The Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2004 were recently issued on behalf of the President in a report to the Congress.  The report has information such as a description of the nature of the refugee situation and the impact of the refugee’s resettling in the United States.  The report also addresses the many problems faced by the implementation of new programs following September 11.

The specific goals listed in this year’s report include the following: strengthening the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); establishing special response teams; increasing United States government resources; expanding family reunification; addressing “long-stayers”; protecting unaccompanied minors; and undertaking a comprehensive study of the program.  For the second year, the government would admit far fewer refugees than they had initially accepted.

Approximately 70,000 slots are called for the 2004 fiscal year. This is the same as in FY 2003. However, only 28,000 refugees were actually admitted in the last fiscal year, a fact that has drawn a great deal of criticism from refugee advocates. They argue that the allotment of 70,000 is essentially meaningless if the Department of Homeland Security simply admits the number that the agency sees fit rather than what the President promises.

The report makes provisions for an increase in the proposed ceilings for refugees from Africa and East Asia, while lowering the ceiling for Europe and Central Asia.  The President also proposes to specify special circumstances where certain refugees may be considered of special humanitarian concern to the United States, including persons from Vietnam and the Former Soviet Union. 

The number of African refugees has previously far exceeded the imposed ceilings.  The U.S. will continue to strive to identify populations in need of rapid resettlement.  The President proposes a ceiling of 25,000 to African refugees.

For East Asia, the President proposes an admissions ceiling of 6,500.  In Europe and Central Asia, the report notes growing progress in achieving goals such as democracy, economic growth and tolerance in The Baltics, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, and Turkmenistan.  The proposed ceiling for refugees from this region is 13,000. 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the report indicates a rising level of concern for the deteriorating situation in Haiti, with the U.S. supporting the UN’s presence in the Dominican Republic to deal with the outflow of refugees.   The proposed ceiling for individuals from these countries is 3,500. 

The Near East and South Asia region is home to world’s largest refugee population, at just over seven million. Nearly two million Afghan refugees have been resettled since the end of 2001, but the region is still facing difficulty following wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The proposed regional ceiling for 2004 is 2,000.

In addition to these figures, the report details a need for 20,000 funded but unallocated admissions numbers to be used to create flexibility to accommodate larger populations from any specific region in need.  Some of the areas under consideration for these admission numbers are: Bhutanese in Nepal, Liberians in West Africa, and Vietnamese in the Philippines.

The media age for refugees resettled in 2002 was 26 years old. Males were proportionally the majority of refugees from countries other than Somalia and Afghanistan, but not more than 56% of the total.  During 2002, 77% of newly arrived refugees resettled in 15 states.  California (16%) resettled the largest number, followed by Washington state (10%), New York (9%), and Florida (7%).  The largest number of refugees were admitted from the former Soviet Union (37%), the former Yugoslavia (20%), Vietnam (20%) and Cuba (7%).

To view the report in full, go to: http://www.state.gov/g/prm/asst/rl/rpts/25691.htm.