Archive for the ‘capacity’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 5, 2012
The mayor of Lynn, MA is putting out alerts about the fiscal pressure experienced by schools in her city, apparently due to refugee secondary migration. Secondary migration is refugees leaving the city they were initially settled in and, under their own volition, going elsewhere due to a whole number of reasons, e.g. to be near friends and relatives, to find a place that has more or higher paying jobs, to seek a less alien climate, to move to a place with a larger community of people from their ethnic group and/or group of national of origin, etc. The main problem here I think is that federal funds are insufficient to help schools impacted by refugee arrivals – the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s grant, known as the Refugee School Impact Program, doesn’t come close to meeting needs.
An article in The Daily News explains some basic details of the problem in Lynn, although it also shows that the mayor is taking a winding and confused course through government channels, even going to the UNHCR, and gets facts wrong about several of the federal agencies:
…[Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy's Chief of Staff, Jamie Cerulli] said after getting bounced from office to office she finally spoke to Barbara Day with the state department’s office of Refugee Resettlement Administration for Children and Families.
“She said for Fiscal Year 2011 they approved 25 refugees to come to the Lynn area,” Cerulli said. “She also said in 2012 it looks like there is approval for 28 … but that’s such a small number. If they’re not coming from there then where are they coming from?”
Cerulli said Day noted that if immigrants already have family in the area they are more likely to gravitate to the same area. Day was not available Thursday for comment and calls to the U.S. State Department of Health and Human Services were not immediately returned.
Cerulli said she plans to keep digging at the federal and state level to try and determine if Lynn has been officially deemed a haven city while also trying to determine exactly what drives immigrants to Lynn.
Kennedy has always emphasized her administration has gone the extra step to celebrate the ethnic diversity and welcome immigrants to the city and she said she would never deny a child or its family services… Read more here
Posted in Boston, capacity, children, funding, language, Office of Admissions, ORR, school for refugee children, schools, secondary migration, refugee, UN (United Nations) | Tagged: Barbara Day, Judith Flanagan Kennedy, Lynn MA, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, Refugee School Impact Program, refugees, resettlement, schools, secondary migration | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 1, 2012
Below is a comment that a regular reader of this blog submitted for today’s State Department public hearing on the size and scope of the refugee program for fiscal year 2013:
I am a private citizen refugee advocate who has been assisting refugees with resettlement issues for the past three years. My comments are based on my experience helping refugees after they arrive in the United States with two exceptions: (1) It shouldn’t be as hard as it appears to be logistically for refugees to go through the process to enter the U.S. . By that I mean, not that each individual shouldn’t be scrutinized in detail, but that the process should entail the least travel through dangerous areas in their home countries, the fewest return trips to an application center, the most feedback about application status, the fewest repeat requests for information, and the speediest answer about whether refugee status will be granted. (2) The travel loan program should be converted to a travel grant program. There seems to be some sort of philosophy that it is citizen-building to saddle a refugee with debt as his/her first exposure to life in the United States. I disagree…It is regularly and repeatedly emphasized to them that failure to repay the travel loan can jeopardize their ability to get U.S. citizenship because of an adverse credit report – yet they are all too often given no information about how to seek forgiveness of a loan many of them will likely never be able to repay in time because of their personal situations. Furthermore, I think having the resettlement agencies act as collection agents for these loans is a significant conflict of interest…
My remaining comments concern my experience during the course of my activities as a refugee advocate…Resettlement agency failures to meet contracted responsibilities are not isolated incidences but are regular, daily occurrences on a widespread basis. I believe these failures occur not because of lack of resources, although that is surely true in some cases, but primarily because of a lack of leadership. Leadership in the local affiliates, leadership in the national offices of resettlement agencies, and leadership in the Domestic Resettlement Section. The failure of leadership that talks to each other more than to refugees. Leadership that cares more about what Washington thinks than what refugees think…I have encountered exactly two offices serving refugees in which a human actually answered the telephone; my experience instead has been full of voice mail not returned and even voice mail boxes completely full – this by agencies who are serving people who may not even have used a telephone before coming to the U.S. Leadership, such as that at World Relief, who cares more about its employees’ religious qualifications than their actual competence. Leadership that does not put enough of its own cash into a resettlement program but instead phonies up the value of its match (the value of which, I believe, is rarely, if ever, audited…English language instruction, crucial, of course, for new arrivals, is regularly inadequate and irrelevant to what a new arrival needs. Referrals for mental health services are regularly inadequate or nonexistent. Housing placements are regularly in dangerous neighborhoods and/or too expensive for the refugee to sustain after financial support stops. Too often refugees are completely abandoned after the initial six months placement…Too often the minimum contractually-required services are not adequately provided or not provided at all. Too often refugees become homeless…There are few people in responsible positions who have the personal and professional competence to install effective programs, who care whether their subcontractors perform well, who care whether their employees serve their clients well, who blame themselves and not their clients when things are not working well…
Particularly disappointing is the leadership of the Domestic Resettlement Section who appears to be more apologist for and defender of resettlement agencies and their local affiliates no matter what rather than the overseers and refugee advocates they should be. Complaints go unanswered; or, if answered, are answered with the condescension of a parent who knows best and must be trusted to do the right thing. Investigation may be promised but one never knows whether it happens and what the result is because that would be a violation of confidentiality. All I know is that what I complained about did not appear to change…Program audits are too infrequent and do not appear to include audits of financial responsibility…Particularly disappointing is that the Domestic Resettlement Section seems to think all is well and nothing needs to change – at least nothing they care to share with the public…
Here is a link to a documentary about refugees in Buffalo, N.Y. I think you’ll find their indomitable spirits despite all that has happened to them is most inspiring. I also recommend the press kit that is posted on the web site for an insight as to how resettlement agencies in Buffalo inspired the making of this film. Read full letter here
Posted in capacity, dangerous neighborhoods, democracy, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Office of Admissions, openess and transparency in government, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, State Department, Travel Loan Program, volunteers, World Relief | Tagged: Advocate, comment, Domestic Resettlement Section, FY2013, public hearing, refugees, resettlement, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), State Department, US Department of State | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 12, 2012
David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration apparently spent some time discussing the new refugee law implemented in Tennessee last year – the Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act. State Sen. Jim Tracy, who sponsored the Act, alleges that the State Department thinks the new bill [actually a law now], which allows for local refugee moratoriums and codifies the federal regulation requiring quarterly meetings between resettlement agencies and local officials, is “just fine”. (???) An article in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette gives a view of the meeting from Tracy’s perspective:
A top representative of the U.S. State Department was in Tennessee this week to discuss a law dealing with the state’s refugee resettlement program.
The Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, which originated from the desk of State Sen. Jim Tracy, became law last July. It’s the first bill of its kind.
It requires the state’s refugee program agency, Catholic Charities, to meet four times a year with local governments to plan and coordinate “the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival …”
The law also allows local communities to apply for a “moratorium” on refugee resettlement if those agencies overload local resources, and so far, Tennessee is the only state that has passed this type of legislation…
A number of refugees from a variety of countries, such as Somalia, Burma and Egypt, have moved to Shelbyville in recent years to be closer to jobs at the Tyson Foods facility.
Tyson Foods needs workers who will willingly accept relatively low pay for the repetitive motion, cold environment jobs, and new refugee immigrants need jobs to support their families. (Alternatively, Americans could pay higher meat prices and the government could require companies like Tyson Foods to pay a more livable wage.)
…On Wednesday, David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, met with Tracy and other parties to discuss the law passed last year, the state senator told the T-G.
“That was the whole purpose of the visit, and they thought the bill was fine,” Tracy said, but he added that even though provisions in the new state refugee law passed last year was already codified in federal law, it had not been enforced…
Perhaps the State Department refugee office isn’t bothered by the new law’s quarterly meetings requirement, since it’s already an ORR regulation, but why would they think that the new law is just fine? Are moratoriums compatible with the constitutional provision that allows people freedom of movement? The government may not single out specific groups of people to restrict their freedom of movement (individuals get to decide for themselves where they want to live in this country).
…”If you are going to bring refugees into a community, you need to meet with community leaders, mayor, councilmen, commissioners, school superintendents, hospitals, anyone that an influx of a refugee group would affect,” Tracy said, explaining the reasons for the law being passed last year.
…Tracy said he “thought it was interesting that we had to codify something in state law to get [the State Department's] attention.”…
Yes that is interesting. Also interesting is why other government refugee program-related regulations and contract requirements are also regularly ignored. World Relief feels free to worship on the public’s nickel, even though its prohibited by a federal regulation, and their ORR partner has ignored our complaint about that practice. Also, the quite minimal “minimum requirements” that the resettlement agencies agree to meet in the refugee program are regularly flouted, and the State Department refugee office does not enforce those requirements or penalize the resettlement contractors. In practice this does not seem to have been working well for decades — the resettlement contractors just continue to violate regulations and contract requirements year after year. (What does that say about the public/private partnership philosophy in which contractors are put on pedestals and government oversight agencies don’t exercise much authority?)
…Tracy explained he also had questions for Robinson, talking about the local unemployment rate and about refugees getting on state assisted benefits, while the State Department discussed “sustainability” of the refugees. Supposedly, the refugees have 90 days to become sustainable in this country, Tracy said.
“The question we had for them was ‘what’s the definition of sustainability,’” Tracy said. “We had a good discussion about it.”…
Gee, wouldn’t it be nice if they shared that discussion with the public? After all, this is a publicly run and funded humanitarian program. The State Department refugee office apparently gave advance notice to all so-called “stakeholders”, except for the last minute notice to the public and press.
…”It was a pretty high level meeting,” Tracy said. “They were very concerned who was going to be in the meeting, it was very interesting.”
Tracy said that the State Department wanted to clarify that they had no control over secondary migration, when refugees leave the city they were initially settled in and go elsewhere.
The senator said that’s why the law is “so important, because we’re bringing refugees into Tennessee, the majority of them settle in Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga,” but they eventually migrate to smaller towns…
So, what the state senator doesn’t seem to understand is that, under the Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, Shelbyville and other localities will not be able to request any local moratoriums on refugee resettlement since no one is resettling refugees to those places. Refugees are moving to Shelbyville on their own for meatpacking industry jobs, in what is known as “secondary migration”.
…”It was interesting that they (the State Department) would travel to Tennessee to talk about the legislation that we passed last year and I really take it as a compliment,” Tracy said Friday. “I think they were already supposed to be doing that, and in Tennessee, they have to be doing that now.” Read more here
I guess I’d like to hear the State Department’s version of what was said at this “pretty high level meeting”, but since they treat refugee resettlement as a secret program, which seems only to guard against accountability, I won’t hold my breath.
***UPDATE*** — While the public had to sit outside the meeting one of the so-called “stakeholders” invited to the meeting was the lobbyist Jennifer Murphy of the Catholic Public Policy Commission of Tennessee.
Posted in State Department, ORR, World Relief, Cooperative Agreement, Somali, Assistant Secretary of the PRM, meatpacking industry, public/private partnership, Tennessee, openess and transparency in government, secondary migration, refugee, local officials, failure to notify, capacity, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Joint Quarterly Placement Planning Meeting, Joint Quarterly Placement Planning Meeting, legislation, Murfreesboro/Shelbyville | Tagged: Catholic Public Policy Commission of Tennessee., David Robinson, federal contractors, moratorium, Population Refugees and Migration, PRM, Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, refugees, regulations, resettlement, Tennessee | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 10, 2012
Does left hand know what right hand does?
According to an article from Chattanooga, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) David M. Robinson claims that Tennessee’s new law – that mandates refugee resettlement agencies to report quarterly to local governments and allows local communities to apply for a “moratorium” on refugee resettlement – is already part of federal law. He must be referring to the part of the Tennessee that deals with quarterly reporting since there is no federal law about moratoriums. The “federal law” he refers to is actually a ORR regulation, as well as required via the State Department refugee contracts. Robinson claims he believes that the State Department (and/or their contractors?) have always abided by this regulation. Yet, they have not always abided by it, hence Tennessee’s claimed need to codify the requirement via state law. In New Hampshire the state refugee coordinator went so far as to claim that she could not require a refugee resettlement agency to consult with a city about its work, even though the ORR regulation required her, as the state refugee coordinator, to conduct quarterly meetings between the resettlement agencies and state and local governments. So, it seems that there is a disconnect between what the government oversight agencies believe that they do, and what actually happens. An article about Robinson’s visit is found in the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
A top U.S. State Department official, who spent two days in Tennessee discussing the state’s refugee resettlement program, said he wants to give communities a “louder voice in the process.”
“We believe it’s in the best interest of the United States that we pursue this program, but also we need to recognize the community nature of the program,” David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, Migration, said during a news conference Thursday.
Robinson has been in the state for a two-day visit with community members, local government officials and employers to discuss the resettlement process…
…Tennessee is the first and only state to pass a law that mandates resettlement agencies to report quarterly to local governments and allows local communities to apply for a “moratorium” on refugee resettlement if those agencies overload local resources.
The law was approved last year, but the Tennessee Office for Refugees said no one has applied for the moratorium.
Robinson said that it’s already part of federal law but said Tennessee’s law “makes perfect sense.”
He added, “We believe that’s what we’ve always done,” he said… Read more here
All of this brings another question to my mind: If the new bill in New Hampshire for a proposed one-year moratorium on refugee resettlement is probably unconstitutional – as University of New Hampshire Law professor Albert Scheer told a NH state House committee last week – wouldn’t that be an indication that the part of Tennessee’s law which allows local refugee moratoriums also likely be unconstitutional? Sheer says it is likely unconstitutional because it singles out a particular class of legal residents. He cited a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a California law forbidding indigent residents from other states from settling in California.
Posted in Assistant Secretary of the PRM, capacity, Joint Quarterly Placement Planning Meeting, Joint Quarterly Placement Planning Meeting, legislation, legislation, moratorium / restriction, New Hampshire, openess and transparency in government, ORR, State Department, Tennessee | Tagged: Assistant Secretary of State, David M. Robinson, moratorium, ORR, Population Refugees and Migration, PRM, Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, refugees, resettlement, unconstitutional | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 9, 2011
An in-depth article on the events surrounding the December 2009 attack on dozens of Asian refugee children at a south Philadelphia school, that resulted in 13 refugee children taken to the emergency room, reveals the extent that teachers, the principle, security guards and other staff were present and unresponsive as the attacks occurred. Refugee students report that the principle disappeared while walking children home just before vicious beatings took place. Teachers and cafeteria staff called the students “Yo Dragonball” or “Yo Chinese” and even mocked their accents. The School District of Philadelphia also apparently has an ongoing pattern of unresponsiveness to reports of students bullying refugee students, despite an early 2011 settlement with the Justice Department.
The article also points to relatively large number of refugees from Burma/Myanmar that the State Department resettled in a relatively short period, which the school district was not ready to accommodate. These are some of the considerations the State Department needs to make when reading glowing annual resettlement proposals from their private resettlement contractors
We should not underestimate the catastrophic long-term damage to refugees resulting from these brutalities during their formative years. The article points out that bullying can lead to a lifetime of low self-worth, suicide attempt or depression, and that doesn’t even consider the trauma, tumult and deprivation that refugee have already endured before their resettlement. Hyphen Magazine magazine published this article:
On a cold December day in 2009, just weeks before Christmas, 15-year-old Trang Dang was walking home from school with her sister and eight friends, all recent Vietnamese immigrants. Also part of their group: the principal of their school.
Dang, who is 5’9” with a medium build and a dimpled, contagious smile, asked the principal to accompany them because she and the others were terrified by the intense bullying and violence against Asian students that had taken place earlier that day at their school, South Philadelphia High School. Midway through the walk, the principal, LaGreta Brown, disappeared, Dang said. “She walked to the corner with us and then we didn’t see her anymore,” Dang said. They debated whether to stay or continue walking. “Our friends said if we stand here, we’ll get in trouble,” Dang said. So they opted to try to make it home that day on their own.
They never did.
About half a block from school, a mob of at least two dozen students started chasing them. Dang was the first to be caught. She was punched in the face, shattering her glasses. “It was a quick hit and then they ran,” she said. “After I got hit, then my mind just went blank. I was crying. It wasn’t that painful, I think, but I don’t really remember. I think because I’ve tried to forget about that day.” The entire group was cornered, and all were hit. Dang still doesn’t know for sure why the principal seemingly left the group…
…The entire day, roving gangs of high schoolers searched for and attacked Asian teenagers in a nightmarish ordeal. Most of the attacks took place on the premises of this poor school in south Philadelphia while teachers, security guards and other staff were present.
In total, at least 26 Asian immigrant students were physically assaulted in a series of violent conflicts. Thirteen Asian students ended up in the emergency room for injuries ranging from a broken nose to black eyes. One had to have surgery because he could no longer breathe through his nose…
…Some speculate that the ethnic tensions at the school can be attributed to lack of adult intervention, adults modeling bad behavior such as racially charged name calling, stereotypes and an influx of Asian students in a relatively short time period without the school or district adequately addressing the changes…
…In the last five years, there were 534 documented assaults at the school, more than any other in the district…
…In some cases, bullying can lead to thoughts of suicide, according to Eliza Noh, an Asian American studies professor at California State University, Fullerton, who has studied suicide among Asian Americans. “Some Asian American women I interviewed reported being victims of racist bullying when they were young, contributing to their low self-worth, suicide attempt or depression later in life,” Noh said. Liu pointed out bullying victims are essentially trauma victims who experience post-traumatic stress disorder similar to war veterans. He warned that young people may experience psychosomatic symptoms like feeling ill, as well as hypervigilance, heightened startled responses, depression and social withdrawal… Read more here
Posted in abuse, Burma/Myanmar, capacity, children, dangerous neighborhoods, Dept. of Justice, FBI, mental health, Philadelphia, safety, schools, State Department, teenagers | Tagged: Asian, bullying, Burmese, children, Myanmar, Philadelphia, refugees, resettlement, South Philadelphia High School, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 21, 2011
Refugees have migrated to the rural agricultural community of Fort Morgan, Colorado since 2005, mainly in search of meatpacking jobs at the local Cargill plant. Most of the refugees are Somalis. An article in the Denver Post has more:
There is no sign, nothing to indicate this is a place of worship, just an open door in an alley near the Goodwill store and the sound of Arabic crackling over a tinny sound system.
The mosque is behind a real estate agency on Main Street in Fort Morgan. On Fridays, the Somali men come — standing, kneeling and pressing their foreheads to the floor in the rhythms of Islamic prayer.
The imam, or spiritual leader, does not have time to talk after his sermon. He has to hurry off to work second shift at the Cargill meatpacking plant.
The latest wave of immigrants to remake the face of this rural agricultural community of 12,000 is black, Muslim and scarred from experiences in a failed state.
An estimated 900 to 1,100 Somalis — most of them refugees — now live here, drawn by employment at Cargill in the past six years…
…The first Somalis arrived in Fort Morgan in 2005 — young men at first, there to feel the place out.
The meatpacking industry was struggling to find workers at the time, said Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, the manager of the Cargill plant in Fort Morgan. So company representatives fanned out to workforce centers across the country offering relocation packages, temporary lodging and food vouchers.
The company, which employs 2,000 in Fort Morgan, does not target particular ethnic groups, Johnson-Hoffman said.
But Somalis, like others before them, were willing to do work others would not. As the first wave of men contacted friends and relatives, families began arriving…
…Police Chief Keith Kuretich started to field complaints: Groups of 30 Somali men were loitering and littering outside a store. Somalis were haggling over prices at Walmart and holding up checkout lines. Their driving was dangerously bad…
…Kuretich has been at the forefront of refuting falsehoods about the newcomers. He recently discredited an e-mail that claimed two Somali men had attempted to abduct a child from the Walmart parking lot.
Real problems, however, do exist, including two or three domestic violence cases…
…On Nov. 3, 2009, a Somali man from Greeley fatally stabbed his 27-year-old Somali ex-girlfriend in a Fort Morgan apartment hallway — the eighth homicide in the city since 2000 at that time.
An out-of-town website that is critical of refugee resettlement spun tales of an honor killing. Kuretich dismissed that characterization, describing it as a domestic incident unrelated to religion or ethnicity.
The killing, however, provided fuel to those already unhappy about their new neighbors… Read more here
I understand some of people’s frustration when dealing with new Americans as they learn to navigate a new culture, but there seems to be an almost hair-trigger reaction by some Americans when it comes to their reaction toward Muslim immigrants. It’s as if they can’t make any distinction between the world’s billion and a half Muslims and the relatively few terrorists who try to justify violence in the name of Islam. According to a recent article in Salon.com, a Gallup poll indicates that Muslims in America are the religious group that is most likely to reject attacks on civilians by terrorists or the military.
Posted in anti-Islamic, capacity, Colorado, Fort Morgan, Islamic, meatpacking industry, police, secondary migration, refugee, security/terrorism, Somali | Tagged: Cargill, Colorado, Fort Morgan, islam, jobs, meatpacking, Morgan County, Muslims, OneMorgan, refugees, secondary migration, Somali | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 10, 2011
New Hampshire Public Radio’s The Exchange show recently interviewed several of the key players in the refugee moratorium debate, including William J. Gillett, chairman of the board of the International Institute of New England, Pat Long, Alderman from the city of Manchester, and Larry Bartlett, Director of the Office of Admissions; Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the U.S. Department of State. Here is a blurb explaining the topic of the program:
From Burundi to Burma, from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, refugees from around the globe have been placed in New Hampshire to start their lives anew. Here they find new freedoms and far less dangers but new challenges as well. Many have to learn English, the American laws, become educated and find work. Federal programs help a lot but so do the cities and towns in which they are placed. Now Manchester wants to put a moratorium on any new refugees resettling here. City officials worry that they currently don’t have enough resources to assist its current residents and with tight budgets getting tighter, the problem could become worse. Today we’ll look at New Hampshire’s current refugee populations, what’s being done to get them settled, the challenges they face and look at both sides of this Manchester moratorium debate. Listen to the program and read more here
A couple of things struck me about what doesn’t make sense in each side’s position. Alderman Pat Long claims the bathtub is full – in terms of Manchester’s ability to accommodate any more refugees – yet when the host asked him for specifics he claimed that new refugee arrivals don’t have an opportunity to “thrive”. But refugees’ first goal is simply to survive, so how would it help by instead leaving them marooned in dangerous conditions in refugee camps simply because they might not thrive here during hard economic times? Long favors a total moratorium on new refugees, so apparently he doesn’t even want to let in that percentage of refugees who become self-sufficient. Why not? Something tells me he’s not fully revealing his motives.
Long also asked why the State Department classifies refugees on publicly subsidized housing or TANF as economically self-sufficient. (I know that early self-sufficiency is the goal, but I’ve never heard it to include those on welfare.) Long also pointed out that due to state cutbacks there were 86 families in Manchester – 36 of them refugee families – who had no way to pay for food or rent in the month of August, and said he has asked the International Institute of New Hampshire, unsuccessfully, for some plan for the City and community groups to come up with to keep new refugee arrivals out of the soup kitchens and off the street.
On the other side of the debate was William J. Gillett, chairman
of the board of the International Institute of New England, and the State Department’s Larry Bartlett. In light of Pat Long asking for a plan to at least feed and house refugees William Gillett ultimately could only state that, “it takes time”.
In addition, Gillett and Bartlett claim that the refugees they’re resettling to Manchester and Concord are only those with ties to the area, e.g. family reunification cases. Yet they also claim that the International Institute bases its annual proposal on the number of refugees they will resettle in the coming year on the local area’s capacity to absorb new refugees. Well, which is it? Both of those answers cannot be true. Or, are they saying that Manchester’s capacity each year is coincidently the exact number of refugees with local ties that need resettlement each year? Not probable. Gillette also explained that the lead paint poisoning of a large number of refugee children seven years ago, as well as the long ongoing bedbug infestation problem, are not “refugee-specific” concerns. True, but resettlement agencies should not place refugees into apartment complexes with these problems, and if the problems later arise, then they should at least help the refugees to work with the landlords to arrive at solutions. With refugees’ struggle with the language barrier, lack of renting experience, and fear of authority, they are more likely to suffer from these problems than other low-income populations.
Posted in Burundian, capacity, economic self-sufficiency, International Institute of NE, International Institute of New Hampshire, Iraqi, Lutheran Social Services of New Hampshire, moratorium / restriction, New Hampshire, PRM, secondary migration, refugee | Tagged: refugees, concord, New Hampshire, International Institute, manchester, secondary migration, Larry Bartlett, moratorium, Pat Long, William J. Gillett, capacity | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 18, 2011
It seems that Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has asked the State Department for a two-year moratorium on refugee resettlement to that city, according to an article in the Nashua Telegraph. Michael McGandy, site director for the International Institute of New Hampshire says that once the State Department decides, his organization will make plans for resettlement in other areas.
As Manchester city officials attempt to put a halt on new refugees being placed in the city, it’s unknown what the impact would be on Nashua if the moratorium were granted.Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of State requesting a two-year moratorium on new refugees being resettled in the city.
The state’s largest city has been the primary resettlement location for refugees in New Hampshire. Between 2002 and 2009, Manchester received 1,807 of the state’s 2,966 new refugees, or roughly 60 percent.
By comparison, Nashua, the state’s second-largest city, received only 70 refugees during that same period…
Gatsas made the request because of concern over whether refugees in the city are getting the services they need. Manchester’s moratorium request is pending.
Michael McGandy, site director for the International Institute of New Hampshire, said it will ultimately be up to the Department of State whether to grant the request. Once a decision is made, McGandy said his organization will make plans for resettlement in other areas…
As for why there are so few refugees in Nashua compared to other smaller cities in the state, McGandy said it’s simply a matter of geography. His organization is based in Manchester, so it prefers to place refugees there so they have direct access to the institute’s services… Read more here
Posted in capacity, International Institute of New Hampshire, moratorium / restriction, New Hampshire, Rohingya, State Department | Tagged: human rights, International Institute, International Institute of New England, manchester, Michael McGandy, moratorium, Nashua, New Hampshire, refugee, resettlement, Rohingya, State Department, Ted Gatsas, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 11, 2011
Manchester’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted 9-4 last Tuesday for a moratorium on new refugee settlement in the city, in a long-ongoing dispute with the International Institute of New Hampshire. By itself, however, the city has no power to stop refugee resettlement. The Manchester Union Leader newspaper has a series of articles, editorials and Op-eds on the subject. The chairman of the board of the International Institute, William J. Gillet, also has an Op-ed in opposition to the moratorium vote.
Local elected officials claim that the International Institute has not cooperated in warning them about the number or timing of new refugee arrivals, and say that the city budget crisis, which will cut back on essential services for those in need, leaves refugees without adequate support. Mr. Gillet claims that any lack of resources represents a failure of will and not a failure of ability.
It seems as though the city is an unwilling partner and the International Institute is unable to make up the gap from loss of city services. What I can’t figure out from any of the public dialogue is how much private resources the International Institute contributes to resettlement. Mr. Gillet only tells us that the Institute receives a net gain from the headquarters in Boston, yet since the Manchester office is essentially a satellite office of the headquarters, why would we assume anything else?
Posted in capacity, International Institute of NE, moratorium / restriction, New Hampshire, unwelcoming communities | Tagged: International Institute of New England, manchester, moratorium, New Hampshire, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, William Gillet, William J. Gillet | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 23, 2010
It was two weeks ago that the Catholic Diocese of Arlington announced they were resuming refugee resettlement to Fredericksburg, VA. Now, the Fredericksburg School Board has written a letter to the governor of Virginia asking him to halt resettlement to the city. A column by Emily Battle in the The Free Lance-Star gives more details.
Last week, Chelyen Davis and Kelly Hannon reported on a meeting the city School Board had about how the schools check on students’ residency status in Fredericksburg. They mentioned a letter the School Board sent last week to Gov. Bob McDonnell, urging him to help them stem the flow of refugees to the city’s small school system…
…In their letter, School Board members say they have been informed that 100 refugees are to be resettled in this region in the coming year, with half of them to be placed within the city limits. Because Fredericksburg has a smaller budget, fewer schools and fewer taxpayers than its neighboring localities, some city officials have tried to make the point to the resettlement office that the burden of this high-needs population should be more equitably spread among larger, wealthier localities.
The School Board makes some similar points in its letter to the governor, which you can read here…
…The board members close by saying, “This locality simply cannot support them,” and urging the governor to encourage the resettlement office to help place refugee families in localities better equipped to meet their needs.
What, if any effect this letter has remains to be seen. Board members noted in their letter that past requests made directly to the agency responsible for resettlement have been followed by an increase in the flow of refugees to the city. Read more here
This issue tends to be most pronounced during recessions when the unemployment rate is high. During non-recession times the refugees are able to quickly join the workforce and offset the extra costs of schooling their kids with their contributions to the tax base.
Posted in faith-based, Catholic, fredericksburg, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, school for refugee children, schools, children, unwelcoming communities, capacity | Tagged: Catholic Diocese of Arlington, fredericksburg, refugee children, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, schools, Virginia governor | 2 Comments »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
Comment submitted for today’s State Department hearing on size & scope of refugee program
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 1, 2012
Posted in capacity, dangerous neighborhoods, democracy, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Office of Admissions, openess and transparency in government, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, State Department, Travel Loan Program, volunteers, World Relief | Tagged: Advocate, comment, Domestic Resettlement Section, FY2013, public hearing, refugees, resettlement, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), State Department, US Department of State | 1 Comment »