Without Federal Funding Increase, Refugee Programs Struggle

WASHINGTON -- The Senate's decision last week to fund the government through a continuing resolution instead of an omnibus appropriations bill could have implications for refugees, eliminating an 18.5-percent increase in funding for refugee resettlement programs that would help refugees from Iraq, Burma, and other troubled regions, to settle in the United States.

Programs for refugee resettlement are strapped for funds, particularly as the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. creeps upward. The United States is authorized to admit up to 80,000 refugees for the fiscal year 2011 -- only a small fraction of those seeking aid worldwide.

For refugees who are accepted into the United States, the omnibus spending bill would have allowed for better social services and a stronger safety net for those who are taken from war-torn countries and expected to find work in the U.S. within three months.

"It takes longer to find jobs for refugees," Bob Carey, vice president of International Rescue Fund, told HuffPost. "They're particularly vulnerable to unemployment. A lot of the refugees we're seeing are coming with medical issues. They've been tortured or have injuries, or some haven't had medical treatment because of the war."

The omnibus bill could have provided these refugees with unemployment aid, job training, and an emergency housing support fund for those behind on rent or utilities payments.

"A lot of the resettlement programs are really more of an investment in the future," said Susan Krehbiel, vice president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. "It's the upfront resources that allow people to recover and become self-sufficient. Not having mental health in the first year will hurt a person's ability to take care of themselves in the second year."

Politicians from both sides of the aisle advocated increased funding for refugee programs after President Barack Obama requested the 18.5 percent increase. Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) wrote a "Dear Colleagues" letter in March urging their fellow lawmakers to approve the president's request for funding.

"The United States has made a commitment to assist those who have been displaced during the Iraq War, many of whom are persecuted because of their cooperation and assistance to U.S. troops abroad," the senators wrote. "Providing a minimum level of basic assistance is necessary to keep that commitment."

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a report in July stating that funding for refugee programs is too low, and that that, in turn, puts strain on local communities stepping in to fill the void. Lugar argued the government should either accept fewer refugees, or give more funding to programs designed to help those that are allowed into the country.

There could be major repercussions if the United States opts to take in fewer refugees, Casey said. "If the U.S. cuts back on this program, other countries may do the same -- it's happened before," he said.

The continuing resolution will not affect refugee arrivals until March 4, 2011, a State Department official told HuffPost.

But maintaining the same level of funding under the continuing resolution could make the country less responsive to need, Carey said.

"It's very difficult to respond to refugee crises if you don't know how much funding is going to be," he said. "Refugees don't have the luxury of waiting while these things are resolved."

Comments

[David Vyorst]

03:03 PM on 12/24/2010

This is an excellent example of the one of the many problems of dysfunction government. As omnibus budget legislation becomes harder and harder, more and more appropriating will be done through continuing resolutions. It's our particular responsibility to aid refugees, especially from Iraq and Afghanistan. More importantly, "Protecting and resettling refugees helps the United States maintain its moral leadership in the world." - http://www.asylumist.com/2010/12/23/funding-shortfall-for-refugee-resettlement/

[DaveinAZ]

11:27 AM on 12/23/2010

My wife and I know firsthand the plight of newly arrived refugees and the problems assciciated with resettlement here is the US. We have worked as volunteers with the Bhutanese Community here in Arizona for nearly 2 years. This group of over 100,000 has spent over 18 years in refugee camps in eastern Nepal after being ethnic cleansed from Bhutan in early 1990's. Our government since 2007 has agreed to take 60,000 of the Bhutanese refugees and resettle them throughout the country. 10,000 will eventually end up here in Arizona. We can't as another reader suggested "shut the gate and padlock it". Our government and many others around the world have agreed to take these people. We now must provide for them and help them become productive members of our society. They do not want hand outs, they want jobs to provide for their families. In the meantime with our difficult economic situation these jobs are elusive. Increasing Federal funding for refugees will help the situation greatly and lessen the financial burden on local governments.

[vippy]

08:12 PM on 12/22/2010

Bush agreed to take in 25,000 Iraqis, Obama took in 100,000 Palestinians and don't forget all the illegals that are here and still coming.  We have to take care of our own before we can take of anyone else.  We created the mess in Iraq, they should have known that before they went in to demolish a perfectly good functioning country whose leader killed a few but then let us not look behind our own curtain, the not guilty on deathrow, those who get tortured and don't deserve it, etc.  I would say don't have anymore children due to the bleak future, who would want a crying baby under stress?

[AKaurora]

07:12 PM on 12/22/2010

While I have compassion for billions of people being born in savage deprived conditions; we're up to our eyebrows in economic issues right here. We have unemployed having their benefits turned off, being evicted from their homes, cities and states cannot pay their bills. Other countries have even taken our jobs. Ask China for help.

[Planet Caravan]

06:46 PM on 12/22/2010

We have enough basket cases here already. Shut the gate and padlock it.

[dtairtime]

06:02 PM on 12/22/2010

Wouldn't those funds be better spent helping some of our own unemployed refugees?

You know those CITIZENS living on the streets, while refugees from other countries have taxpayer funded housing, food, medical and whatever else they seem to need.

7 billion people here now. 4 or so billion live in abject poverty. The worse the conditions the higher the reproduction rates...Can't feed or house the 5 kids you already have so lets have another couple in case a few of the ones we already have die of malnutrition. Sounds harsh but seems to be the mentality.

If we spend one dime on any foreign country or foreigner that needs help it should be in the form of birth control.

[janefi]

06:34 PM on 12/22/2010

Why doesn't George Clooney do a telethon for Detroit?

[carbide]

05:54 PM on 12/22/2010

California is 19 billion dollars in debt. Illinois legislators have been evicted out of their offices because the state could not afford the rent. State Troopers have been turned away at gas stations because station owners refuse to accept state credit cards. American workers are losing jobs and having everything outsourced, and you want us to give more to people all over the globe. You have got to be kidding me right???

[trouble4]

07:59 PM on 12/22/2010

Quite mind boggling isn't it?

And the politicians wonder why we're so disgusted with them.

[bboyy]

04:30 PM on 12/22/2010

sad.. and I feel bad for the people displaced in Iraq... I mean we are the ones that bomb the heck out of their country....but we as a country aren't taking care of our own. we used to be such a cpmpassionate country....its getting to be a dog eat dog mentality here in the good ole USof A. makes me want to move to Costa Rica or a nice island in Fiji.

[dtairtime]

12:40 AM on 12/23/2010

But they won't take you unless you bring millions with you and put in a few well placed bribes.

Any country that doesn't control it's numbers is either already facing the impacts of overpopulation or soon will. But it's hard to discuss this with the "go forth and multiply" or "we're a nation of immigrants" mentality out there. As we are already rationing water in many communities, facing shortages of necessary natural resources and our infrastructure is crumbling - but hey lets import another few million greenhouse gas emitting bodies every year. Their only answer is to stick their heads in the sand and say we are mean, racist, natavist or worse.

[nightwind928]

04:22 PM on 12/22/2010

^^^"WASHINGTON -- The Senate's decision last week to fund the government through a continuing resolution instead of an omnibus appropriations bill could have implications for refugees, eliminating an 18.5-percent increase in funding for refugee resettlement programs that would help refugees from Iraq, Burma, and other troubled regions, to settle in the United States."^^^
The real question here is do we really, at this point in time, with the standard of living for grassroots Americans declining in the face of what seems to be an unsolvable financial crisis, the job market in shambles, and immigration reform an idea nobody can seem to agree on, do we really want more unskilled and helpless third world refugees pouring into our country right now?...and ask this question with your head, not your bleeding heart.

[wa-st-concerned]

04:17 PM on 12/22/2010

How about the "refugees" in our own country? ....refugrees from outsourcing their jobs, refugees from not having medical care, refugees from decimated cities (Detroit residents moving to Texas due to lower living costs and no jobs), refugeees from the onnerous policies of the republicans taking away safety nets in order to give to the rich......

[janefi]

06:32 PM on 12/22/2010

You operate under flawed thinking. The government doesn't 'give' anything to the rich, it taxes the rich, it takes money away from them, and at a rate higher than most of the people in this country.

Our tax code now violates the equal protection amendment. Taxes should be levied at the same percentage rate for all people.

And if you feel so strongly, why don't you DO something about it? Why don't you start your own company and see how easy the government makes it for you. All you do is whine and want big brother to take care of you.

[wa-st-concerned]

08:52 PM on 12/22/2010

The government DOES "give" to the rich, constant and consistent tax breaks that the rest of the population does NOT get. The upper tiers accumulate so many breaks that many (especially corporations) do not pay anywhere near the rate on the chart.

Equal protection is for PEOPLE - not corporations.

BTW, I have owned my own company on several occassions - one taken down in 1983 due to Reagans policies/recession and I own my small one person operation now.

The tax system - to be fair - needs to eliminate the cost of all basic needs before it taxes. The travesty of 1 in 3 of working people being is poverty is criminal. The contstant onslaught of corporations lowering wages is criminal when the cost of living stagnates or continues to rise.

The republican policies have turned us into a third world country and they virtually ignored the projections of this happening when they instituted the outsourcing programs in the 90's - yes, I know, Clinton signed off on them, but the congress that made those laws were republican. Republicans are shortsighted and ignorant of economic repercussions - they only want MORE MORE MORE MORE money in their pockets.

YOUR thinking is flawed.

It is time we, the PEOPLE (not the wing nut tea partiers nor the corporations nor the No-government wack jobs) take to the streets like we did in the 60's!

[zenju2]

04:14 PM on 12/22/2010

Hopefully the world's refugees will fare much better than the multigenerational "Palestinian refugees," who have been kept penned up in squalid camps by the Arab League since 1948, wards of international charity, cynically used as pawns by authoritarian Arab states, denied resettlement and hope...unlike ANY OTHER REFUGEES on Earth.