“We scratched our heads about this”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Minnesota demographers scratched their heads trying to figure out where all the Ethiopians were coming from.  This was from an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune over a year ago, but I thought it was worth mentioning.   (The July 16, 2006 article will not link).

“We scratched our heads about this,” Tom Gillaspy, the state demographer, said Friday. “It was a number that sort of stood out to us. There has been a steady, noticeable immigration from Ethiopia to Minnesota, but it’s larger this year.”

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Ethiopians began coming to the United States a few decades ago to escape famine and civil war in their Horn of Africa nation. But their population in Minnesota has remained relatively small compared with groups such as the Hmong and Somalis.

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The state says an estimated 7,500 Ethiopians were living in Minnesota in 2003 — the last year with complete figures — though immigrant leaders believe there are far more, perhaps as many as 20,000.

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……secondary migration — in which refugees move here after first living in other states — might explain the increase. Ethiopians are coming to Minnesota for low-skilled jobs and to join their families, he said.

It shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise.   According to the 2005 ORR report to Congress (Appendix A),  Minnesota was the recipient of the 2nd highest number of Ethiopians resettled in the US (only California received more).

We’ve also previously mentioned that one of the ten major volags (voluntary agencies) resettling refugees is the Ethiopian Community Development Council, the mothership of the Los Angeles based African Community Resource Center whose director, a former refugee (refugees set up their own non-profits and bring in more refugees), was recently indicted for allegedly helping herself to federal grant money designated for refugee programs.    Not only do these volags resettle newly arrived refugees but they help facilitate family reunification and secondary migrations.  Here the African Community Center advertises for its services to help refugees bring over the family.

From Lexington, NE to Emporia, KS to Manchester, NH and Lewiston, ME

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The story is the same from city to city.   The United States has resettled nearly 70,000 Somali refugees since the early 1980’s and they have in turn brought extended families and produced large families of their own, and now they are spreading out from originial resettlement cities in search of jobs and rural living.  The reports are all the same and follow the theme of this AP article of a few weeks ago from the Lincoln Journal.

He (Somali refugee) heard about Lexington, like many others, from a friend. He was attracted to the job, cheap living in a quiet town, and the chance to be surrounded by other Somalians.

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Just how many African refugees have moved to Lexington and other meatpacking towns in the state and across the Midwest is unclear. But refugee resettlement officials and local immigration specialists say there has been a sharp increase.

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One problem landlords faced when African refugees first began flowing into Lexington: burning wood on top of indoor stovetops to cook food.

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The rapid change in towns like Lexington has been a shock to the system of services immigrants rely on, such as health care. Kutschkau said there has been a shortage of medicine for an influx of refugees who needed to be treated for tuberculosis.

We have written many posts about tuberculosis and how some cities are struggling with large numbers of immigrants who need treatment and can’t afford it.    See our “health issues” category here.

The latest news from Emporia, Kansas

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Our readers around the world might be wondering if Refugee Resettlement Watch should be soon named the Emporia Refugee Watch!   However, Emporia is a very visible microcosm of the growing unrest in America about Refugee Resettlement and as such may serve to help others wondering what to do in their own cities and towns.  And, it is visible thanks to the Emporia Gazette’s on-line blog where readers can instantly react to the news.  Check out the latest article and the extensive comments here.

A common thread throughout the recent controversy in Emporia and indeed the common theme in communities where it is found that refugees have been quietly resettled is, how did this come about?  Who is promoting this? Where can we find answers?

“The city commission feels we need to have a public meeting,” Zimmerman said. “Invite all the agencies to come talk about costs involved. … I think it needs to come from the agencies that are doing the work. And we’re going to invite the people who are talking on the blogs. The city commission feels there’s a lot of legitimate concerns.”

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The city, Zimmerman said, needs to have a role in finding answers to the questions raised.

Yes, you should have a large public meeting and invite all of your elected officials.   The most important ones are the federal officials because they are responsible for funding  Refugee Resettlement.  We highly recommend you invite the U.S. State Department, Asst. Secretary of State, Office of Population, Refugees and Migration, Ellen Sauerbrey.

Reform needed:    Do you know that for more than 30 years if the federal government expends money on any project that affects the quality of the human environment, the federal government must complete an environmental impact statement and hold public hearings?    I’m thinking it’s high time the Refugee Act of 1980 is amended by the insertion of a requirement for a SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT  that would preceed the expenditure of federal money for Refugee Resettlement in a community.  Such an initiative would answer (in advance) all the questions that citizens everywhere are asking.

Big business is bringing refugees to small-town America

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

About a year ago the presence of refugees in Hagerstown, MD came to the public’s attention rather dramatically.  A very ill African woman sent a child out on the street of her crime-ridden neighborhood to look for medical help.  The child spoke no English and was found knocking on doors, searching for the resettlement agency office.  After the police were called, a series of misunderstandings led to an erroneous conclusion that the refugees and others living in the building were ill with a mysterious African disease.  The street was closed and a Hazmat team called in.  The woman had morning sickness (or so they say).   Thus began the questions by citizens about how all this came to be; it seemed almost as if the public had been kept in the dark purposely.

One of the most significant lines of inquiry involved the economic questions.    How could our city absorb all these people who were obviously receiving housing subsidies and other forms of welfare?   Were the refugees working?  And, what sort of jobs could they do since they didn’t speak English?   How could they support whole families on not much more than minimum wage?

It turned out that most of our refugees were working at warehouse jobs or local factories.  So then we asked, what’s in it for the likes of Sealy Mattress, one of the employers?   One probable answer is a federal tax subsidy for businesses that hire people on TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) or Food stamps.  (Note in my earlier post that half of the refugees are on food stamps, many receive TANF benefits).   The Work Opportunity Tax Credit , recently extended by Congress until August 31, 2011, offers a lucrative deal to employers.  (Note:  We have a better summary of the program from the Congressional Research Service dated June 4, 2007.  It was sent to me privately and I cannot find it on line. E-mail us and I’ll tell you where you might get it.)

A qualified employee (welfare recipient) need only work for 400 hours (a 40 hour work week translates to 10 weeks) and the business reaps a tax benefit of up to $2400.  If that employee doesn’t work out, get another! The volags (voluntary agencies) act as employment services for businesses and help facilitate refugee hiring.

It makes me wonder if this federal government subsidy is just one of the reasons big businesses like Tyson’s Food are so keen on refugees (in addition to their wish to keep wages low).   Afterall, these immigrant workers are here legally and come with benefits of their own.

Check out this post on Louisville, KY.  The Wall Street Journal says refugees are good for business.

Are we importing poverty?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars: 

Everytime I hear a Presidential candidate (Edwards for instance) say we need to combat poverty in America, or, we hear from Hillary and Obama that we need health care for the poor; I shake my head.   Will these ever go away as drumbeat issues when we are adding to our welfare rolls daily through our immigration policy, or in the case of illegal aliens, the lack of any policy?

In my research on the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (post later when I have a little more time), I came back to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) annual report to Congress.    The latest available on-line is the 2005 report;  it’s a treasure trove of information.   I’ve written about this before but with almost 250 posts here at RRW, I couldn’t find it!   It is worth repeating:

All in all, past surveys have described a consistent process of advancement, slow at first, and halting for some, but sustained nevertheless, toward integration with the American mainstream. The 2005 survey, in contradistinction, describes a much more serious struggle. The 2005 survey reveals a definite turndown in refugee resettlement advancement as measured by the general labor force participation and welfare utilization data. The survey indicates that the educational background of the five-year refugee population is substantially weaker than that reported in previous surveys. Fewer refugees have finished higher school, and fewer still have finished a college degree. A smaller proportion of arriving refugees can speak English fluently and a higher proportion speak no English at all. This has translated into lower labor force participation, as measured by the employment rate which has retreated from 62 percent in the 2004 survey to 58 percent this year.

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Moreover, the jobs that refugees find are of poorer quality than seen in previous surveys. This year the average age declined about five percent from the year before after considering the effects of inflation. Even more troubling is the dramatic decline in employer-related health benefits: Five years ago, two-thirds of respondents could claim such coverage; today, only one-fifth can make that claim.

Some other interesting statistics from the report:   For refugees arriving in 2005, 27%  received cash assistance and 11% lived in public housing.  Those numbers were the norm for the 6 years shown in the report.  However, two numbers rose considerably.  39% received medicare and 53% were on food stamps prompting conclusions like those outlined in the above segment of the report.

For those of you who love to look at statistics, check ORR’s annual reports back to 1997.