DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FAMILY SUPPORT ADMINISTRATION: Office of Refugee Resettlement Estimated 19.30 15.00 87.47 70.56 192.33 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Immigration and Naturalization Service Refugee Processing, Initial Interviewing and Soviet Processing 52.85 17.54 22.85 93.24 7.60 5.60 *Figures are based on the Administration's budget request for FY 1992, for the admission of approximately 120,000 publicly funded refugees. At the time this Chief Executive Officer Chairperson Kenneth H. Phillips Vice Chairperson Secretary Treasurer Assistant Secretary Assistant Treasurer Jane G. Covey Executive Committee Ann N. Beardslee Ellsworth Culver Thomas H. Fox Robert O'Brien Catherine A. Parrish Daniel E. Pellegrom Helen Seidler 200 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003 212/777-8210 Fax: 212/995-2942 1815 H Street, NW 11th Floor Washington, DC 20006 202/822-8429 Fax: 202/659-2661 The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Chair, Subcommittee on Immigration and U.S. Senate 315 SROB Washington, D.C. 20510-2101 Dear Senator Kennedy: On behalf of the private voluntary agencies active in refugee resettlement, I am pleased to send you our collective recommendations regarding refugee admissions to the United States for fiscal year 1992. The recommendations are based on the careful consideration of the expected resettlement needs for refugees world-wide as well as on past precedents and practices of U.S. refugee admissions policy. The past year has been one of startling change and tragic upheavals whose It is clear, however, that U.S. refugee policy will continue to have a profound effect on millions of lives, and that domestic refugee resettlement will continue to be one crucial element of this. The global refugee situation clearly shows that the need for resettlement will not decline in the near future, and that the ethnic and nationality groups of refugees requiring resettlement will even expand. As the United States responds to these global challenges, the American people continue to show their humanitarian generosity. It is imperative that this spirit not fade as we enter a new era. I therefore request that our views and recommendations be given careful consideration in the forthcoming consultations for refugee admissions during fiscal year 1992. InterAction is a membership association of U.S. private voluntary organizations engaged in international humanitarian efforts. including relief, development, refugee assistance, public policy, and global education. The Hon. Edward M. Kennedy September 12, 1991 Page 2 Mr. Kyle Horst Assistant to the President for Refugee Affairs Mr. Dale de Haan Director, Migration and Refugee Services Dr. Tsehaye Teferra Executive Director Ethiopian Community Development Council The Rev. Canon Burgess Carr Executive Director Episcopal Migration Ministries Mr. Karl D. Zukerman Executive Vice President Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Ms. Mitzi Schroeder Director, Washington Office International Catholic Migration Commission Dr. Le Xuan Khoa President Indochina Resource Action Center Mr. Ralston Deffenbaugh Executive Director Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service The Rev. Richard Ryscavage, S.J. Executive Director Migration and Refugee Services/U.S. Catholic Conference Mr. Lionel Rosenblatt Executive Director Refugees International Mr. Leon Marion Executive Director The Tolstoy Foundation Mr. Donald Hammond Director, North American Ministries -39 C. SECONDARY MIGRATION Secondary migration is the term used to describe movement by refugees from the location where they were initially resettled upon arrival in this country to some other place. California is the favored destination of the Indochinese, and they are much less likely to leave California, once there, than are other residents. Other States in the Northeast and North Central regions have also received significant refugee in-migration. Secondary migration seems to be influenced by several major factors, including a desire to find improved employment opportunities, live in an area with a supportive ethnic community and perhaps near relatives or, in some cases, to have access to public assistance. ORR has developed a system based on reports from the States for compiling and maintaining data on secondary migration. These data are important not only for general program planning, but also for the accurate computation of formulae for distribution of funds to States. Results of the 1990 State reports are in ORR's Annual Report which has been transmitted to the Congress. D. ECONOMIC IMPACT Employment. The net economic effect of refugees in the United States derives ultimately from their contribution to the American economy and from the Federal, State, and local government taxes they pay. In the short term, the primary question is whether or not refugees are obtaining employment which enables them to become self-supporting members of American society. ORR conducts an annual native-language survey of Southeast Asian refugees who have come to the United States during the five previous years. The most recent of these surveys was conducted in October 1990 and included 633 refugee households with which interviews were completed. Results from the survey indicate that the labor force participation rate (those working or seeking work) for refugees 16 or older was 36 percent, compared to an equivalent rate of 66 percent for the overall U.S. population. As in previous years the labor force participation of refugees varied with length of residence in the U.S. The most recent (1990) arrivals had a labor force participation rate of 21 percent, and the 1989 arrivals had a labor force participation rate of 35 percent. This rate increased gradually with time in the United States. The 1990 survey also provides data on unemployed refugees (those who are in the labor force who are not working). Late in 1990 the overall U.S. unemployment rate was 5.5 percent, while the unemployment rate for those refugees interviewed who were age 16 years or older was eight percent. Significant changes in unemployment occur for refugees over time. Those who arrived in early 1990 had an unemployment rate of 31 percent by late 1990. Unemployment declined to 14 percent for 1989 arrivals and reached lower levels for earlier arrivals. - 40 E. SOCIAL IMPACT The effects which refugees may have on the localities in which they resettle depend not only on employment and culture, but also on the characteristics of the receiving communities. Likewise, the perception as to whether refuges are having positive or negative, limited or major effects on the localities is conditioned by the perspectives of those affected. At the arrival levels prevailing in recent years, the growth of most refugee communities is slow compared with the overall size of those communities, and the impact of new arrivals is low and in many cases may not be discernible. In a few communities, the relative number of arrivals has been appreciable and noticeable. |