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.
|