Georgia Agencies Service Refugees
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, August 16, 2013 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Good morning, Jim. Clarkston is not the only refugee resettlement in Georgia. From 2004 until 2013, eight other counties were sent refugees. The fewest were the six that went to Oconee County; the second highest was Gwinnett’s 1,125; but DeKalb got the most – 14,968 – raising DeKalb’s foreign-born percentage to 16% from 157 countries, speaking 142 languages.
The 1980 Refugee Act defines a refugee as a person outside his home country and unable or unwilling to go back due to persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social group identity, or political opinion. The “social group” status must have been the basis for creating in Chicago a center to serve various sexual orientation refugees from other countries. The 1980 Act authorized the Refugee Resettlement Program to provide cash, healthcare, and social services to refugees.
So, who sends refugees to the U.S.? A major player is the International Rescue Committee with its 22 offices, plus an operation in Bangkok, Thailand to help foreigners there resettle in the U.S., where they get free services, food, shelter, jobs, clothes, healthcare, education, English classes and community orientation. Ultimately, they are guided toward permanent residency or U.S. citizenship. Each state has a federally-funded Refugee State Coordinator and six Project Administrators that allocate public and private resources to resettle five different categories of refugees. In Georgia, the DHR’s Division of Family and Children Services and the Office of Family Independence administer refugee programs. Funding is multi-layered and services are all-encompassing.
One layer is provided by the State of Georgia that contracts with 12 government agencies and private agencies to provide social services to refugees. Another layer is the federally funded Refugee Resettlement Program that provides English Language instruction, employment services, health screening, social services, healthcare and cash. Then, the private sector provides job development, job placement and specialized training.
A private layer of funding emanates from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. That money allows DHR contractors to provide even more services to refugees who’ve lived in the U.S. five or more years. In addition to the above list of services, the over-five-year-refugees get even more on-the-job and vocational training, English Language classes at Atlanta Technical College and DeKalb Technical College. Added to that are food stamps, Medicaid, physical and mental health services, WIC, utility subsidies, housing and childcare and, ultimately, they are taught to apply for permanent U.S. residency or citizenship.
While aliens continue to cross the border illegally and siphon off tax-funded resources, the UN and our government continue importing thousands upon thousands of refugees who siphon off even more federal and state resources, so they can stay here. As Governor Deal said about the Clarkston transformation, “There’s something wrong with that!” For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.