STATE AUDITORS CRITICIZE REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM IN VERMONT

Following a two-year investigation into the state’s Refugee Resettlement Program, the Vermont State Auditor is reporting that the Program has not spent all the federal funds it has been given, and is doing a poor job of providing refugee programs.  According to the report, the Vermont Agency of Human Services, which runs the refugee programs, and its contractor, the independent Immigration and Refugee Services of America, have spent only two-thirds of the money provided by the federal government for refugee services.

Other problems reported were that the Agency of Human Services failed to review refugee case files or to oversee the program’s financial records.  Moreover, despite the fact that the state’s plan for assisting refugees calls for them to be given English language instruction, such classes were not being provided.  According to the State Auditor, Edward Flanagan, perhaps the most disturbing item revealed in his study was that the refugee program set such a low level for self sufficiency that many refugees were forced to rely on other forms of public assistance, while federal money specifically designated for their needs sat unused. 

The director of the state’s refugee program, Edward Turbitt, called the report incomplete, arguing it failed to view the entire picture.  He stressed that refugees in the state are receiving all the services to which they are entitled, and disputed the claim that they are forced to rely on public assistance.