"When I was at home, only your mother and father provided for you, but here I have been given everything by people I don't even know."
Adan Husseini, Somali refugee resettled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota with his family.
Resettlement is the movement of refugees from a country where they have sought protection to another country which has agreed to admit them as refugees. The resettlement country guarantees the protection and rights of the refugees, offers them permanent status, and provides an opportunity to become a citizen of that country.
Resettlement is used to protect those refugees who are most vulnerable in countries of first asylum, such as refugees continuing to face serious protection problems, those with serious medical conditions, survivors of violence and torture, and women who are at heightened risk. Resettlement is also used as a means of sharing the responsibility and easing the burden on countries hosting large refugee populations.
An estimated 2.68 million refugees have come to the United States since 1975. The largest number, some 300,000, came from Vietnam. Significant numbers of refugees have also arrived from Laos, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Liberia, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Cuba, and the former Soviet Union. Over the past 10 years the US has resettled on average 58,000 refugees each year.
In the US, resettlement ceilings (the total number of refugees allowed into the US per year) and the prioritization of groups and nationalities are determined annually by the Administration in consultation with both houses of Congress. This process culminates with a Presidential Determination which establishes the total US refugee ceiling for the year.
Nearly 1 in every 100 Americans is a former refugee or the child of a refugee
Less than 1% of the refugees around the world were resettled in 2006.
California and Florida have each resettled more refugees than any country other than the US.
Refugees from 36 countries were resettled to the US in 2006.
Madeline Albright - former Secretary of State
Andrew Grove - founder, Intel Corporation
US Representative Tom Lantos, 12th District California
US Senator Mel Martinez - US Senator, Florida
Dith Pran - Photojournalist, subject of the movie The Killing Fields
By Ben Arendt
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| A Vietnamese refugee resettled in Norway. Photo: UNHCR |
