  All traveled through airports in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Of the 1,768 ‘new Americans’ who arrived in the last month, the largest numbers came from the DR Congo (728) followed by Ukraine (278), Burma(136), Iraq (130) and Pakistan (50).

Top welcoming states were:  California, Washington, Texas, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Georgia.

 

 

If you want to research the data at the Refugee Processing Center yourself, I gave instructions on how to do that in Knowledge is Power IV.

***See my tag for COVID-19 to find other posts on the subject here at RRW.

 

Editor’s note:  As RRW approaches its 13th birthday, there are over 10,000 posts archived here at Refugee Resettlement Watch. Unfortunately, it is just me here with no staff and so it has become virtually impossible to answer all of the basic questions that come into my e-mail inbox or to RRW’s facebook page every day. I don’t want to appear rude—I simply haven’t enough hours in the day.

Please take time to visit RRW (don’t just read posts in your e-mail) and use the search window in the right hand sidebar and see if you can find the information you need.  Also see my series that I wrote in recent months entitled Knowledge is Power which explains some basic principles of how Refugee Resettlement is carried out in the US.

And, lastly, I don’t write that much every day, so if you made a habit of reading my posts here on a daily basis, you would eventually catch on to what is happening because I do link back to previous posts as much as possible. LOL!  Thank you for helping me not go crazy!

Malaysia: Mosque Event Spreads COVID-19

This is a follow-up to my post yesterday in which I directed your attention to the Processing Countries map.

Ukraine is the location where the largest numbers of refugees are processed for your towns and cities, but Malaysia is not far behind. 

And, as I said yesterday I am not seeing any US State Department guidance or mention that refugees from these locations are being blocked from entry into the US or are being tested for coronavirus if they are being admitted.

Here is the news from Malaysia (a Muslim country where we process Rohingya Muslims into the US, among other refugees who have found their way to that country).

From Reuters:

Malaysia virus tally hits highest in Southeast Asia due to mosque event

16,000 Muslims attended religious event now believed to be source for rapid spread of COVID-19 in Malaysia. Malaysia is the second largest processing location for refugees being admitted to the US right now. Photo: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-confirms-77-cases-from-mosque-event-in-kl

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia reported 190 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with most linked to a religious event at a mosque that was attended by 16,000 people from several countries.

The new cases bring the total number of infections in the country to 428, the health ministry said, making it the worst affected in Southeast Asia.

A total of 243 cases have been linked to the mosque gathering with 9 cases critically ill in intensive care, the ministry said, adding that all event participants and their close contacts will be placed under mandatory quarantine for 14 days.

About 14,500 Malaysians and 1,500 foreigners attended the religious gathering between Feb. 27 and March 1 at a mosque near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian health authorities have said.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Friday that the country was facing a “second wave” of infections, and warned of an impact on economic growth.

More here.

How many US-bound refugees attended that event two weeks ago and then got on a plane to America?