Your State
Note on February 5, 2009: I see loads of people coming to this page today and I apologize, I have not kept it up. If you are looking to see how many refugees have come to your state follow the link I have below at the May 31 Update. Sorry!
You may also wish to return to our home page and use our search function for your state (or city in some cases) and retrieve our posts on your state.
We can tell that many of you are searching for specific information about Refugee Resettlement in your state and daily we see news from all around the country on the subject—too much for us to post on. So we’ve launched this new page as of October 10, 2007 called “Your State.” This will be a permanant page.
As we get information on states we will post it here in alphabetical order. This will take us awhile but eventually we should fill in all the information you would need to start learning about this important immigration program of the federal government and its impact on your community.
If your state isn’t here yet, please e-mail us and we can help you get started finding the information you need.
E-mail: refugeeresettlementwatch@vigilantfreedom.com
Also, use our search function and just type in your state. We have written a lot on many state refugee issues so those posts will help you get started too.
Update on 5/4/08 Since I have been so bad about filling in the information on each state and since we have written about many states at RRW over the last months, try using the RRW search function and type in your state name.
Update on 11/9/07 Just found this very informative database at the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Its called State Profiles and gives basic information about federal grants to your state and other data about your state.
Update on 12/7/07 Since we don’t have this finished, please go to the 2005 Annual Report to Congress, scroll down to Appendix A where you can see all the statistics for refugees resettled in your state from 1983-2005:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/arc_05.htm
*Keep in mind that as we give numbers of refugees resettled in your state, this is only the number originally resettled. Refugees move, often within months of resettlement (secondary migration), to join others of their nationality in certain parts of the country. This practice is causing a balkanization of America.
Update: May 31, 2008: Here are the databases for numbers of refugees to each state through 2007.
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
The State coordinator for Arizona is:
Mr. Charles Shipman
Division of Aging & Adult Services Department of Economic Security
P.O. Box 6123, Site Code 086Z
Phoenix, AZ 85005
602-542-6614 (P) 602-542-6400 (F)
I noticed when I went to the database for this information that in 2007 the Somali Bantu Association of Tuscson received a $194,000 grant from the federal taxpayer.
Arizona has received 36,359 refugees between 1983 and 2005 (see ORR annual report here), the number of Somalis was not huge–2282. So, it appears the Arizona must be a state to which other Somalis are migrating.
We have written many posts involving refugees in Arizona. Here is link to our archive of articles mentioning the state.
Arkansas
California
Colorado
State coordinator:
Paul Stein
State Refugee Coordinator
Department of Human Services
Colorado Refugee Services Program
789 Sherman, Suite 440
Denver, CO 80203
Tel: 303.863.8211 x19
Fax: 303.863.0838
E-mail: paul.stein@state.co.us
To find refugee numbers go here and scroll down to appendix A. Colorado has resettled 20,969 refugees between 1983 and 2005.
Lutheran Family Services of Colorado is the primary volag working here. It is a subcontractor of Lutheran Immigration Services.
General census information on Colorado here.
Some recent articles about Colorado:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_7100565
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/fort-wayne-freaking-out/
http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/articles/2007/10/17/news/local_news/somali%20-%20women.txt
Connecticut
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/refugees-in-connecticut/
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
State coordinator:
Jan A. Reeves
Director
Idaho Office for Refugees
Mountain States Group
1607 West Jefferson Street
Boise, ID 83702
Tel: 208.336.4222
Fax: 208.331.0267
E-mail: jreeves@IdahoRefugees.org
To find refugee numbers for Idaho go here and scroll down to Appendix A. Idaho has resettled 9,222 refugees between 1983 and 2005. However, recent articles put the number of refugees in Boise at a higher number so perhaps refugees have moved to Boise from other areas of the country (called secondary migration).
A major volag in Idaho is the International Rescue Committee:
http://www.theirc.org/where/the-irc-in-boise.html
General census information on Idaho can be found here.
Articles of interest on Idaho:
http://www.theirc.org/where/employing-refugees-in-boise.html
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/muslim-refugee-industry-booming-in-boise/
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/iraqis-find-haven-in-boise/
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Start your research here with the State coordinator and recent federal grants to the state:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/state_profile_ks.htm
See our complete archives on the Emporia, KS refugee controversy here: http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/category/emporia-ks-controversy/
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Contact information for State coordinator:
Mr. Ed Lin
Maryland Office of New Americans
Department of Human Services
311 West Saratoga Street
Saratoga State Center, Room 222
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-767-7514 (P) 410-333-0244 (F)
Maryland Office for New Americans website: http://www.dhr.state.md.us/mona/
For some recent statistics on case load/grants/employment go to:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/state_profile_md.htm
Maryland has resettled 30,766 refugees from 1983 to 2005 but this figure doesn’t include asylees. The largest number came from the former Soviet Union (over 10,000). See all the numbers here:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/05arc10appendixA2.htm
Some information on Muslim refugees resettled in Maryland is in this post:
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/muslim-refugees-to-maryland/
To find other posts on Maryland go to our category “September Forum” or “Refugee Resettlement Program Maryland”. You can also use our search function and simply search for “Maryland”.
Massachusetts
Michigan
State coordinator:
Al Horn
Refugee Program Director
Office of Adult Services
Michigan Family Independence Agency
235 S. Grand Avenue, Suite 501
P.O. Box 30037
Lansing, MI 48909
Tel: 517.241.7819
Fax: 517.241/7826
E-mail: horna@michigan.gov
Here is a link to the Michigan Dept. of Human Services, then search for refugee program.
To find the number of refugees resettled go here and scroll down to Appendix A. Michigan has resettled 43,626 refugees from 1983-2005. As of 2005, Michigan had the largest number of Iraqis resettled of any state in the US–over 7000.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services is a major volag in Michigan. Go here for a complete list of US affiliates of LIRS. Scroll down to Michigan.
Other volags in Michigan:
Archdiocese of Detroit
Jewish Family Services of Southfield, Flint and Washtenaw
Programs Assisting Refugee Acculturation
St. Vincent Catholic Charities
United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Find general census information on Michigan here.
Links to coverage of Michigan refugee resettlement:
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/?s=Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Start here to find the state coordinator and intitial information on recent case loads and federal grants to the state: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/state_profile_tn.htm
RRW links to Tennessee posts:
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/burundian-hutus-settling-in-chattanooga-tn/
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/12/23/somalis-swarm-to-shelbyville-tn/
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/shelbyville-bantu-background/
Texas
Utah
State coordinator (for now at least):
Norman Nakamura
State Refugee Coordinator
Utah Department of Workforce Services
140 East 300 South, 5th Floor
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Tel: 801.526.9749
Fax: 801.526.9789
E-mail: normannakamura@utah.gov
Between 1983 and 2005 Utah has resettled 17,331 refugees with the largest number from the former Yugoslavia (probably Bosnians from the Clinton Administration war) 3998. To see a complete breakdown of nationalities to Utah go here and scroll down to Appendix A.
The two major volags in Utah are Catholic Community Services of Utah and the International Rescue Committee. Catholic Community Services is an affiliate of the US Conferance of Catholic Bishops. We recently wrote about the International Rescue Committee here.
Find general census information about Utah here.
Articles about Utah refugees:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7413515?source=rss
Vermont
State coordinator:
Denise Lamoureux
State Refugee Coordinator
Agency of Human Services
103 South Main Street
Waterbury, VT 05671-0203
Tel: 802.241.2229
Fax: 802.241.4461
E-mail: Denise.Lamoureux@ahs.state.vt.us
The major volag in Vermont is the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) http://www.refugees.org/. Its subcontractor is the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program http://www.vrrp.org/
4,689 refugees were resettled in Vermont by the agencies listed above between 1983 and 2005.
General Vermont census information can be found here.
Some recent articles about Vermont:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/NEWS01/710080307
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/burundis-go-to-burlington/
Virginia
State coordinator:
Kathy Cooper
State Refugee Coordinator
Office of Newcomer Services
Virginia Department of Social Services
7 North 8th Street
Richmond, VA 23219-3301
Tel: 804.726.7927
Fax: 804.726.7127
E-mail: Kathy.Cooper@dss.virginia.gov
Virginia has resettled 38,595 refugees between the years 1983-2005. Go here to see the breakdown by country of origin. One of the top countries is Somalia with 4641.
Major volags in Virginia include the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Virginia Council of Churches (a subcontractor of Church World Services), and Etiopean Community Development Council, Inc. There may be additional volags.
General census information here.
Articles about refugees in Virginia:
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/roanoke-va-refugee-director-to-retire/
Washington
The coordinator for Washington State is:
| Mr. Tom Medina |
| Office of Refugees and Immigrants |
| Department of Social and Health Services |
| P.O. Box 45470 |
| Olympia, WA 98504-5470 |
| 360-725-4636 (P) |
| 360-41334931 (F) |
| medintr@dshs.wa.gov |
Washington State is one of the biggest refugee resettlement state with 89,000 refugees between 1983 and 2005. To see what countries refugees come from go here: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/05arc10appendixA2.htm
Go here to see a list of volags in Washington state: http://www.dshs.wa.gov/Manuals/eaz/sections/Refugee_App1.shtml
Here are some posts we’ve written on Washington:
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/the-other-iraqi-refugees/
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/bosnians-busted-in-driver-license-scam/
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Wyoming has opted out of the Refugee Resettlement program.
