Refugee Resettlement in the United States: Policy and Problems

Abstract

Federal refugee resettlement policies and programs, like admission policy, developed in an ad hoc, reactive way. Federal involvement in resettlement started out modestly as aid to Cubans, grew enormously with aid to the Indochinese, and continued to grow even more with a catchall program for Soviet and other refugees. Over the years, the private nonprofit voluntary agencies became institutionalized as the private-sector link between admissions and local resettlement. The Refugee Act of 1980 was an attempt to design a coherent and comprehensive refugee admission and resettlement policy. The act will have to be periodically considered for reauthorization, and it is clear that while the goal of successful economic and social integration of the refugee into American society is universally agreed upon, the modes of resettlement are controversial. Resettlement problems for policymakers, host communities, and refugees remain.

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References

1. Julia Vadala Taft , David S. North , and David A. Ford , Refugee Resettlement in the U.S.: Time for a New Focus (Washington, DC: New TransCentury Foundation, 1979), p. 55. This report is basic for an understanding of the various refugee programs.

2. Ibid., p. 79.

Kelly , From Vietnam to America: A Chronicle of the Vietnamese Immigration to the United States (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1977), p. 18.

4. James A. Elgass , “Federal Funding of United States Refugee Resettlement Before and After the Refugee Act of 1980,” in Transnational Legal Problems of Refugees: 1982 Michigan Year-book of International Legal Studies, ed. Deborah M. Levy (New York: Clark Boardman, 1982), p. 183.

5. Ibid.

6. Taft, North , and Ford , Refugee Resettlement in the U.S., p. 118.

See also U.S., Congress, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary , Review of U.S. Refugee Resettlement Programs and Policies, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 1980, p. 34.

8. U.S., Congress, House , Conference Report to Accompany H. R. 12931, “Making Appropriations, Foreign Assistance, Fiscal Year, 1979,” Report no. 95-1754, 95th Cong., 2d sess., 10 Oct. 1978, p. 15.

9. U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare , Report to the Congress: Indochinese Refugee Assistance Program (Washington, DC: HEW, 1979), p. 2.

10.

10. Review of U.S. Refugee Resettlement Programs, pp. 35-36.

11.

11. Refugee Act of 1980, PL 96-212, 94 Stat. 102 (1980).

12.

12. Robert G. Wright , “Remarks on Cuban Resettlement” (Paper delivered at the Center for Migration Studies' Fifth Annual National Legal Conference on Immigration and Refugee Policy, Washington, DC, 25-26 March 1982), pp. 1-6.

13.

13. See Naomi F. Zucker , “The Haitians versus the United States: The Courts as Last Resort,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 467 (May 1983).

14.

14. Ronald Copeland , “The 1980 Cuban Crisis: Some Observations,” Journal of Refugee Resettlement, 1(4):22-33 (Aug. 1981).

15.

15. Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy , U.S. Immigration Policy and the National Interest: The Final Report and Recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy (Washington, DC: SCIRP, 1981), pp. 177-200.

16.

Representative Mazzoli clarified his remarks in Refugee Reports, 3(16):1 (16 July 1982).

17.

17. National Coalition for Refugee Resettlement , “Memorandum to NCRR Members from Colleen Brady,” 7 Apr. 1982, p. 1.

18.

18. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , Report to the Congress: Refugee Resettlement Program (Washington, DC: HHS, 1982), p. 14.

19.

For a remarkably insightful analysis of resettlement programs, see Barry N. Stein , “Refugee Resettlement Programs and Techniques,” ibid., pp. 365-507.

20.

20. David S. North , Lawrence S. Lewin , and Jennifer R. Wagner , Kaleidoscope: The Resettlement of Refugees in the U.S. by the Voluntary Agencies (Washington, DC: New TransCentury Foundation, Lewin and Associates, and National Opinion Research Center, 1982), pp. 135-139.

21.

21. For some of the clearest thinking of resettlement problems, see Nan Borton's papers, “Refugee Dependence Levels: Some Thoughts on Causes and Alternatives” and “Current Problems in Domestic Resettlement of Refugees,” in U.S., Congress, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary , Annual Refugee Consultation for 1982, serial no. J-97-59, 97th Cong., 1st sess., 22 Sept. 1981, pp. 529-535.

22.

22. Exact statistics on refugee resettlement are difficult to obtain and, because of secondary migration, are out of date almost as soon as they are published. There are 200,494 Indochinese in California out of a national total of 600,424 Indochinese refugees as of May 1982. Refugee Reports, 3(17):8 (30 July 1982).

23.

23. U.S., Congress, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary , U.S. Refugee Programs, serial no. 96-55, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 17 Apr. 1980, p. 154.