Category: Where to find information

Ukraine: Top Refugee Processing Country to Close Borders on Tuesday

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 5 Comments

COVID-19 News…..

From time to time over the years, I’ve told you about “processing countries” which are locations around the world where refugees are gathered and as the word says, are processed into the US.  It doesn’t mean that all those processed are the nationality of the country that is doing the processing.

Indeed when you look at the map of processing locations from the Refugee Processing Center (below), you will see Malaysia, Thailand and Turkey are high on the list, but in those cases they are locations where refugees of various nationalities are being selected for movement to your towns and cities.

 

https://www.wrapsnet.org/documents/Arrivals%20by%20Processing%20Country%20and%20Nationality%20-%20Map%202-29-20.pdf

 

However, in the case of Ukraine, they are mostly (if not all) Ukrainians.  Don’t ask me what the deal is and why we are moving supposedly persecuted Ukrainians to America, but we are.

Every day I look for any news about whether the US State Department is taking any action to either delay refugee arrivals or at least to test refugees for coronavirus exposure and am not seeing it.

That said, I did see that the Ukrainian government has announced that as of March 17th, Ukraine’s borders (both in and out) will close even as the country only has a handful of cases so far, so presumably that will bring refugee arrivals from Ukraine (presently among the largest numbers we are getting) to a halt.

By the way, the largest number of Ukrainian refugees arriving in the US are going to Washington, California and New York states with more cases of COVID-19 than the whole country of Ukraine.

Keep an eye out!  If you see news about delays in refugee arrivals due to the virus crisis let me know!

 

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!

New Public Charge Rule Does Not Apply to Refugees or Special Immigrants from Afghanistan or Iraq

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 3 Comments

I’ve reported this news previously, but still get questions about it.

It is wonderful that the President is making it harder for people who would be a burden on our social services (aka welfare system) to stay in the US, but the new rule does not apply to perhaps the heaviest users of our social safety net—refugees.

Check out the new rules at The National Law Review:

Factors Government Will Consider under New Public Charge Rule

On the same day the Public Charge Rule went into effect (February 24, 2020), immigrant advocates held a teach-in at Boston City Hall to try to lessen the uncertainty and fear that has been spreading through immigrant communities.

At the Boston Teach-In last month. Bethany Li, of Greater Boston Legal Services, said the new rule will hit Chinese and other Asian immigrants particularly hard. I guess she is saying that her community uses a heck of a lot of welfare. https://www.miracoalition.org/news/advocates-tackle-community-needs-as-public-charge-rule-is-implemented/

The Administration has stated that the Public Charge “[R]ule will protect hardworking American taxpayers, safeguard welfare programs for truly needy Americans, reduce the federal deficit, and re-establish the fundamental legal principle that newcomers to our society should be financially self-sufficient and not dependent on the largess of United States taxpayers.” However, immigration advocates view the rule as “penalizing poverty” and taking the chance to become self-sufficient away from immigrants, a group of individuals who historically has been an important part of our country and our economy.

Previously, this rule primarily affected those who accepted cash welfare benefits. However, the new rule makes admission to the U.S. more difficult for low-income immigrants and non-immigrants who use other, non-cash welfare benefits. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that the public charge rule is meant to determine whether a person is likely to use of certain government benefits in the future. To make that determination, officers will review the totality of the circumstances, including an applicant’s income, age, health, family status, assets, credit scores, liabilities, education, and skills (including English language), visa classification sought, and receipt of public benefits. Some factors serve as “negative” factors, others as “positive” factors.

[….]

These groups of individuals will not be subject to the public charge test:

[….]

~Applicants for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), asylee or refugee status, special immigrant juvenile status, or U or T visas.

More here.

 

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!

 

CIS: Refugees (including SE Asians) are Expensive for US Taxpayers!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Refugees entering the US as adults cost $133,000 each!

The Center for Immigration Studies has taken a first stab at countering the glowing ‘economic’ studies being spread around by the likes of Michael Bloomberg’s New American Economy, or that gang of community organizers at Welcoming America about how refugees are a boon to economically foundering cities.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the CIS study:

The Fiscal Impact of Refugee Resettlement

No Free Lunch for Taxpayers

Advocates of expanding the number of refugees admitted to the United States have lately portrayed their position as a win-win — refugee resettlement not only assists the refugees themselves, it also allegedly improves our nation’s fiscal health. The fiscal claim is unsupportable.

Although refugees from earlier generations were often well educated, today’s refugees have fewer than nine years of schooling on average.

Because of their low earning power and immediate access to welfare benefits, recent refugees cost the government substantially more than they contribute in taxes, even over the long term.

Our best estimate of the average refugee’s lifetime fiscal cost, expressed as a net present value, is $60,000, with those entering as adults (ages 25 to 64) costing $133,000 each.

Perhaps this is a price that the United States should be willing to pay to further its humanitarian goals. However, resettlement in the United States may not be the most cost-effective means of aiding displaced people.

Read it all here.

I think you will see some cost items that were not considered including costs that may have been shifted by the federal government to state and local tax payers.

460,000 Southeast Asian Refugees Living in Poverty in US!

To illustrate the general point, that refugees are not contributing in any great way, and are not revitalizing cities,  but are costing us a bundle (and not just financially, but socially) as they struggle with poverty in America, see this report with a politically-incorrect title from NBC!

But, keep in mind that those pushing the report want even more taxpayer dollars spent on the Southeast Asian refugee ‘community.’

Largest U.S. refugee group struggling with poverty 45 years after resettlement

It’s been 45 years since thousands of Southeast Asian refugees settled in the United States, yet, as a group, they continue to face major socioeconomic challenges that have long been masked under the “model minority myth,” which portrays all Asian Americans as successful, according to a new report.

California Hmong mourning deaths of some of their young people killed in apparent gang wars. Crime is rampant in their ‘community.’ https://apnews.com/133ecb13304b42b2a88fb020ba24f0fe

The report, “Southeast Asian American Journeys, A National Snapshot of Our Communities,” released last week, illustrates the experience of the community, from its migration to the U.S. to the present day.

One of the key findings is that across the country, nearly 1.1 million Southeast Asian Americans are low-income, and about 460,000 live in poverty. Hmong Americans fare worst compared to all racial groups across multiple measures of income.

Read it all.  So much for the magic melting pot mythology.  And, each and every one cost the US taxpayers a bundle—and they are still costing us 45 years later!

 

Note to PayPal donors!  I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.

Five Months Into Fiscal Year, 6,273 Refugees Admitted; Big Story is Number of Afghans

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 5 Comments

As you all know by now the President submitted a refugee cap of 18,000 refugees to be admitted to the US between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020 (FY2020).  Five months into the fiscal year, the number stands at just over 6,000 according to the Refugee Processing Center.

But, not counted in that number is a special category of nationals from Afghanistan and Iraq known as Special Immigrant Visa holders who supposedly worked with us during those two long wars.  They are admitted with their families and are treated as refugees, but rarely mentioned.

(Don’t miss Daniel Greenfield’s piece on the “interpreter scam” where he did a deep dive into the numbers of Special Immigrant Visa holders, mostly Muslims, entering the US.)

Another 6,221 Afghans and 146 Iraqis were admitted (as SIVs) in this fiscal year (so far) bringing the total of those given all the benefits of refugee resettlement to 12,640 in the last five months.

I think we should get used to referring to the refugee numbers that way—adding together the regular refugees and the SIVs.

Here (below) is a map showing where the regular refugees were resettled.

The top ten ‘welcoming’ states are Washington, California, Texas, New York, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Minnesota, and Ohio.

 

How many Muslims?

If you are wondering how many of the 6,273 regular refugees are Muslims, the number is 1,233. There is no Muslim ban!

Top Muslim sending countries so far this year:

Afghanistan: 514

Burma: 143

Iraq: 136

Syria: 115

Somalia: 80

Special Immigrant Visas…

So as I said above, so far this fiscal year we have admitted 6,221 Afghan SIVs.

In FY19 the number was 7,703, FY18 9,651 and in Trump’s first year FY17—a whopping 16,866!

There is no breakdown of religions for SIVs, but I suspect that virtually all of the Special Immigrant Visas are Muslims. If I am right and the vast majority are Muslims then 60% of the refugees/SIVs entering the US right now are Muslim.

There is also no map for SIVs, but there is a spreadsheet at the Refugee Processing Center.

See where most of the Afghan SIVs have been placed since FY07. Out of a total admissions number of 65,916. Five states have taken on most of the financial burden of these special ‘refugees.’

California: 24,307

Texas: 9,913

Virginia: 8,849

Washington: 3,806

Maryland: 3,506

Want to dig into these numbers yourself.  See my post Knowledge is Power IV on how to use the Refugee Processing Center.

 

Note to PayPal donors!  I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.

CIS: US Remains Top Refugee Resettlement Country in the World; See Top US Cities

~ Ann Corcoran ~ 6 Comments

You would never know that if all you ever read is the mainstream media eager to show that Donald Trump’s America is mean while other western countries are ‘welcoming.’

From the Center for Immigration Studies:

U.S. Was the Number-One Refugee Resettlement Country in the World in 2019

And most likely will be in 2020, as well

New data released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on its 2019 resettlement activities shows that the United States remains the top country for refugee resettlement. Furthermore, just like in previous years, the vast majority of refugees referred by UNHCR for resettlement in third countries in 2019 were not the most vulnerable or in urgent need of relocation. This contradicts the UN refugee agency’s constant claims that resettlement is a “life-saving tool”, a “critical lifeline” for refugees that needs strengthening. This also casts some doubt on UNHCR referral processes.

[….]

The statistical snapshot provided by UNHCR on its 2019 resettlement activities (figures are for the calendar year) has the United States as the top resettlement submission and destination country in 2019 (as it was in 2017 and 2018 under the Trump administration, see here and here):

Now see below which countries actually took in fewer by larger margins than the US.

Continue reading all of Nayla Rush’s detailed report.

How are your cities doing?

There is some very cool data on which US cities get the most refugees on a per capita basis here at American Public Media Research Lab.

I chose the data for the Top 25 US cities ‘welcoming’ 100 or more refugees each year between 2015 and 2019.  The maps are interactive so when you visit you can click on the city and learn more details.

That smashed together location in Georgia is Atlanta and Clarkston. Clarkston is the number one city in the country on a per capita basis.

 

Since it is such a muddle there in the Northeast, here is a blow-up of that section of the map:

You might want to go visit and see if your city is in the Top 100.

Note to PayPal donors!  I want to thank all of you who send me donations for my work via PayPal. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, PayPal is making changes to their terms of service and I’ve decided to opt-out beginning on March 10, 2020.