{"id":13258,"date":"2024-03-31T03:04:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T03:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=13258"},"modified":"2024-03-31T03:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T03:04:07","slug":"america-has-a-good-model-for-how-to-handle-immigration-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=13258","title":{"rendered":"America has a good model for how to handle immigration: America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Since the Refugee Act of 1980, the United States has resettled more than 3 million refugees<\/a>. That\u2019s more than any other country, making America\u2019s refugee resettlement program the largest of its kind in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s big enough, and the annual number of people admitted through the program \u2014 people fleeing war, persecution, or violence<\/a> \u2014 has fluctuated over the years, especially recently. The Trump administration slashed the annual cap on refugee admissions to a historic low<\/a> of 15,000, while the Biden administration<\/a> raised it to 125,000<\/a>. That\u2019s just a small fraction of the world\u2019s total refugee population of 36.4 million, according to the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the people admitted, the program tends to work really well. \u201cCongress<\/a> set up this elaborate coordination and support system for resettled refugees and it was very deliberately done,\u201d said Yael Schacher, the director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the start, coordination between the federal government, states, and private resettlement agencies helps refugees land on their feet when they arrive. They qualify for health care, for example, and through the Office of Refugee Resettlement, they have access to services such as job training and case management. \u201cThey are also usually eligible for state benefits, like Medicaid, SNAP, food support, cash assistance if needed for families,\u201d Schacher said. \u201cBasically it puts resettled refugees in a position where they\u2019re able to get all the benefits that citizens can get very soon after arriving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That assistance is crucial to helping refugees begin to rebuild their lives \u2014 especially as they do so after enduring traumatic circumstances \u2014 and it also benefits the communities that accept them. Studies have shown<\/a> that once refugees resettle, they end up positively contributing to the economy: They eventually earn enough income<\/a> to more than pay back in taxes the costs of the public assistance they initially received, and their spending helps boost local businesses and creates jobs. A study in Michigan<\/a>, for example, found that refugees in the state pay some $130 million in state and local taxes each year. In 2016 alone, refugees in southeast Michigan contributed over $225 million to the regional economy in new spending and helped create thousands of new jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refugee program, in other words, benefits everyone involved. Yet despite its proven success, not all migrants have access to it. Asylum seekers, for example, don\u2019t generally have access to federal benefits and, barring some exceptions<\/a>, aren\u2019t granted work permits. That\u2019s in part why many cities have struggled<\/a> to meet recent migrants\u2019 needs, resulting in overcrowded shelters, a rise in homelessness, and overwhelmed local and state services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the country continues to face a growing migrant population, it\u2019s worth considering what has worked in the past. \u201cThe only model we have for something like this is the refugee model, which acknowledges that that\u2019s a national challenge,\u201d said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. \u201cThe fact that all these people are seeking asylum<\/a>, makes it a problem that is akin, in our view, to the refugee problem. And the refugee [program] is the only time when the government gets involved in finding housing for migrants.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy\/24087060\/refugee-resettlement-program-asylum-seekers-immigration-reform<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Since the Refugee Act of 1980, the United States has resettled more than 3 million refugees. That\u2019s more than any other country, making America\u2019s refugee resettlement program the largest of its kind in the world.
\nThat doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s big enough, and the annual number of people admitted through the program \u2014 people fleeing war, persecution, or violence \u2014 has fluctuated over the years, especially recently. The Trump administration slashed the annual cap on refugee admissions to a historic low of 15,000, while the Biden administration raised it to 125,000. That\u2019s just a small fraction of the world\u2019s total refugee population of 36.4 million, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

But for the people admitted, the program tends to work really well. \u201cCongress set up this elaborate coordination and support system for resettled refugees and it was very deliberately done,\u201d said Yael Schacher, the director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International.<\/p>\n

From the start, coordination between the federal government, states, and private resettlement agencies helps refugees land on their feet when they arrive. They qualify for health care, for example, and through the Office of Refugee Resettlement, they have access to services such as job training and case management. \u201cThey are also usually eligible for state benefits, like Medicaid, SNAP, food support, cash assistance if needed for families,\u201d Schacher said. \u201cBasically it puts resettled refugees in a position where they\u2019re able to get all the benefits that citizens can get very soon after arriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

That assistance is crucial to helping refugees begin to rebuild their lives \u2014 especially as they do so after enduring traumatic circumstances \u2014 and it also benefits the communities that accept them. Studies have shown that once refugees resettle, they end up positively contributing to the economy: They eventually earn enough income to more than pay back in taxes the costs of the public assistance they initially received, and their spending helps boost local businesses and creates jobs. A study in Michigan, for example, found that refugees in the state pay some $130 million in state and local taxes each year. In 2016 alone, refugees in southeast Michigan contributed over $225 million to the regional economy in new spending and helped create thousands of new jobs.<\/p>\n

The refugee program, in other words, benefits everyone involved. Yet despite its proven success, not all migrants have access to it. Asylum seekers, for example, don\u2019t generally have access to federal benefits and, barring some exceptions, aren\u2019t granted work permits. That\u2019s in part why many cities have struggled to meet recent migrants\u2019 needs, resulting in overcrowded shelters, a rise in homelessness, and overwhelmed local and state services.<\/p>\n

As the country continues to face a growing migrant population, it\u2019s worth considering what has worked in the past. \u201cThe only model we have for something like this is the refugee model, which acknowledges that that\u2019s a national challenge,\u201d said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. \u201cThe fact that all these people are seeking asylum, makes it a problem that is akin, in our view, to the refugee problem. And the refugee [program] is the only time when the government gets involved in finding housing for migrants.\u201d”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy\/24087060\/refugee-resettlement-program-asylum-seekers-immigration-reform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[493,25,232],"class_list":["post-13258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-immigrants","tag-immigration","tag-refugees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13259,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13258\/revisions\/13259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}