Posted on 16-2-2002

USA Has Trouble With Refugees - Too Few
From oneworld.org

Washington, DC, February 12, 2002 U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR)
director Bill Frelick proposed a series of changes to the way that the U.S.
government determines which refugees to admit to the United States in
testimony before the Senate Immigration Subcommittee on February 12.
Frelick also identified additional refugee populations that the
Administration should consider for resettlement in the United States. The
proposals were aimed at revitalizing the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program,
which is currently in danger because very few refugees are arriving in the
United States.

"The United States' leadership in the refugee field is unsurpassed," said
Frelick. "But at the moment that leadership is on the line, at least in the
critically important area of refugee resettlement." Fewer than 800 refugees
were admitted to the United States in the first three months of this year;
during the same period last year, more than 14,000 were admitted.

Frelick made far-reaching proposals to the Senate Immigration Subcommittee.
Among them:

1) He called on the State Department to overhaul its priorities for
admitting refugees. Frelick proposed distinct and separate categories for:
persons persecuted for their association with the United States; refugee
women-at-risk; survivors of torture and violence or disabled refugees; and
long-term refugees who have been in closed camps with no prospects for
return or local integration. Frelick’s proposal would retain immediate
family reunification.

2) He also called on the State Department to expand the number of groups of
special concern to the United States. Among the 20 groups he highlighted as
being in particular need of resettlement were: Somali Bantus in Kenya;
Sudanese “Lost Girls” and “Lost Boys” in Kenya and Ethiopia; Afghan refugee
widows; Iraqi refugees in the Rafha Camp in Saudi Arabia; Roma refugees
from Kosovo in Macedonia and Bosnia; Africans, Chechens, and Ethnic
Armenians from Azerbaijan living in Moscow; and Burmese refugees living in
Thailand.

3) Frelick also made several recommendations for restarting refugee
processing, which has been slow to resume since September 11. Among these,
he called for: the use of videoconferencing for the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to conduct overseas refugee interviews; the use of
DNA testing to resolve questionable family reunification petitions; and
greater use of nongovernmental organizations in identifying refugee groups
and individuals for U.S. embassies.