 Annual ORR Reports to Congress - 2003
I. Refugee Resettlement Program
Admissions
To be admitted to the United States as a refugee, an individual must be determined by an officer of the Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meet the definition of refugee as defined in the Refugee Act of 1980. They also must be determined to be of special humanitarian concern to the U.S., be admissible under U.S. law, and not be firmly re-settled in another country. Special humanitarian concern generally applies to refugees with relatives residing in the U.S., refugees whose status as refugees has occurred as a result of their association with the U.S., and refugees who have a close tie to the U.S. because of education here or employment by the U.S. government. In addition, the U.S. admits a share of refugees determined by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to be in need of resettlement in a third country outside the region from which they have fled.
The ceiling for the number of refugees to be admitted each year is determined by the President after consultation between the Executive Branch and the Congress. The President has authority to respond beyond the ceiling in cases of emergencies. The table at right shows the arrivals and ceilings in FY's 1983-2003.
For FY
2003 the President determined the refugee ceiling at 70,000
refugees. During the fiscal year, 28,117 refugees including
67 Amerasians were admitted to the U.S. In addition, 10,129
Cuban and 931 Haitian entrants were admitted to the U.S.
Refugee and entrant arrivals from Cuba comprised the largest
admission group (10,430), followed by refugee arrivals from
the successor republics of the Soviet Union (8,728), Yugoslavia
(2,500), Liberia (2,915), and Iran (2,428).
|
Ceilings and Admissions (1983 to 2003) |
|||||
|
Year |
Ceiling |
Admissions |
% of Ceiling |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2003
|
70,000
|
28,117
|
40.2
|
||
|
2002
|
70,000
|
27,070
|
38.7
|
||
|
2001
|
80,000
|
68,388
|
85.4
|
||
|
2000
|
90,000
|
72,519
|
80.5
|
||
|
1999
|
91,000
|
85,014
|
93.4
|
||
|
1998 |
83,000 |
76,750 |
92.5 |
||
|
1997 |
78,000 |
76,456 |
98.0 |
||
|
1996 |
90,000 |
75,755 |
84.1 |
||
|
1995 |
112,000 |
99,553 |
88.8 |
||
|
1994 |
121,000 |
112,065 |
92.6 |
||
|
1993 |
132,000 |
119,050 |
90.2 |
||
|
1992 |
142,000 |
131,749 |
92.8 |
||
|
1991 |
131,000 |
113,980 |
87.0 |
||
|
1990 |
125,000 |
122,935 |
98.3 |
||
|
1989 |
116,500 |
106,932 |
91.8 |
||
|
1988 |
60,500 |
76,930 |
127.2 |
||
|
1987
|
70,000
|
58,863
|
84.1
|
||
|
1986 |
67,000 |
60,559 |
90.4 |
||
|
1985 |
70,000 |
67,166 |
96.0 |
||
|
1984 |
72,000 |
70,604 |
98.1 |
||
|
1983 |
90,000 |
60,040 |
66.7 |
||
|
Source: Reallocated ceilings from Department of State (except for FY 1989 in which the reallocated ceiling was revised from 94,000 to 116,500). Admissions based on ORR data system, which com-menced in 1983. Data on arrivals not available prior to the estab-lishment of the refugee database in 1983. Does not include entrants. |
|||||
Comparing
the countries of origin of this year's arrivals with those of
a decade earlier illustrates the wide swings and abrupt reversals
in the refugee program. Yugoslavia sent only six refugees to
the U.S. in FY 1990 and Somalia, 33. Arrivals from the U.S.S.R.,
on the other hand, reached almost 50,000 then, but have since
dwindled to 8,728, as have arrivals from Vietnam which have
fallen by 95 percent to 1,466. FY 2003 arrivals from Laos, Romania,
and Cambodia totaled only 20; a decade earlier, these three
countries accounted for almost 16,000 admissions.
Florida received the largest number of arrivals (10,227), followed
by California (4,205), Wash-ington (2,751), New York (2,503),
and Texas (1,811). Unlike countries of origin, the States of
initial resettlement vary little from year to year. The only
notable difference from a decade earlier is Florida's rise to
the top spot-due entirely to a sustained increase in Cuban entrants
under the bilateral agreement (discussed below).
The admission
numbers for refugees included in this chapter include individuals
admitted under the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1988. Amerasians
are children born in Vietnam to Vietnamese mothers and American
fathers and are admitted as immigrants, rather than refugees;
however, these youths and their immediate relatives are entitled
to ORR-funded refugee services and benefits. Since FY 1988,
almost 75,800 Vietnamese have been admitted to the U.S. under
this provision. In the peak year for this population (1992),
over 17,000 youths and family members arrived in the U.S. Last
year they numbered only 67.
The Population Profile section and associated tables in Appendix
A of this report provide refu-gee, Amerasian, and entrant arrival
numbers by country of origin and State of initial resettlement
for the period FY 1983 through FY 2003.
Congress created the Cuban/Haitian Entrant Program under Title V of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980. The law provides for a program of reimbursement to participating States for cash and medical assistance to Cuban and Haitian entrants under the same conditions and to the same extent as such assistance and services are provided to refugees under the refugee program. The first recipients of the new program were the approximately 125,000 Cubans who fled the Castro regime in the Mariel boatlift of 1980.
By law, an entrant-for the purposes of ORR-funded benefits-is a Cuban or Haitian national who is (a) paroled into the U.S., (b) subject to exclusion or deportation proceedings, or (c) an applicant for asylum.
Under the
terms of a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Cuba, up
to 20,000 Cuban immigrants are allowed to enter the U.S. directly
from Cuba annually. These individuals are known as Havana Parolees
and are eligible for ORR-funded benefits and services in States
that have a Cuban/Haitian Entrant Program.
Entrant Arrivals, FY 1991 to FY 2003
|
Cuba |
Haiti |
Total |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 |
10,129
|
931
|
11,060
|
|
2002
|
16,015
|
719
|
16,734
|
| 2001 |
14,499 |
1,451
|
15,950
|
| 2000 |
17,871
|
1,570
|
19,441
|
| 1999 |
20,728
|
1,270
|
21,998
|
| 1998 |
13,492
|
590
|
14,082
|
| 1997 |
5,284
|
42
|
5,326
|
| 1996 |
16,985
|
346
|
17,331
|
| 1995 |
31,195
|
1,035
|
32,230
|
| 1994 |
12,785
|
1,579
|
14,364
|
| 1993 |
3,452
|
700
|
4,152
|
| 1992 |
2,539
|
10,385
|
12,924
|
| 1991 |
696
|
395
|
1,091
|
Does not include Cuban and Haitian arrivals with refugee status.
In FY 2003, 11,060 Cuban and Haitian entrants arrived in the U.S. Eighty-one percent initially resettled in Florida. The above table describes the flow of entrants since FY 1991.
On June 15, 2000 ORR published State Letter 00-12, which revised its policy on program eligibility for persons granted asylum. Section 412(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides a refugee with benefits beginning with the first month in which the refugee has entered the U.S. In the past, an asylee's arrival date in the U.S. was considered his entry date for the purposes of program eligibility. The months of eligibility for assistance (currently eight) would then begin on this date. This date could precede by months or even years the date that the individual applied for or was granted asylum. Because of the time it normally takes for an individual to apply for asylum and to proceed through the INS adjudication process, this interpretation of "entry" prohibited even individuals who applied for asylum immediately upon arrival from accessing refugee cash assistance and refugee medical assistance.
In 1996
Congress revised Federal immigration laws to use date of admission,
rather than date of physical entry, as the important issue in
determining an alien's legal status. Accordingly, ORR now uses
the date that asylum is granted as the initial date of eligibility
for ORR-funded services and benefits.
Most of the persons eligible for ORR's refugee program benefits and services are refugees resettled through the Department of State's refugee allocation system under the annual ceiling for refugee admissions. Upon arrival, refugees are provided initial services through a program of grants, called reception and placement cooperative agreements, made by the Department of State to qualifying agencies. In FY 2003, the following agencies participated: Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Iowa Refugee Service Center, International Rescue Committee, Immigration and Refugee Services of America, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and World Relief.
These grantee
agencies are responsible for providing initial "nesting" services covering basic food, clothing, shelter, orientation,
and referral for the first 30 days. In FY 2003, the agencies
re-ceived a per capita amount of $800 from the State Department
for this purpose. After this period, refugees who still need
assistance are eligible for cash and medical benefits provided
under ORR's program of domestic assistance. For more information
on these agencies and their activities, see Appendix C.
All persons admitted as refugees or granted asylum while in the U.S. are eligible for refugee benefits described in this report. Certain other persons admitted to the U.S. under other immigration categories are also eligible for refugee benefits. Amerasians from Vietnam and their accompanying family members, though admitted to the U.S. as immigrants, are entitled to the same social services and assistance benefits as refugees. Certain nationals of Cuba and Haiti, such as public interest parolees and asylum applicants, may also receive benefits in the same manner and to the same extent as refugees if they reside in a State with an approved Cuban/Haitian Entrant Program. In addition, certain persons deemed to be victims of a severe form of trafficking, though not legally admitted as refugees, are eligible for ORR-funded benefits to the same extent as refugees.
In FY 2003, the refugee and entrant assistance program was funded under the FY 2003 omnibus spending bill, P.L. 108-7. In addition to this appropriation of $443.8 million, Congress gave ORR permission to spend prior year unexpended funds. Congress appropriated an additional $37.1 million for the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program which was transferred from the Department of Homeland Security to ORR in March of FY 2003. The activities and benefits of this program are explained more fully beginning on page 45. The inclusion of the UAC appropriation brought the total ORR appropriation to $480.9 million. The appropriation table on page 9 explains the FY 2003 appropriations by line-item.
The domestic
refugee program consists of three separate resettlement approaches:
(1) the State-administered program, (2) the Wilson/Fish program,
and (3) the Matching Grant program.
Federal resettlement assistance to refugees is provided primarily through the State administered refugee resettlement program. States provide transitional cash and medical assistance and social services to refugees, as well as maintain legal responsibility for the care of unaccompanied refu-gee children.
Refugees generally enter the U.S. without income or assets with which to support themselves during their first few months here. Families with children under age 18 are generally eligible for support from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Refugees who are aged, blind, or disabled may receive assistance from the Federally administered Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Refugees eligible for these two programs may be enrolled in the Medicaid program which provides medical assistance to low-income individuals and families.
Refugees who meet the income and resource eli-gibility standards of these two cash assistance programs, but are not otherwise eligible-such as single individuals, childless couples, and two-parent families in certain States with restrictive TANF programs-may receive benefits under the special Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) and Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) programs. Eligibility for these special programs is restricted to the first eight months in the U.S. except for asylees, for whom the eligibility period begins with the month that asylum is granted. Due to funding constraints, ORR does not reimburse States for their costs of the TANF, SSI, and Medicaid programs.
In FY 2003,
ORR obligated $143.8 million in current year funds and $5.2
million in prior year funds to reimburse States for their full
costs for the RCA and RMA programs and associated State administrative
costs. Cash and medical assistance allocations for each State
are presented in the table on pages 10 and 11.
ORR provides funding for a broad range of social services to refugees, both through States and in some cases through direct service grants. With these funds, States provide intensive services to help refugees obtain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency and social adjustment as quickly as possible. After deducting set-asides mandated by Congress, ORR, as in previous fiscal years, allocated 85 percent ($71.1 million) of the remaining social service funds on a formula basis. ORR supplemented its FY 2003 formula award with $2 million in unexpended prior year funds for a special social service set-aside. With these funds, States provided services to strengthen refugee families through family conflict resolution ser-vices.
Altogether, through both current year appropriations and prior year funds, ORR obligated $73.1 million for formula social services. Program obligations varied according to each State's proportion of total refugee and entrant arrivals during the previous three fiscal years. States with small refugee populations received a minimum of $75,000 in social service funds. Of total social service funds, ORR obligated $65.2 million to States under the State-administered program and the remainder ($5.9 million) to other agencies through privately administered Wilson/Fish programs. For both programs, social services are provided only to refugees who have resided in the U.S. for fewer than 60 months.
In addition
to these funds, ORR obligated social service funds to a variety
of discretionary programs. A discussion of these discretionary
awards may be found beginning on page 24.
The targeted assistance program funds employment and other services for refugees and entrants who reside in local areas of high need. These areas are defined as counties or contiguous county areas with unusually large refugee and entrant populations, high refugee or entrant concentrations in relation to the overall population, or high use of public assistance. Such counties need supplementation of other available service resources to help the local refugee or entrant population obtain employment with less than one year's participation in the program.
In FY 2003,
ORR obligated $49.2 million for targeted assistance activities
for refugees and en-trants. Of this, $44.2 million was awarded
by formula to 28 States on behalf of the 53 counties eligible
for targeted assistance grants. States in the State-administered
program received $40.2 million of these funds; the remaining
formula funds were allocated to statewide Wilson/Fish alternative
pro-grams. Funds not allocated in the formula program were reserved
for communities in the form of discretionary grants through
the Targeted Assistance Discretionary program. A discussion
of these discretionary awards may be found be-ginning on page
27.
The accompanying table presents the amount of funds awarded
to individual counties. The amounts awarded to States under
the allocation formula are provided in the table on pages 10-11.
Targeted Assistance by County, FY 2003
|
Maricopa |
AZ |
$1,329,805 |
|
Los Angeles |
CA |
1,941,653 |
|
Orange |
CA |
466,978 |
|
Sacramento |
CA |
1,382,794 |
|
San Diego |
CA |
729,050 |
|
San Francisco |
CA |
357,999 |
|
Santa Clara |
CA |
631,687 |
|
Denver |
CO |
343,251 |
|
Dist. of Columbia |
DC |
258,678 |
| Broward |
FL
|
726,962
|
| Dade |
FL
|
9,783,181
|
|
Duval |
FL |
561,209 |
| Hillsborough |
FL
|
558,077
|
|
Palm Beach |
FL |
554,684 |
| DeKalb |
GA
|
1,058,336
|
| Fulton |
GA
|
480,421
|
|
Ada |
ID |
274,470 |
|
Cook/Kane |
IL |
1,486,552 |
| Polk |
IA
|
424,692
|
| Blackhawk |
IA
|
193,682
|
| Jefferson |
KY
|
741,840
|
|
Warren |
KY |
220,960 |
|
Hampden |
MA |
307,229 |
| Suffolk |
MA
|
487,469
|
|
Ingham |
MI |
404,593 |
| Kent |
MI
|
478,202
|
|
Wayne |
MN |
400,155 |
|
Hennepin/Ramsey |
MN |
1,304,746 |
| St. Louis |
MO
|
1,128,683
|
|
Kansas City |
MO |
295,483 |
| Lancaster |
NE
|
262,463
|
| Clark |
NV
|
449,098
|
|
Erie |
NY |
388,409 |
|
Monroe |
NY |
392,063 |
|
New York |
NY |
2,874,044 |
| Oneida |
NY
|
469,197
|
| Onodaga |
NY
|
404,723
|
| Guilford |
NC
|
355,520
|
| Cass |
ND
|
234,794
|
|
Cuyahoga |
OH |
344,165 |
| Multnomah |
OR
|
1,445,570
|
|
Erie |
PA |
241,842 |
| Philadelphia |
PA
|
462,410
|
|
Minnehaha |
SD |
204,907 |
|
Davidson |
TN |
339,336 |
|
Dallas/Tarrant |
TX |
1,204,512 |
| Harris |
TX
|
1,126,073
|
|
Davis/Salt Lake |
UT |
620,593 |
|
Fairfax |
VA |
532,366 |
|
Richmond |
VA |
290,002 |
|
King/Snohomish |
WA |
1,564,991 |
|
Spokane |
WA |
363,872 |
|
Total |
$44,239,860 |
ORR continued
its support of care for unaccompa-nied refugee minors in the
U.S. These children, who are identified in countries of first
asylum as requiring foster care upon their arrival in this country,
are sponsored through two national vol-untary agencies-the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Lutheran
Im-migration and Refugee Services (LIRS)-and placed in States
with licensed child welfare
programs operated by their local affiliates, Catho-lic Charities
and Lutheran Social Services, respec-tively.
Each refugee minor in the care of this program is eligible for the same range of child welfare benefits as non refugee children in the State. Where possible, the child is placed with a local affiliate of USCCB and LIRS in an area with nearby families of the same ethnic background. Depending on their individual needs, the minors are placed in home foster care, group care, independent living, or residential treatment. ORR reimburses costs incurred on behalf of each child until the month after his eighteenth birthday or such higher age as is permitted under the State's Plan under title IV B of the Social Security Act.
Since January 1979, over 12,000 children have entered the program through local affiliates in 41 States. Of these, 1,400 subsequently were reunited with family and 10,229 reached the age of emancipation.
FY 2001 saw the revival of the program. More than 3,800 Sudanese youths from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya arrived in the U.S. to begin life in America. These youths-dubbed the Lost Boys of Sudan due to their mass exodus from the terrors of the war in Sudan-ranged in ages from 11 to 27 years of age. Almost 500 of these had not attained the age of 18 and were placed in the unac-companied minor program.
In FY 2003,
158 youths entered the program from 18 countries. By the end
of the year, 811 youths remained in care, 618 males and 193
females. The majority of the youths arrived from the following
countries of origin:
| Afghanistan | 43 |
| China | 24 |
| Haiti | 107 |
| Honduras | 25 |
| Liberia | 24 |
| Somalia | 27 |
| Sudan | 403 |
| Vietnam | 68 |
| Other Countries | 90 |
| Total in Care | 811 |
These youths resided in the following States:
| Arizona | 22 |
| District of Columbia | 19 |
| Massachusetts | 64 |
| Michigan | 247 |
| Mississippi | 87 |
| New Jersey | 6 |
| New York | 76 |
| North Dakota | 32 |
| Pennsylvania | 86 |
| South Dakota | 8 |
| Texas | 4 |
| Utah | 7 |
| Virginia | 95 |
| Washington | 58 |
| Total | 811 |
|
FY 2003 Transitional and Medical Services State-administered Cash/Medical/Administrative $157,805,000 Matching Grant Program 45,992,000 CMA-Wilson/Fish Program 12,400,000 Other 3,600,000 Trafficking 9,935,000 Sub-total, Transitional and Medical Services $229,788,000 Social Services Social Services Formula $65,171,000 Social Services-Wilson/Fish Program 5,922,000 Social Services Discretionary 12,546,000 Difficult to Assimilate Programs 26,000,000 Cuban/Haitian Communities 19,000,000 Welfare Reform Program 14,000,000 Refugee Education 7,500,000 Subtotal, Social Services $150,139,000 Preventive Health $4,804,000 Targeted Assistance Targeted Assistance Formula $44,240,000 Targeted Assistance Discretionary 4,915,000 Subtotal, Targeted Assistance $49,155,000 Victims of Torture $9,935,000 Total ORR Appropriation $443,821,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children Program $37,082,000 Total ORR Appropriation $480,903,000 New budget authority only. Does not include prior year funds available for FY 2002 re-authorization. |
-
See Table "Obligations" in file "Tables-03
-
Promote more effective and better quality resettlement services through linkage between the initial placement of refugees and refugee cash assistance program.
-
Unite more firmly the two sectors into a partnership to help refugees.