Statement by Lavinia Limon
Director
Office of Refugee Resetlement
Administration for Children and Families
Department of Health and Human Services
Before the
Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration
August 4, 1999

 

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to submit this testimony on behalf of the President's recommendations for fiscal year 2000 refugee admissions. As the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Administration for Children and Families, I am responsible for administering the refugee and entrant assistance program.

The domestic refugee resettlement program must be able to respond quickly, visibly, and flexibly in providing refugee-specific services and in responding to refugee admissions crises. I believe that the program has become much more effective at moving people to economic and social self-sufficiency in the last five years than ever before. There are many reasons for this success such as the changes in welfare reform, the strong economy, our flexibility in delivering services, the broadening of social services available to refugees, and that refugees have a strong work ethic and ambition to succeed.

Background

Since 1975, over 2.2 million refugees have been resettled in the United States. The major goal of the refugee and entrant assistance program is to help refugees achieve economic self-sufficiency and social adjustment within the shortest time possible following their arrival in the U.S. For FY 1999, approximately $435.2 million was available through seven different programs: refugee cash and medical assistance, the Aalternative programs under the Wilson/Fish authority, social services, preventive health services, the voluntary agency matching grant program, the unaccompanied refugee minors program, and the targeted assistance grant program.

Refugee cash assistance and refugee medical assistance (RCA/RMA) are available to needy refugees who are not eligible for other cash or medical assistance programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Medicaid, and who arrive in the U.S. with few or no financial resources. This refugee assistance is State-administered and is paid entirely from federal funds. It is available to refugees only for a limited number of months following arrival in the U.S.; currently RCA/RMA are available for a refugee's first 8 months in the U.S.

We also reimburse States for the costs incurred on behalf of refugee children in the U.S. who are identified in countries of first asylum as unaccompanied minors. Depending on their individual needs, refugee children are placed in foster care, group care, independent living, or residential treatment.

At the State and local level, activities continue around creating alternative programs using the Wilson/Fish authority. Under this authority, we develop alternative projects that promote early employment of refugees. States, voluntary resettlement agencies, and other non-profit organizations have the opportunity to develop innovative approaches for the provision of cash and medical assistance, social services, and case management. Three projects were established when the State governments of Kentucky, Nevada, and South Dakota decided not to continue administering the refugee cash and medical assistance program. Eight other projects have been established as refugee-specific alternatives to the TANF and RCA programs; they are located in North Dakota, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, California, Vermont, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

To help refugees become self-supporting as quickly as possible, we also provide funding to State governments and private, non-profit agencies to provide services, such as English as a Second Language and employment training. Refugees receiving cash and medical assistance are required to be enrolled in employment services and to accept offers of employment.

For FY 1999, ORR provided grants to State public health departments for preventive health assessment and treatment services to refugees for protection of the public health against contagious diseases.

Under the Voluntary Agency Matching Grant Program, agencies match Federal funds from private funds or in-kind goods and services. About one-quarter of all newly arriving refugees are enrolled in this program. Under Matching Grant rules, during the refugees' first four months in the U.S., nine voluntary resettlement agencies take responsibility for resettling refugees through their local networks and assisting them to become self-sufficient through private initiatives without recourse to public assistance.

The Targeted Assistance Grants program targets additional resources to communities facing extraordinary resettlement problems because of a high concentration of refugees and a high use of public assistance by the resident refugee population. Special efforts are directed to those refugees who depend upon public assistance.

Recent Activities in the Program

Our discretionary funds have supported services to refugees in a broad array of activities: Cultural orientation services for refugees who are newly arrived, help to localities which receive unanticipated arrivals as well as communities affected by increases in the arrival of Cuban and Haitian entrants, and support for communities which represent preferred resettlement sites. Ongoing activities supported by discretionary funds include community and family strengthening, domestic violence prevention, crime prevention, mental health services, English language and vocational training, micro-enterprise, support for local and national ethnic groups, and targeted assistance to local, impacted counties. This year, ORR has funded a new area of educational support to schools with a significant proportion of refugee children. Finally, discretionary funds also support services for communities with large concentrations of refugees who have experienced particular difficulty acculturating to local communities. These include subsidized employment, citizenship services, and services for the elderly.

As you know, in the Refugee Act there is a provision that authorizes the Secretary to make arrangements for the temporary care of refugees in the United States in emergency circumstances, including the establishment of domestic processing centers. The most recent use of this provision was the assistance ORR provided to Kosovar refugees at Fort Dix, New Jersey. ORR coordinated the efforts of other HHS agencies, the military, the State Department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Customs Service and other agencies at Fort Dix. I am happy to report that this joint effort ensured the smooth and efficient processing of over 4,000 Kosovar refugees and their resettlement in communities all across the country in a very short period of time.

Conclusion

We will continue to work closely with Congress, the States, voluntary agencies and others involved in refugee resettlement to identify creative and effective ways to help refugees achieve economic self-sufficiency and social adjustment as quickly as possible.

We believe the Administration's proposed 5-year reauthorization package provides the framework for accomplishing this goal. We look forward to working with the Committee to reauthorize the refugee and entrant program this year.