Category: Refugee statistics

Asylee or refugee? Chart showing US “refugee” numbers is confusing

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is a chart making the rounds (several people have sent it to me) which supposedly shows the “origins” of “refugees” admitted to the US.   Although the text makes it clear that the numbers are for those granted “asylum” in the US (yes, they become refugees, aka asylees, for the purpose of getting their goodies), but to call them “refugees” is confusing.

A refugee is generally considered to be someone the UN selects abroad and is admitted into the US by the State Department after some initial screening.  A successful asylee is someone who got to the US on his or her own steam and then asked for asylum and were subsequently granted refugee status.

So why do the “unaccompanied minors” from Central America need lawyers? Because they are going to be applying for asylum (although most are economic migrants, not legitimate refugees). http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/06/05/Leaked-Images-Reveal-Children-Warehoused-in-Crowded-US-Cells-Border-Patrol-Overwhelmed

Also, the chart does not tell us what the time frame is for the numbers or where the author got them—are the numbers for 10 years, 5 years, one year???

Regular readers here can quickly see that the numbers are wrong if we are talking about “refugees” admitted by the US because leading that list in recent years are Iraqis, Burmese, Bhutanese and Somalis.

We don’t admit Chinese “refugees” in any great number.  This year (see stats here) for example in the same period that we took 32 Chinese “refugees” we have admitted 11,660 Iraqis.

Since the chart making the rounds lists Chinese “refugees” as over 65,000 it is clearly attempting to show “asylees” or “asylum seekers” (those who have not yet been granted asylum).   Those Chinese asylum seekers got in here through either illegal means or overstayed a visa (also illegal!).

By the way, most Chinese asylum seekers are frauds!  Remember this story from last February?

In fact, another bunch of frauds are the “unaccompanied kids” from mostly Central America who got in here illegally and are going to be seeking asylum.  If approved they will be refugees with all of the social services and rights available to a US citizen (except voting, but they will be doing that too!).   See our fact sheet for what refugees and asylees (those granted asylum) are eligible to receive.

Here is the government’s Annual Flow Report for 2012 which helps further make the distinction between “refugees” and “asylees.”  (Don’t ask me why they don’t have 2013 available, but I bet it’s because their “asylee” numbers are a chaotic mess or so over-the-top that they don’t want you to know!).

I sure hope that helps!

UNHCR says US has pledged “open-ended resettlement numbers” for Syrians

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What the heck does “open-ended” mean?

We have been puzzled in recent weeks about why there is no announcement from the US State Department about the number of Syrians they expect to resettle in the US this fiscal year (the fiscal year ends Sept. 30th).  As regular visitors to RRW  know, the contractors*** want 12,000-15,000 this year.

As of May 31st we have resettled 42 Syrians as “refugees.”   And, there isn’t much squawking coming from the contractors.  Do they know something we don’t know?

Here is the news release from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees:

Socialist UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2013/07/26/unhcr-guterres-looking-to-resettle-tens-of-thousands-of-syrians/

Geneva, 27 June 2014 – New offers of resettlement or humanitarian admissions for Syrian refugees were today pledged by Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland and Uruguay. In all, 565 new places were announced during a high-level meeting of 42 countries, taking the total number of offers received since mid-2013 to more than 34,700 places. In addition, the United States has pledged open-ended resettlement numbers.

The majority of offers to date come from European states, with Germany having offered over half the global total. [Invasion of Europe!—ed].   In all 22 countries have offered places for Syrian refugees so far.

High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said: “I hope this momentum continues over the coming months. Resettlement and other humanitarian admission programmes are critical and can be life-saving for the victims of the conflict in Syria.

Now, go to the US Refugee Admission numbers for this year (so far, as of May 31).

Obama set the ceiling for admissions from the Near East/South Asia at 33,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30th.  (See Presidential Determination for FY2014.)

We have taken 11,660 Iraqis so far.   6,005 came from Bhutan, and smaller numbers from other countries in the region bringing the total to 20,278.  There are also 2,000 spaces labeled as ‘unallocated reserve.’   It is those 2,000 spaces that most observers believe will be available to Syrians.

There is no such thing as open-ended resettlement, EXCEPT as this President has shown us time and again, he can make law since most members of the Legislative branch of government have abrogated their duty under the Constitution and are letting him get away with it!

Will the announcement on Syrians arriving in large numbers during the remaining 3 months of the fiscal year be the next stunner out of the lawless Obama Administration?

***The contractors:

UN and media lackeys hype numbers for World Refugee Day

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum!  I guess we can’t expect honesty for their big propaganda day.

Several people reported this headline to me:   For First Time Since WWII There Are More Than 50 Million Refugees.   

My first thought was directed at the UN—“liar, liar, pants on fire!”—but maybe I should be directing my annoyance at the AP reporters and the headline writer because I wondered how that 50 million “refugees” jives with the Pew study (using UN numbers) that says the number of refugees is down to between 10 and 12 million from a peak in the early 90s of 18 million.  (see graph below right)

Iraqis on the move (again) this week. The US takes 20,000 Iraqis a year. Iraqis make up the largest ethnic group we are resettling right now. http://www.newser.com/article/3296c869af544477b0c782c8dd35b352/ap-photos-a-look-at-daily-lives-of-refugees-as-global-count-surges.html

Here is the story, hat tip Judy, that I wasn’t going to waste my time on, but since it is everywhere, I will (waste my time) and post it:

TAZA KHORMATO, Iraq (AP) — In a battered car loaded with blankets and clothes, Hassan Abbas and his mother left a dusty town in northern Iraq, fleeing this week’s violence and joining what the United Nations says is the largest worldwide population of displaced people since World War II.

The U.N. refugee agency’s latest annual report, released Friday, found more than 50 million people worldwide were displaced at the end of last year, reflecting an ever-expanding web of international conflicts.

Last year’s increase in displaced people was the largest in at least two decades, driven mainly by the civil war in Syria, which has claimed an estimated 160,000 lives and forced 9 million people to flee their homes. Now Iraq is adding to that tide.

Notice the word “displaced”—that does not mean they are by definition all “refugees.”  Twenty paragraphs into the story we learn this:

Of 51.2 million displaced people worldwide last year, 16.7 million were refugees outside their countries’ borders. More than half of the refugees under UNHCR’s care — 6.3 million — had been in exile for more than five years, the agency said.

That 16.7 million is likely inflated as well, but even so it is still LESS than the peak in the early 1990’s of 18 million.

LOL!  This is what I would have picked out of the story for my headline!

On World Refugee Day: Violence in Muslim countries producing most of world’s refugees.

Just a few paragraphs from the end of the AP story:

By country, the biggest refugee populations were Afghan, Syrian and Somali, the report said.  [and now Iraqis again, of course—ed]

Al-Hijra?

You know stories like this one from AP are used as propaganda (often effectively with naive Americans and dumb politicians) to soften them up.  But, besides the usual do-gooder verbiage about “vulnerable” people, “humanitarian” gestures, and “welcoming” communities would someone please tell me….

What good does it do America to bring a relative handful here?   And, why do we want to bring any of their Islam-driven violence and squabbles to America anyway? 

 

Migrant invasion of Europe continues every day, mostly Muslims

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The number of “refugees” worldwide may have dropped in the last couple of decades, but the number “welcomed” in Europe has increased.

This is what the Mediterranean tide brings in on a daily basis.  Al-Hijra anyone!

 

‘New Europeans’ rescued at sea after launching from Libya.

 

Syrians, Afghans and Somalis top the list!  From AP at FoxNews:

BRUSSELS – The European Union’s statistical agency says more people were granted asylum across the 28-nation bloc last year mostly because of a high influx of refugees fleeing the war in Syria.

Eurostat said Thursday the number of accepted asylum seekers rose by 17 percent to 135,700 in 2013 from 116,200 a year earlier, meaning about one in three applications was accepted out of a total of 462,000.

The biggest group of refugees that were granted asylum were some 36,000 Syrians, a quarter of the total, followed by about 16,000 Afghans and 9,700 Somalis.

Sweden, with 9.6 million inhabitants, was the most generous country in accepting asylum seekers, granting protection to 26,400 people, followed by Germany, the EU’s most populous nation, which accepted 26,100 people. France took in 16,200, and Italy 14,500.

If you haven’t treated yourself to some light (LOL!) summer reading, how about The Camp of the Saints (along with Al-Hijra)!

See our ‘invasion of Europe’ series by clicking here.

See the Department of Homeland Security’s annual flow report for 2012 (the most recent one we could find) that summarizes the numbers and where they come from of US refugees and asylees.   The Office of Refugee Resettlement told us that in 2013 we took about 143,000 refugees and asylum seekers (all are eligible for welfare goodies).

Number of refugees worldwide has fallen since early 1990s peak

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This week, as World Refugee Day approaches on Friday (and as Iraq unravels), your news will be filled with much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the humanitarian industrial complex over the plight of millions of refugees on the move around the world (and the only way to save them is for Western nations to fling open their borders).

The Pew Research Center tells us in a useful analysis of the data that the number of refugees on the move is actually down since the peak at the beginning of the decade of the ’90s.  Who would have thought it!

Unrest in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq has prompted renewed attention about refugees across the world in recent weeks. But in the face of such news stories, long-term refugee trends are often overlooked.

According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees flee their home country because of political, ethnic or religious tensions. Although millions of people may move within a country to avoid conflict and violence (they are often described as internally displaced people), people must cross international borders to be counted as refugees. (And although generations of Palestinian refugees are counted as part of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, Palestinian refugees are not included in estimates by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)

Using trend data from the UNHCR for 2002 to 2012, here are five facts – in marking of World Refugee Day on June 20 – that shed light on the changing shape of refugee populations around the world.

The number of refugees has fallen:

The number of refugees living in a foreign country who are either waiting to return or be resettled peaked in the early 1990s at about 18 million. During the 1990s peak, most of the world’s refugees were leaving Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Syria were top countries of origin for refugees [mostly Muslims—ed]. But despite the ongoing conflicts in these countries, the number of refugees around the world is considerably less than it was two decades ago, numbering between 10 million and 12 million in recent years.

Read the article for more and to follow the many links.

And, remember, this week the push is on on Capitol Hill to persuade your elected officials that we need to take more refugees and throw more money to the contractors***.   See, for example, Lutherans bring 50 refugee lobbyists to Washington.  This is also the week for you to let your Member of Congress and US Senators know how you feel. Let Rep. Trey Gowdy know too!

***The refugee resettlement contractors/lobbyists: