Muslim Refugees to Maryland

     According to numbers we just recieved from the US State Department, Maryland beats the national average in the resettlement of Muslim refugees.     From 2002 through 2007 (to date) Maryland has been the resettlement destination of 1,556 Muslim refugees out of a total refugee pool of 3,979.   Muslims thus represented 39% of the refugee population for those years.    The national average from 1990 to 2003 was 15%, with  peak year 1999 (44%).   (We have not obtained national averages for more recent years.)

      The statistics received from WRAPS (Worldwide Refugee Application Processing System)*, indicated that of the remaining 2,423 refugees in that time period 22 other religions were represented.     This group of refugees hailed from 42 differant countries.   

      My home county (Washington Co.) received 125 Muslim refugees out of 168 total refugees since 2004 when resettlement began in earnest.    That puts us at 74% Muslim refugees resettled.

      *  What is WRAPS?  Here is what they say at their website  http://www.wrapsnet.org/

The Refugee Processing Center (RPC) is operated by the U.S Department of State (DOS) Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia USA. 

. . . . .

At the RPC and at Overseas Processing Entities (OPEs), an interactive computer system called the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) is used to process and track the movement of refugees from various countries around the world to the U.S. for resettlement under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).

Try contacting WRAPS and find out what is happening in your state or city.  E-mail help@wrapsnet.org  and see what response you get.  Then let us know!

More stats: How many refugees have come to your city?

     Although lengthy and slanted (all is just peachy), the Brookings Institution published last fall a 31-page report about the Refugee Resettlement program, how it works, who pays for what, and how much.  Most interesting though is that it is chock full of tables with cities and how many refugees settled in each and from where they came since 1983.

The report is entitled:    From ‘There’ to ‘Here’: Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America

http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20060925_singer.htm

by Audrey Singer and Jill H. Wilson
September 2006

The Statistics are coming in!

    Here are some numbers we have been waiting for!     From fiscal year 1988 through fiscal year 2003 (15 years) the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration has admitted 208,702 Muslims from 77 differant countries into the US, that averages 15% of the refugee population over those years.

      Some years were biggies though.   In 1999 for instance we permitted 37,479 Muslim refugees to enter the US,  which represented 44% of that year’s total refugee numbers.

      The top Muslim countries of origin over that time span are Bosnia and Herzegovina (103,107 refugees),  Somalia, (41,626), and coming in at number three, Iraq (21,760).  

      BTW, these numbers are just for refugees,  not for immigration generally.  Imagine what the numbers must be.

            The source for this info. is the Refugee Processing Center Report prepared in 2003.  Since I don’t have a link yet, please e-mail me for more info.  refugeeresettlementwatch@vigilantfreedom.com