Just now as I was looking up numbers for refugees to Maryland in 2008 (I don’t know if the state numbers are available for 2009 yet), it occurred to me that our many new readers may not know about these useful databases.    The Office of Refugee Resettlement has one chart for refugees arriving in your state from 1983-2005 and then individual charts for the years 2000-2008.  

The charts will tell you from what countries refugees arrived in your state and how many of each.  Of course, this doesn’t account for secondary migrations—that is when a refugee resettled in one state moves to another, which is something they can do right away if they wish.

This is filed in our ‘where to find information’ category for your future reference.

Your tax dollars:

This topic keeps coming up when we get refugee stories in local newspapers.  Usually a reporter is told that all the refugee resettlement agency gets is $900 (one time payment) per refugee to get them set up in apartments and usually the agency keeps $450 for its own administrative use.

Well there is also this optional Match Grant program described at the Office of Refugee Resettlement website here.  Frankly, some of this is not clear to me, but first here is a description of the program.

Program Goal

The goal of the Matching Grant program is to help refugees, certain Amerasians, Cuban and Haitian entrants, asylees, and certified victims of human trafficking attain economic self-sufficiency within four to six months from date of arrival into the United States.

General Background/ Program Description

The Voluntary Agency Matching Grant (MG) Program is part of the Division of Community Resettlement and is an alternative program to public assistance designed to enable refugees to become self-sufficient within 4 to 6 months from date of arrival into the U.S. Eligible grantees are Voluntary Agencies able to coordinate comprehensive multilingual, multicultural services for refugees at local sites – these same agencies are under Cooperative Agreements with the Department of State/Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

The Matching Grant Program requires a match from private funds or donated goods and services to partner with monies provided by ORR. For Calendar Year 2007, the program achieved 80% self sufficiency for the 28,137 participants. In CY 2008, ORR funded $60 million to the Match Grant Program With a per capita of $2,200; the MG program will serve 27,272 clients through 230 local affiliates of the Voluntary Agencies.

Eligible Applicants

Competition is limited. Only agencies that have on-going relationships with refugees that have been established as a result of providing reception and placement services under the terms of a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are eligible to apply.

The theory sounds good with the idea being to get refugees established in a job and on their own with minimum welfare demands and public support.   But, here is what I would like to know.

How much does the refugee get each month for the 6 months of the program from the $2200 in cash the agency gets?  All of it? Or, does the agency get a cut of it for administration?

Does the refugee living in subsidized housing pay any rent out of this money?

By the way, the “match” part of this involves the agency getting together $1000 in cash or donated stuff to “match” the federal layout of the $2200 in cash (Public-Private partnership mythology).  The agency gets to set the value of the donated stuff and does anyone ever check to confirm the stuff is worth what they say it is? 

And, the program doesn’t kick in for the first 30 days, so that means the agency has to initially lay out for all the needs of the refugee in the initial resettlement period that are required by the State Department’s Operational Guidance, here.   Refugees aren’t then being billed for expenses the agency originally provided for, along with that airfare bill the the resettlement agency wants repaid, are they?

So a refugee could get a job, any old job, sometime in the six month period of the match grant and lose it in the 7th month and still count as being successfully self-sufficient, is that right?

And, at the end of the period, the refugee could then go right back on all sorts of public assistance, right?

Since the program is only supposed to be for refugees who have a really good shot at self-sufficiency, doesn’t this make for problems within the same apartment buildings or neighborhoods when refugees compare notes about who gets what from the government?

We spent $60 million on this prgram in FY2008.    Find a Match Grant program near you, here.

Check out the most recent report (2007) and see how your favorite volag fared, here. I’ll bet these numbers are pretty rotten for FY2009!

I wonder does any outside source check the volag stats on self-sufficiency?  Also, I wonder if there is any penalty for “out-migration” which I assume means that some refugee bags this whole program and moves?

Readers, our goal in writing this blog was to inform the general public about how the refugee resettlement program works.  If you can answer some of these questions, please do so in the comments so that we all can learn.

Your tax dollars:

As we continue to see a pattern of (excessively!) large numbers of refugees resettled in certain towns and cities near meatpacking plants, it’s pretty obvious there is something in it for the meatpacking giants in addition to being able to keep wages low and virtually having a captive labor pool to choose from, there may also be tax credits—namely the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).   You can learn all about it here.

Also, I just came across this handy resource called Refugee Works where prospective employers can learn about all the advantages of hiring refugees.

However, now I have many more questions.  Do the resettlement agencies have any sort of contractual arrangement with certain big businesses to hire their refugees?  Do poor and unemployed American citizens get the sorts of help and guidance that the refugees get?  Is there actually a federal-guided effort to get new refugees to meatpacking towns? (I think that was definitely happening in Iowa in the Clinton Administration, here)  And, since an eligible WOTC refugee need only be employed for, it looks like 10 weeks (400 hours), in order for the business to reap its tax benefit, could an unscrupulous employer just let someone go after that point and get a fresh refugee and start the process all over?

So, in addition to having a compliant (helpless really!) labor force close at hand with potential new employees rotating in as others burn out, move on, or are fired, these big business employers have employees who are subsidized by the taxpayer in the form of food stamps, subsidized housing, some medical coverage, etc.  Thus employers can continue, guilt free I suppose, to not pay a living wage.  I would also like to know what’s in it for the resettlement agency (aka refugee employment service)?

I’m pretty cynical these days so this brings to mind the concept of modern day slavery!

If anyone can answer my questions, or convince me this isn’t what I think it is, I look forward to your response.  If you don’t want to send a comment for the public to read, please e-mail me privately at Ann@vigilantfreedom.com

Since there has evolved a big discussion at my most recent Comment Worth Noting about Bowling Green, KY refugee resettlement, a reader suggested I tell you about a US State Department document entitled, “Operational Guidance to Resettlement Agencies.”   The document most recently revised in 2006 lists the requirements that resettlement agencies must follow when resettling new refugees—it is specific right down to the silverware required!  And, by the way, it says NO BUGS in apartments.

If you would like a copy of the pdf file, e-mail me at Ann@vigilantfreedom.com   I don’t live at the computer so it might take a few hours before I see your e-mail, but I will get it right out to you as soon as I see your request!

This is an important document you should have if you have concerns about the quality of care refugees are receiving in your community.

Update!   Here is a link to the 2001 version of this document, the 2006 document isn’t much different.  If you do want the 2006 version as well, please let me know.

When I wrote about funds (lots of federal funds) going to Catholic Charities in Kentucky and Tennessee yesterday and today, I was reminded* of the Code of Federal Regulations that govern the Refugee Resettlement Program.  Readers wishing to try to understand this program better might want to look over the regulations here. 

I won’t pretend to understand them entirely myself, but I recall that State coordinators are required to submit a plan each fiscal year to the Office of Refugee Resettlement that has been approved by the Governor.

This is from 45 CFR Section 400.4:

(b) A State must certify no later than 30 days after the beginning of each Federal fiscal year that the approved State plan is current and continues in effect. If a State wishes to change its plan, a State must submit a proposed amendment to the plan. The proposed amendment will be reviewed and approved or disapproved in accordance with §400.8.

Regarding that line I have in bold, we are now at 30 days after the beginning of the fiscal year which began October 1, 2009 (FY2010).

From Section 400.5,  this is what the plan must include:

The plan must:

(a) Provide for the designation of, and describe the organization and functions of, a State agency (or agencies) responsible for developing the plan and administering, or supervising the administration of, the plan;

(b) Describe how the State will coordinate cash and medical assistance with support services to ensure their successful use to encourage effective refugee resettlement and to promote employment and economic self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

(c) Describe how the State will ensure that language training and employment services are made available to refugees receiving cash assistance, and to other refugees, including State efforts to actively encourage refugee registration for employment services;

(d) Identify an individual designated by the Governor or the appropriate legislative authority of the State, with the title of State Coordinator, who is employed by the State and will have the responsibility and authority to ensure coordination of public and private resources in refugee resettlement in the State;

(e) Provide for, and describe the procedures established for, the care and supervision of, and legal responsibility (including legal custody and/or guardianship under State law, as appropriate) for, unaccompanied refugee children in the State;

(f) Provide for and describe (1) the procedures established to identify refugees who, at the time of resettlement in the State, are determined to have medical conditions requiring, or medical histories indicating a need for, treatment or observation, and (2) the procedures established to monitor any necessary treatment or observation;

(g) Provide that assistance and services funded under the plan will be provided to refugees without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, or political opinion; and

(h) Provide that the State will, unless exempted from this requirement by the Director, assure that meetings are convened, not less often than quarterly, whereby representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other agencies that serve refugees meet with representatives of State and local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival. All existing exemptions to this requirement will expire 90 days after the effective date of this rule. Any State that wishes to be exempted from the provisions regarding the holding and frequency of meetings may apply by submitting a written request to the Director. The request must set forth the reasons why the State considers these meetings unnecessary because of the absence of problems associated with the planning and coordination of refugee placement. An approved exemption will remain in effect for three years, at which time a State may reapply.

(i) Provide that the State will:

(1) Comply with the provisionsof title IV, Chapter 2, of the Act and official issuances of the Director;

(2) Meet the requirements in this part;

(3) Comply with all other applicable Federal statutes and regulations in effect during the time that it is receiving grant funding; and

(4) Amend the plan as needed to comply with standards, goals, and priorities established by the Director.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0960–0418)

[51 FR 3912, Jan. 30, 1986, as amended at 60 FR 33602, June 28, 1995; 65 FR 15443, Mar. 22, 2000]

ACTION NEEDED

Beginning today, I am going to write to each of the State Coordinators listed here and ask for the state’s most recent plan.   I recommend readers who are concerned with the refugee program in your state do so also.   Note in the regulations above, state coordinators are required to be employees of the State.

* I first wrote about these regulations last February when I was addressing the issue of states being able to opt out of the program.   So far, only the State of Wyoming has done so.