Loading ...These 6 States Are Where Most Syrian Refugees Relocate
The White House announced Thursday it would take in as many as 10,000 Syrian refugees next year in the wake of growing concern in Europe over the flood of migrants fleeing the Middle East.
Since the Syrian Civil War began in March 2011, 1,584 refugees have been relocated in the U.S., the majority of whom have moved to Texas (180), California (171), Michigan (159), Illinois (132), Arizona (107) and Florida (97). Thirty other states have absorbed the rest, according to numbers compiled by the State Department.
In the U.S., a number of factors go into where refugees are moved, says Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch. Refugees are relocated through negotiations between the federal government and non-governmental organizations called VOLAGs (voluntary agencies), which contract with the State Department. Those NGOs help determine which communities are right for relocation based on factors like housing availability. At the same time, refugees can also indicate if they have family in the U.S. and can try to be reunited with relatives, which can help direct where they’re relocated.
Refugee communities take root in certain cities for a number of reasons. Minneapolis, for example, is home to a large Somali population that began moving to the area in the early 1990s during the Somali civil war. A sizable Hmong population relocated in Wisconsin after fleeing Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. One of the largest waves of refugees ever to make it to the U.S. were the Vietnamese “boat people,” who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s and largely settled in California.
Source: time.com