Office Of Refugee Resettlement: Policy Guidance & Reporting Forms

Annual ORR Reports to Congress - 2001

Executive Summary

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 ORR Reports to Congress on the Refugee Resettlement Program. This report covers refugee program developments in FY 2001, from October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001. It is the thirty-fifth in a series of reports to Congress on refugee resettlement in the U.S. since FY 1975 and the twenty-first to cover an entire year of activities carried out under the comprehensive authority of the Refugee Act of 1980.

Admissions

The U.S. admitted 68,010 refugees and 378 Amerasian immigrants in FY 2001. An additional 15,950 Cuban and Haitian nationals were admitted as entrants, for a total of 84,338 arrivals.
Refugees from Cuba (17,441) comprised the largest admission group, followed by arrivals from the successor republics of Yugoslavia (15,773), the successor republics of the Soviet Union (14,869), Iran (6,581), Sudan (5,951), and Somalia (4,940).
Florida received the largest number of arrivals (17,080), followed by California (10,149), New York (6,992), Washington (4,300), and Texas (3,802).

Reception and Placement Activities

In FY 2001, 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 2001, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) obligated $433 million in appropriated funds to assist refugees and Cuban and Haitian entrants. States received $160 million of this amount for the costs of providing cash and medical assistance to eligible refugees and entrants.
Social Services: In FY 2001, ORR provided $ 92.4 million in formula grants to States and non-profit organizations for a broad range of services for refugees, such as English language and employment-related training.
Targeted Assistance: In FY 2001 ORR provided $49.5 million in targeted assistance funds to supplement available services in areas with large concentrations of refugees and entrants.
Voluntary Agency Matching Grant Program: ORR awarded grants totaling $59.2 million during FY 2001. Under this program, ORR awards Federal funds on a matching basis to national voluntary resettlement agencies to provide assistance and services to refugees, Cuban/Haitian entrants, asylees, and victims of trafficking.
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 2001.
Wilson/Fish Alternative Projects: In FY 2001, statewide Wilson/Fish projects continued operation by private agencies in Kentucky, Nevada, and South Dakota and by a State agency in Massachusetts. In addition, new projects were initiated in the States of Alabama, Colorado, North Dakota, and Vermont and the county of San Diego, California.
Cuban/Haitian Initiative: ORR provided $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.

Key Federal Activities

Congressional Consultations: Following consultations with Congress, the President set a worldwide refugee admissions ceiling at 80,000 for FY 2001.

Refugee Population Profile

Southeast Asians remain the largest group admitted since ORR established its arrival database in 1983, with 645,266 refugees, including 75,479 Amerasian immigrant arrivals. Nearly 468,150 refugees from the former Soviet Union arrived in the U.S. between 1983 and 2001.
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 citizens of the republics of the former Yugoslavia.
Seven States have Southeast Asian refugee populations of 50,000 or more and account for about 62 percent of the total refugee population in the U.S. The States of California (411,556), New York (238,050), and Florida (202,502) continue to hold the top three positions.

Economic Adjustment

The Fall 2001 annual survey of refugees who have been in the U.S. less than five years indicated that about 62 percent of refugees age 16 or over were employed as of September 2001, as compared with about 64 percent for the U.S. population.
The labor force participation rate retreated to about 67 percent for the sampled refugee population, equaling the 67 percent for the U.S. population. The refugee unemployment rate rose to 6.9 percent, compared with 4.8 percent for the U.S. population.
Approximately 65 percent of all sampled refugee households were entirely self-sufficient. About 20 percent received both public assistance and earned income; another 12 percent received only public assistance.
Approximately 50 percent of refugees in the five-year sample population received medical coverage through an employer, while 33 percent received benefits from Medicaid or Refugee Medical Assistance. About 12 percent of the sample population had no medical coverage in any of the previous 12 months.
The average number of years of education was the highest for the refugees from the former Soviet Union (11.4 years), while the lowest was for refugees from Southeast Asian countries other than Vietnam (6.1 years). About eight percent of refugees reported they spoke English well or fluently upon arrival, but 60 percent spoke no English at all.
Approximately 36 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 18 percent of refugee households. About 36 percent of refugee households received food stamps, and 10 percent lived in public housing.

2001 REPORT TO CONGRESS

The Director's Message

During 2001, the United States received 84,338 refugees, entrants and Amerasians from 31 countries for permanent resettlement before refugee admissions were halted following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Among the year's highlights was the arrival of 3,000 "Lost Boys" from Sudan, the implementation by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and the admission of nearly 1,000 Burmese asylees.

The incredible story of the Sudanese "Lost Boys," ages 14 - 24 from the Kakuma Camp in Kenya, has inspired widespread interest, concern, and support from the media and the American public. In planning for their resettlement, 44 U.S. cities were chosen as resettlement sites for the minors and young adults who arrived during the year. Every effort was made to retain the self-styled 'family' groupings they had developed during their years of walking the African deserts and foraging for food. The Sudanese youths have been consistently described as industrious and eager to work. Approximately 90 percent of those 18 years of age and over were employed within four months of resettlement, and also enrolled in English classes, GED programs and community college courses.

Two other groups who are eligible for refugee services once they have legal status in this country are victims of a severe form of human trafficking and asylees.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act passed by Congress in October 2000 combats trafficking in persons and ensures just and effective punishment of traffickers, as well as protection of the victims who are predominantly women and children. The responsibility was delegated to the Assistant Secretary of ACF by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and re-delegated to ORR for developing and implementing a system for certifying human victims of severe forms of trafficking, in consultation with the Attorney General. The process was developed and implemented this year. After certification, victims are eligible for Federally funded or administered benefits and services to the same extent as refugees. In FY 2001, this program enabled almost 200 victims, including 21 children, to receive much needed assistance, including assistance through eight organizations funded by ORR. It is anticipated that more victims will come forward in response to a national outreach campaign soon to be implemented.

In March 2001 ORR was informed of an emergency developing on the island of Guam. An estimated 1,000 Burmese, many of whom were victims of torture, had arrived and had applied to the INS for asylum status. ORR received early notification by INS that approval rates for this group of persecuted Christian minorities would be quite high. Once approved, these asylees would be eligible for refugee services. Accordingly, HHS Secretary Thompson invoked his authority to make arrangements for the temporary care of refugees in the U.S. in emergency circumstances, including establishment of a processing center in Guam. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Church World Service, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services united to establish on Guam the necessary health services, processing services and transportation to the mainland. This public/private effort was speedily put in place, and the processing of nearly 1,000 Burmese was accomplished within a five-month period. Most cases were placed in States where they were sponsored by relatives or friends residing in the U.S.

The events of September 11 had a profound effect on refugees and the refugee program. In many communities, the tragedies of September 11 have changed how the American public views the foreign-born. You will find a section devoted to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks immediately following this message.

In conclusion, the domestic refugee resettlement program has been flexible in assisting all those eligible for refugee services-refugees, asylees, entrants, Amerasians, and victims of trafficking-through ongoing reassessment of, and timely response to, the needs of the various groups. ORR remains ready to welcome and assist the many persecuted persons who come to the United States each year in search of safety, peace, and opportunity for themselves and their families.

Nguyen Van Hanh, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement

The Refugee Program After The 09/11 Attack

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had an immediate and dramatic impact on refugees residing in the United States. With the exception of several hundred refugees actually en route to the United States at the time of the assault, admissions were completely halted for three months following September 11. When refugee arrivals resumed in December, it was on a much reduced basis. More than 20,000 refugees overseas who had been screened and cleared to leave for the U.S. were delayed for many months, some indefinitely, due largely to difficulties that government agencies faced in implementing new security enhancements to be carried out by the Department of State and Department of Justice. The new requirement to fingerprint all refugees arriving at U.S. ports of entry, though simple in itself, created bottlenecks at U.S. ports of entry. This led to the limitation of no more than 35 refugees per flight, which contributed to the long delays for refugees already cleared for transit to the U.S.

Moreover, safety concerns for U.S. staff and contract workers forced the State Department to cease interviewing at 12 of its 16 designated overseas processing centers. Not until mid-May 2002 did processing resume at all 16 centers. The result was that for the first eight months of FY-2002, only 13,777 refugees were admitted to the U.S., compared with 42,000 arrivals for the same time period the year before.

The aftermath of the World Trade Center attack was especially traumatic to refugees in New York City who experienced re-traumatization and fear due to both the shock of the attacks and a subsequent societal backlash against ethnic groups. Refugees employed in the New York City tourist industry lost their jobs, affecting their progress towards self-sufficiency. Hotels and restaurants in lower Manhattan were either destroyed, damaged, or cordoned off (including half of Chinatown), thus impeding refugees' ability to work and temporarily relegating them to unemployment.

The refugee social services system was greatly hampered in the aftermath of the attack. Normal immigration and welfare services in New York City were dramatically affected, causing extreme slowdowns in processing of non-crisis claims and caseloads. Refugee service providers needed additional training, and qualified mental health personnel and counselors to deal with the operational and psychological aftermath of the attacks.

Eight ORR grantee offices in lower Manhattan suffered significant physical damage or were completely destroyed as a result of the World Trade Center attacks. Of those agencies that were damaged, many were unable to reoccupy their offices for weeks or months, and some lacked electricity and telephone connections long after re-opening. Others were damaged so severely that they were forced to relocate. For these affected agencies, refugee services either ceased altogether or were severely curtailed while the needs exponentially increased.

All refugee service providers, whether their offices were physically damaged or not, suffered financial setbacks from the attack. Many relied heavily upon income generated from performance-based contracts, which were subsequently invalidated due to the lack of new arrivals, and the disruption of services throughout New York City. Other much-needed funding sources also proved inaccessible. Most refugee service providers in Manhattan rely on a diverse array of funding sources, and many of those funding sources were destroyed or debilitated in the attack.

In general, the September 11 attack left the refugee service provider community unprepared to grapple with the scope of the situation. Crisis intervention and counseling needs skyrocketed in the aftermath of the attack. Two lower-Manhattan ORR grantees, Safe Horizons and Bellevue/NYU (Bellevue Hospital Center at New York University), adjusted their missions and temporarily devoted their time to intensive efforts to provide crisis intervention to victims and families. The Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, an ORR grant recipient, shifted emphasis and began actively training Bellevue hospital staff to provide counseling services to World Trade Center survivors and grieving families of victims at the temporary morgue and family reunion centers. The Program for Survivors of Torture also sent child psychologists to local schools to work with children who may have witnessed or been affected by the attack.

The attack on the Pentagon adversely affected local refugees in the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was shut down immediately and remained closed well after the air transportation system resumed elsewhere. Hundreds of refugees lost their jobs in the services industries that directly or indirectly support these industries. With the airport closed, the occupancy rate of hotels in the District and Northern Virginia dropped to 15 percent. A major employer for refugees entering the job market had been the hotel and restaurant industry.

Economic dislocations and hardships on refugees quickly spread far beyond these two cities. Refugee clients nationwide, particularly those of Middle-Eastern descent, began to experience extreme obstacles in obtaining Social Security cards after the events of September 11. Local Social Security Administration (SSA) offices began to verify immigration status through the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Systematic Alien Verification for Eligibility (SAVE) system. However, the SAVE system lags well behind refugee arrivals, making it impossible to verify a refugee's true immigration status even if he or she had been in the U.S. for months.

After notification by ORR, the Social Security Administration (SSA) drafted non-discrimination guidance to its local offices. However, many refugees continued to lose benefits for a host of reasons, including post-attack societal backlash, inadequate INS verification systems, and non-standard procedures for issuance of Social Security cards to non-citizens. As a consequence, ORR developed a Federal interagency task force with the Department of State (DOS), SSA, and INS to discuss a new process for issuing social security numbers to non-citizens.

Refugees and asylees in certain States also began to experience trouble obtaining driver's licenses because motor vehicle offices did not want to accept the INS-issued I-94s as identification documents in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Continued refusal to accept I-94s soon began to affect refugee self-sufficiency in these States. Prior to September 11, refugees and asylees had found work soon after arrival (or soon after receiving status) by using their driver's licenses and their unrestricted social security numbers as proof of employment eligibility. Without driver's licenses, they were not able to show employment authorization. The wait for their employment authorization documents from INS was nearly four months. In addition, in areas where individuals needed to drive to get to work, many jobs became unavailable due to transportation problems.

Not all of the problems reported were economic in nature. The Iraqi Community Association in Phoenix, an ORR ethnic community grantee, was vandalized and its computers and other equipment were stolen, forcing the organization to shut down for several days. It reopened with special police protection, but many of its students who wore traditional dress remained fearful. Muslim refugees in Georgia suffered similar harassment. The level of harassment was considered serious enough for the State Mental Health Coordinator to convene a session for the community to discuss appropriate response strategies.

The attack of September 11 cannot be adequately described in terms of services, arrivals, or funding alone. The real impact must be viewed through the eyes of the refugees, entrants, and asylees who lived through it. These families had fled from societies convulsed with violence and brutality to a land that has historically offered newcomers peace, stability, hope, and opportunity. September 11 was for them a sad reminder that violence and hatred respect no border, and fear no boundary. The following cases are a true reflection of the impact of September 11.

World Trade Center Worker

On September 11, a young asylee from El Salvador was on his way to work at his job at the Windows on the World Restaurant in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The young man had come to the U.S. a year earlier, seeking safety after suffering torture in El Salvador, Mexico, and Guatemala. He had found his job through the staff of Solace, a New York City provider of mental health services. Solace had provided him with psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, a referral for medical services, intensive case management and supportive counseling, as well as critically needed information and referral services which led to his gainful employment.

At the moment the first terrorist plane struck the building, he was in the elevator approaching the 87th floor. He successfully opened the doors and began to flee down the stairs. He assisted an injured woman by carrying her down about sixty flights of stairs on his back. When he found an emergency assistance worker on about the 23rd floor, he handed her over to him. He now wonders if they survived. He also met another injured young man on his way down the stairs and tried to help him, but the young man told him to keep going. He doubts that this young man survived.

Subsequently, this young asylee was unable to get these images of death and suffering out of his mind, wondering why he survived and thousands of others died. Since the attack, he has suffered from severe trauma reactions that have been intensified by his prior traumatic experiences. Unable to sleep, severely depressed, suffering from frequent flashbacks, he feels his trauma from El Salvador has followed him to the U.S. Through ORR-funded programs at Solace, he has gradually regained control of his life, and, with the assistance of staff, has found work in another restaurant.

Restaurant Worker

On the morning of September 11, a young Peruvian man reported for his job as a busboy at Pier 59 near the World Trade Center. Soon after the attack, the Red Cross and New York Police Department began to use this facility to assist people who had lost loved ones at the World Trade Center and then as a make-shift morgue where friends and relatives were brought to identify the bodies of their loved ones. The impact of these images was devastating to the young man, who had only recently won approval of his asylum claim after five years of detention and torture in Peru.

He immediately called Solace to seek material assistance, and for this he was referred to the Safe Horizon Family Assistance Center on Worth Street in downtown Manhattan. On December 15, he received a check from Safe Horizon for $2,500 to cover some of his expenses due to the loss of his employment. Solace, in coordination with the other programs within Safe Horizon, continues to provide him with medical services, intensive case management services, including supportive social adjustment counseling in his language, and information/referral services.

Security Guard

Another young client of an ORR-funded program was scheduled to work that morning as a security guard at the top of the World Trade Center. This 34-year-old man from Mauritania had fled torture in his own country and resettled in New York City, where he received medical and psychological care and social services from the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture. After approval of his asylum claim, the man went about improving his situation with enormous zeal. Each night, he worked as a security guard at a local college. In the morning, he went to the World Trade Center, slept from 7:00 until 8:30 in a locker room near the top of the building, and then began his day job at the World Trade Center as a security guard. At the end of his shift, he attended classes at a nearby community college, then slept for a few more hours before starting the cycle over again.

For the morning of September 11, he had arranged to have the morning off and thus fortunately, was not there when the terrorist attack took place. Tragically, several of his co-workers were killed, including a close friend. He lost his job as a result of the attack, and the college immediately closed for several weeks. Having lost his friends, his job, and his education program, he called the Bellevue/NYU Program on September 11 to inform staff that he was alive and safe. In the days and weeks that followed, his symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder related to the prior trauma he had suffered in his native country all worsened. Fortunately, his ongoing relationship with the program, including individual counseling, primary medical care and participation in a support group for African torture survivors, helped him cope with the events of September 11 and his resulting losses.

He has since returned to classes and continues his nighttime security job at the college. With the help of the staff of Bellevue/NYU, the young man has been able to pull through his depression. His symptoms have since subsided and he once again looks forward to his future in the U.S.

Family Reunion

September 11 was a day to look forward to for a 40-year-old refugee from the Congo. The Bellevue/NYU program had located her three children in a refugee camp in Africa and their flight was scheduled to arrive on that day. Instead, the flight was diverted to Canada. The postponement proved difficult for her and her family members. The children finally arrived in New York a week later and came to visit her at the Bellevue/NYU program for the first time.

The tearful reunion of the long-separated members of this family, not far from the rubble of the World Trade Center, was particularly meaningful and moving to the program staff. In the midst of suffering and grief, there was healing and joy; in the midst of loss and turmoil, reunion and hope; in the midst of violence and despair, peace and renewal.

For all the above cases, we are deeply concerned for the trauma these individuals experienced. As an agency working to help people coming from war-torn countries, refugee camps, torture and severe trauma to create new lives in this country, our hearts went out to those who suffered from the tragedy.

Furthermore, the economic disruption caused by the September 11 attacks spread to refugee communities throughout the nation. The sudden interruption in refugee arrivals provoked economic uncertainty among ORR's domestic service partners. With few arrivals, provider agencies could not count on funds from the Department of State's Reception and Placement Grant Program to meet their ongoing overhead costs. Nor could the private voluntary agencies enroll refugees for their Matching Grant program, thus forfeiting the Federal match from ORR. The collapse in refugee arrivals thus led to a significant reduction in Federal funding for refugee resettlement and an acute financial crisis within the refugee resettlement community.

The drop in arrivals had not resulted in decreased need for services, however. Many recently arrived refugees work in the transportation and hospitality industries, the two industries affected most by the attack. As airports closed, hotels emptied, and airlines canceled flights, refugees found themselves working fewer hours or losing their jobs. Within weeks, refugees in associated industries, many of whom had lived in the U.S. for years, found themselves facing economic losses as the economy slowed dramatically. Those who had resided in the U.S. for a long period found that assistance from ORR-funded service providers was no longer available. ORR regulations at 45 CFR 400.152(b) specify that ORR-funded formula grants for employment services are reserved for refugees who have arrived within the past 60 months.

Response from ORR

In response to the events of September 11, 2001, ORR consulted with States, volags, and other interested partners about implementing policies to ease the immediate crisis. ORR subsequently decided to revise its rules in two important ways:

ORR waived its regulations that limit the use of social services formula funds to refugees who have been in the U.S. 60 months or less. As a result, most refugees who lost their employment were able to receive employment services regardless of how long they had been in the country.
To ease the funding crisis in the non-profit sector, ORR agreed to allow Matching Grant agencies to draw down Federal funds in advance of refugee arrivals during the first three months of FY 2002. This allowed volags to sustain their infrastructure and to provide for additional services and goods to Match Grant clients.
ORR provided significant emergency assistance grants to New York City ($3 Million), the District of Columbia ($225,000) and Northern Virginia ($375,000) to enhance and extend needed services to refugees affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The effect of these and other decisions helped reduce the economic impact of the downturn on both refugee and service provider alike. Although Federal agencies are the policy makers and the source of funds, it is the exceptional network of states, voluntary agencies, refugee organizations and the American people that resettle refugees. The U.S. Refugee Program is a complex organism of public and private sectors, paid and voluntary, born of compassion and commitment for the well-being of others, that in times of crisis becomes renewed and strengthened.

We are heartened by the courage and commitment of the many people in this network who rose to meet the challenge to our national security and to help restore the stability of our society, so that America always remains the land of freedom and opportunity in the eyes of the world community.