Category: Who is going where

Milwaukee, WI has thousands of poor African Muslim immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It’s not often we find someone telling us what the numbers of Muslim refugees in a city are, but here is a church newsletter (page 3), thanks to Robert, that tells us that Milwaukee has 12,000 poor Africans and that 75% are Muslim.

There are more than twelve thousand African immigrants living in Milwaukee, and 75 percent of them are Muslims. These immigrants face many challenges adjusting to the American way of life. This is further complicated by those who do not have the financial means to provide for themselves and their families. SWD African immigrant missionaries in Milwaukee are reaching out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ—by way of one of life’s most basic needs.

We haven’t written much about Wisconsin at RRW, so I just checked my statistics and found this puzzling.  The Refugee program has only brought 23,000 or so refugees through 2005 to Wisconsin and the largest percentage by far were from Southeast Asia.   So, how did all these African Muslims get to Milwaukee, or to Wisconsin for that matter.

I don’t have a lot of time to google search today, but this article popped up right away and offers some explanation.  Regular readers of Refugee Resettlement Watch probably have already guessed!  Secondary migration of Somalis to work in meat packing (what else) is at least partially responsible.   This Journal-Sentinel article from 2004 tells of the trouble in little Barron, WI.   

But after decades of almost glacial transformation, this conservative city of 3,400 in the northwest part of the state has gone through a dramatic change, one that has tested America’s reputation as a haven for those fleeing strife-torn homelands.

In less than a decade, a river of refugees from Somalia has flowed into Barron, lured by good-paying meatpacking jobs at the Jennie-O Turkey plant, the city’s largest employer. Today, 12% of Barron’s population is from Somalia, a small East African nation on the Indian Ocean.

Since almost 4 years have passed since this article was written I would like to know if Barron has adjusted or not.   Calling all readers to send me more on Barron and the secondary migration of Africans to Wisconsin.

Here is a list of volags in Wisconsin to help with the research.

 

Trials and tribulations of refugees in Arizona

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a lengthy but worthwhile article published today in the Tucson Citizen.  It’s mostly about Iraqi and Afghan refugees who have been resettled recently.  Some are doing well, others are unhappy.  Representatives of the refugee agencies involved try to put a good spin on the whole thing.

Check out the comments because for the most part, those commenting are not happy about the whole resettlement issue. 

This is the link http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/81733.php

So who is coming with the Bhutanese?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If this article is accurate, it looks like there could be others of unknown nationality resettling in the West from the refugee camps in Nepal.

KATHMANDU, 30 March 2008 – As one of the world’s largest third-country resettlement processes started this week in Nepal, with over 10,000 Bhutanese refugees scheduled to be resettled in various Western countries by the end of 2008, Bhutan has disputed that all the refugees are in fact from Bhutan.

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Sonam Tobgay, head of the policy division of the Bhutanese Foreign Ministry, told IRIN on 27 March: “It is… factually incorrect to term all the people in the camps [in eastern Nepal] Bhutanese. Bhutan cannot accept a blanket reference to all the people in the camps as being ‘refugees’ from Bhutan.”

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Tobgay said the problem of the people in the camps in eastern Nepal was not straightforward: “It is a highly complex issue with its genesis in illegal immigration, in a region marked by vast population movements, porous and open borders, poverty, environmental degradation and political instability.”

We’ve heard rumors that there is rampant corruption when United Nations employees approve refugees for resettlement; we hope that is not the case here because literally tens of thousands are expected to be brought to the West from Nepal over several years.

Some refugees have complained there has been an unclear process of selecting refugee families for interview.

This article says some of the first are headed to Arizona.    We reported several resettlement cities last week here.   Start reading back from here if you want to follow our coverage of the decision to bring Bhutanese to the US and the conflict that decision has created in the camps where many do not want to come. 

Emporia Somalis going to Shelbyville, Yikes!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Today comes news from Shelbyville, TN that Tyson’s Foods is moving some of its Emporia, KS Somali refugee workers to Shelbyville, TN.  For regular readers of Refugee Resettlement Watch, you will immediately see this is a case of Tyson’s Somalis going from the frying pan to the fire, so to speak.   

Emporia was roiled for months over the sudden influx of Somalis who were lured by employment to that city by a Tyson’s meat packing plant that was ultimately suddenly closed.   For ambitious readers we have a whole category on Emporia, KS here.     At the same time, Shelbyville, TN was experiencing similar public unrest over an influx of Somalis there who seemed unable or unwilling to assimilate.   The Times-Gazette has covered the controversy extensively.  

Now citizens in Shelbyville are learning that some Emporia refugees are headed their way.

Tyson Foods officials have been working with the imam of Shelbyville’s Islamic mosque to bridge the cultural gap that exists between the Somali community and the rest of the public.

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Representatives of the company also dismissed lingering charges of Tyson hiring illegal immigrants as “myths and misconceptions.”

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Susan Brockway, manager of community and external relations, and Gary Mickelson, director of media relations, sat down with the Times-Gazette to speak about the refugee issue, which have been a hot topic of discussion with readers.

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Lola Hithon, human resource manager for the Shelbyville facility, has been in regular contact with Imam Haji Yousuf, the spiritual leader of the Somali Muslim community here, helping with issues such as cultural differences, how to get things translated and how to get services to the refugees.

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Informed sources also told the Times-Gazette this week that 80 to 100 Somalis who lived in Emporia, Kan., where a Tyson meat packing facility was recently downsized leaving nearly 1,500 without work, would be coming to Shelbyville. Micholson confirmed this, but stated the number working at the Shelbyville poultry facility would be 24.

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Tyson officials were in town last week speaking to various landlords and hotel owners about housing for the refugees, as well as holding one-on-one conversations with business owners and representatives of the school system.

Read the whole article.    As for housing the Somalis, please go back to this post earlier in the week.  I think the apartment building issue is going to be problematic for Tyson’s Food.

The Bhutanese have landed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to this CNN report the first Bhutanese refugees have arrived in America in what CNN describes as one of the “world’s largest resettlement efforts.”   For the refugee industry to function and for all the volags to continue to receive their government funding and keep their operations going, it’s important for them to have a continuous steady flow of refugees.   The volags would like nothing more than to go back to the glory days of huge numbers of refugees coming at once.*

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) — Bhutanese refugees began arriving in the United States on Tuesday, the first wave of what the United Nations describes as one of the world’s largest resettlement efforts.

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The U.S. has offered to resettle 60,000 of the estimated 107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now living in seven U.N. camps in southeastern Nepal — their home for the past 17 years. Six other nations — Australia, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark — have offered to resettle 10,000 each.

Here is where the first will be resettled.

The first group, arriving throughout the week, includes 121 refugees. They are being sent to New York; Chicago, Illinois; Syracuse, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and other cities, the International Organization for Migration said.

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The United Nations said several families had arrived in New York as of Tuesday, and more are en route to locations in Texas, Arizona and Maryland.

You might have seen the news that Bhutan had its first democratic election this week (it had been a monarchy) and you would think that that might mean they would be open to taking ethnic minorities back, but so far it looks like the trend (as in most of the world!) toward Ethnic Nationalism applies here also.   Everyone wants to live with their own kind.

The US continues to push for third country resettlement of the Bhutanese despite the controversy that it has created in the camps.

The United States’ resettlement plan has divided the refugee community, as members disagree over whether it is best to resettle in the United States or hang onto hopes of returning to Bhutan.

*Note:   The glory days were when tens of thousands of Vietnamese came followed by huge waves of refugees from the former Soviet Union.   Numbers of refugees coming to the US were drastically reduced in the years immediately following 9/11.  Many volags would have been forced to close their doors because their pay is tied to the number of refugees they resettle.   During those dry years the taxpayers continued to fund the volags at the level they had been accustomed to prior to 9/11.  That is why the refugee industry needs large and steady streams of refugees.   No refugees, no fat pay checks.