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Office
of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
Annual Report to Congress - 1999
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The
Refugee Act of 1980 (section 413(a) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act) requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit
an annual report to Congress on the Refugee Resettlement Program.
This report covers refugee program developments in FY 1999, from October
1, 1998 through September 30,1999. It is the thirty-third in a series
of reports to Congress on refugee resettlement in the U.S. since FY
1975 and the nineteenth to cover an entire year of activities carried
out under the comprehensive authority of the Refugee Act of 1980.
Admissions
- Just over
85,000 refugees and Amerasian immigrants were admitted to the U.S.
in FY 1999. An additional 20,681 Cuban and 1,233 Haitian nationals
were admitted as entrants.
Reception
and Placement Activities
-
In
FY 1999, ten non-profit organizations were responsible for the reception
and initial placement of refugees through cooperative agreements
with the Department of State.
Domestic
Resettlement Program
-
Refugee Appropriations: In FY 1999, the Office
of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provided $420 million in new budget
authority to assist refugees and Cuban and Haitian entrants. Of
this, States received about $189.0 million for the costs of providing
cash and medical assistance to eligible refugees and entrants.
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Social Services: In FY 1999, ORR provided States
with $67.0 million in formula grants, $10 million in special funds
to States to assist refugee TANF recipients, and $53.8 million in
discretionary grants to States and non-profit organizations for
a broad range of services for refugees, such as English language
and employment-related training.
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Targeted Assistance: In FY 1999 ORR provided $54.5
million in targeted assistance funds to supplement available services
in areas with large concentrations of refugees and entrants.
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Unaccompanied Minors: Since FY 1979, a total of
11,588 minors have been cared for until they were reunited with
relatives or reached the age of emancipation. The number remaining
in the program as of September 30, 1999 was 240.
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Voluntary Agency Match Grant Program: Grants totaling
$30.9 million were awarded in FY 1999. Under this program, Federal
funds are awarded on a matching basis to national voluntary resettlement
agencies to provide assistance and services to refugees.
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Refugee Health: ORR provided funds to State and
local health departments for refugee health assessments. Obligations
for these activities and technical assistance support amounted to
approximately $4.8 million in FY 1999.
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Wilson/Fish Alternative Projects: ORR provided
$6.2 million to fund privately administered alternative projects
in Kentucky, Nevada, and California in order to help refugees find
employment and reduce assistance costs.
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Cuban/Haitian Initiative: ORR provided three States,
Florida, Nevada and New York, with $19 million in funds to increase
services to Cuban/Haitian refugees and entrants in the areas of
access to health, mental health, improved education for youth, crime
prevention and employment.
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Congressional Consultations for FY 1999 Admissions:
Following consultations with Congress, President Clinton set a worldwide
refugee admissions ceiling at 91,000 for FY 1999.
Refugee
Population Profile
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Southeast Asians remain the largest group admitted since 1983, with
approximately 637,500 refugees, including about 74,120 Amerasian
immigrant arrivals. Nearly 438,750 refugees from the former Soviet
Union arrived in the U.S. during this period.
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Other refugees who have arrived in substantial numbers since the
enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980 include Afghans, Ethiopians,
Iranians, Iraqis, Poles, Romanians, Somalis, and those from the
former Yugoslavia.
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Six States have Southeast Asian refugee populations of 20,000 or
more and account for about 59 percent of the total Southeast Asian
refugee population in the U.S. The States of California, Texas,
and Washington continue to hold the top three positions.
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The Fall 1999 annual survey of refugees who have been in the U.S.
less than five years indicated that about 67 percent of refugees
age 16 or over were employed as of September 1999, as compared with
about 64 percent for the U.S. population.
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The labor force participation rate was about 61 percent for the
sampled refugee population, compared with 67 percent for the U.S.
The unemployment rate was three percent, compared with 4.2 percent
for the U.S. population.
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Approximately 66 percent of all sampled households were entirely
self-sufficient. About 19 percent received both public assistance
and earned income; another 13 percent received only public assistance.
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Approximately 56 percent of refugees in the five-year sample population
received medical coverage through an employer, while 28 percent
received benefits from Medicaid or Refugee Medical Assistance. About
13 percent of the sample population had no medical coverage in any
of the previous 12 months.
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The average number of years of education was the highest for the
former Soviet Union (11.8 years), while the lowest was for Southeast
Asian countries other than Vietnam (3.1 years). About five percent
of refugees reported they spoke English well or fluently upon arrival,
but 69 percent spoke no English at all.
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Approximately 32 percent of refugee households in the five-year
sample population received some sort of cash assistance. The most
common form of cash assistance was Supplemental Security Income,
received by about 19 percent of refugee households. About 27 percent
of refugee households received food stamps, and eight percent lived
in public housing.
The goal of the
U.S. refugee program is to provide assistance to help refugees achieve
economic self-sufficiency and social adjustment within the shortest
time possible following arrival to the U.S. In 1999, the United States
opened its
doors to more than 85,000 refugees from 64 countries for permanent
resettlement in this country, representing a more diverse population
than we have seen in the past. The increases are in arrivals from
Bosnia and Kosovo as well as from many African countries -- Sierra
Leone, Sudan, and Somalia.
Included in the
1999 arrivals were 10,500 Kosovo-Albanians who were rescued from muddy
refugee camps in Macedonia through emergency processing to other countries.
Over 4,000 of those coming to the United States were
quickly evacuated from Macedonia to Fort Dix, New Jersey where a temporary
Refugee Processing Center was set up for screening and placement activities.
This 12-week rescue mission was led by the Office of Refugee Resettlement
in
which more than 20 Federal, State, and voluntary agencies collaborated
effectively to rescue 4,050 Kosovo-Albanian refugees from the chaos
of a Balkan war. Refugees were resettled across the nation, and the
Fort Dix camp closed on July 16th as the last refugee departed to
a waiting sponsor. As with all refugee population groups coming to
this country, the American people continued their generosity through
volunteering their time and resources in helping refugees adjust to
their new life.
Programs serving
refugees continued to make important progress, reporting increases
in job placements, job retention rates, and wages at placement than
the previous year. We continued to revise and improve our grant programs
in 1999 to address current needs of the refugee groups and encourage
the successful resettlement of refugees into our communities.
One such program
was the Individual Development Account (IDA) program for refugees,
similar to the IDA program established for U.S. citizens who receive
assistance through welfare programs. The Refugee IDA Program represents
an
anti-poverty strategy built on asset accumulation for low-income working
refugee families and individuals with the goal of promoting economic
independence. The objectives of the program are to increase ability
to save, promote participation in the financial institutions of this
country, and gain access to capital. An important component of the
ORR-funded program is the provision of basic financial training to
assist refugees in understanding the American financial system. The
Federal matching funds, together with the refugee's own savings may
be used for five savings goals: 1) a home, 2) small business capital,
3) education or training, 4) an automobile, and 5) a computer. Early
reports suggest this is a very popular program among refugees.
During the year
we began an education grant program to State Departments of Education.
The purpose of the program is to provide for some of the costs of
educating refugee children incurred by local school districts in which
significant
numbers of refugee children reside. These grant funds may be used
for a broad spectrum of programs such as English language instruction,
tutoring programs, after-school programs, and parent training programs.
In addition, our office has
linked with the Child Care Bureau to collaborate on programs and issues
affecting refugee children.
Another grant
program revised to meet current needs is the Community and Family
Strengthening Program. This grant program provided funds for activities
which supplement and complement employment-related services by strengthening
refugee families and communities and enhancing their integration into
mainstream society. The activities allowed under this program address
social and economic problems and integration needs of refugee families
and of the refugee community. Examples of activities are: mentoring
programs and peer support; combating violence in families; crime prevention/victimization;
refugee community centers and organizing.
ORR funded a
strategic communications initiative to help refugee leaders develop
and implement comprehensive communications programs that will result
in greater visibility for their organizations and the communities
they serve. It will provide leaders with the skills, including interacting
with the media, to develop strong, effective messages about their
community, deliver them in a persuasive manner and identify and train
others to do the same.
In November 1999,
we held the Annual ORR Conference, which was attended by more than
1600 national and international participants. The theme of the conference
was "Resettlement through the Eyes of A Refugee Child."
Remarkable young people from Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Cuba, Kosovo, and
many other counties, were there to tell their stories of how they
survived, how they came to the U.S., and how they experienced the
resettlement process. ORR services have typically focused on adult
wage earners and the need for early self-sufficiency. However, as
we have become more aware of the effects of the trauma of resettlement
on refugee children, we have made children more of a focus in our
program.
For the future
we'll continue to make adjustments in program services. As new and
more diverse groups of refugees make their way to the U.S., the needs
can change considerably from those who came before. The ORR must always
stay alert to current needs. It has been an exciting year of accomplishments
and I am pleased to transmit herewith the ORR 1999 Annual Report to
Congress. The following pages describe the exemplary work of the ORR
staff and our many partners in resettlement work.
Lavinia
Limon
Director,
Office of Refugee Resettlement
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