|
Items in cart [0] |
Questions? Call 888-624-8373 |
| Copyright © 2009. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Statement |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 110
Collecting Data on Refugees and Asylees:
An Illustration of a Complex Process
Chapters 4 through 6 concern the institutional bases for data collection
and reporting on immigration and immigration-related matters. As these
chapters show, immigration involves activities undertaken in the United
States and abroad by a myriad of public and private organizations. To
function smoothly, coordination among these various actors is essential.
By describing in this chapter the process of immigration, our focus
becomes the data collected at different points in the system as people
pass through it, and how the data elements collected at one point find a
programmatic use at a subsequent point while yet serving analytic and
policy objectives. Our example is the process by which individuals enter
the country as refugees (or seek status as asylees if already in the
country), settle in communities, and adapt to their new world.
we discuss--these toc
collected by official
immigration in general.
aliens. in contrast the
There are several reasons for choosing refugees and asylees for the
case study. First, the Refugee Act of 1980 requires that data be
collected and reported by a variety of federal, state, and private
agencies. Second, several mechanisms for data coordination have been
established within the refugee program; although there are still gaps--as
are instructive. Third, the refugee data that are
sources cover a wide range of issues common to
~ (Had the case study focused on undocumented
~ _ _ , _ chapter would have been notably short.) Fourth,
the comparison between data collection on refugees and asylees is
informative; although both groups must demonstrate that they meet the
same definitional standards, different agencies or different arms of the
same agency are involved in their processing and, thereby, in data
collection activities.
In reviewing the data on refugees and asylees, this chapter follows
the process of their admission and resettlement, the organizations that
are involved, and the circumstances under which data are requested and
generated. The first section describes the process of refugee
admissions, including the policies and procedures that apply at each
stage and the data that are needed to accomplish the purposes of that
stage; reviews the available data; discusses problems with those data and
identifies gaps in them. The second section presents similar information
for asylees. The third section describes the data collected on refugees
and asylees after they have entered (for refugees) or been granted asylum
110
OCR for page 111
111
(for asylees), with particular emphasis on data pertaining to adjustment
of status.
REFUGEES
Refugees are defined by U.S. law as persons who are outside their
countries of origin and who are unable or unwilling to return because of
persecution or the well-founded fear of persecution on account of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion. The process of refugee resettlement begins with the
flight of refugees into countries of first asylum, where they seek
protection. If the prospects for repatriation or settlement in the
country of first asylum are unlikely or that country is unable or
unwilling to provide them sufficient protection, resettlement--i.e.,
movement to a third country--may be a necessary solution to their plight.
Setting Admission Numbers and Allocations
Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the United States determines annually the
number and allocation of refugees that are of special humanitarian
concern to the United States and should therefore be admitted to this
country. The President first proposes an admissions level, based on an
assessment of the need for resettlement and the domestic capacity of the
country to respond. The President then consults with members of the
judiciary committees of the House and the Senate regarding the proposed
number and allocation of refugee admissions during the next year.
However, prior to the formal consultations, the President is required by
law to provide the following information:
(1) A description of the nature of the refugee situation;
(2) A description of the number and allocation of the refugees to be
admitted and an analysis of conditions within the countries from
which they came;
(3) A description of the proposed plans for their movement and
resettlement and the estimated cost;
(4) An analysis of the anticipated social, economic, and demographic
impact of their admission to the United States;
(5) A description of the extent to which other countries will admit
and assist in the resettlement of such refugees;
(6) An analysis of the impact of the participation of the United
States in the resettlement of such refugees on the foreign
policy interests of the United States; and
(7) Such additional information as may be appropriate or requested
by such members.
Following the formal consultation, the two judiciary committees respond
to the President's proposal, sometimes suggesting alternative levels or
allocations of refugee admissions. Then, having reviewed the
congressional recommendations, the President sets the admissions numbers
and allocations for the year. For fiscal 1984, for example, the numbers
were as follows:
OCR for page 112
112
Total refugee admissions
East Asia
Eastern Europe/Soviet Union
Near East/South Asia
Africa
Latin America/Caribbean
72,000
50,000
12,000
6,000
3,000
1,000
The President also prepares a report on the proposed refugee admissions
and allocations for the year, providing the information detailed above.
Four federal agencies with major responsibilities for refugee
resettlement are involved in preparation of the consultation proposal and
the report: the Office of the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs and
the Bureau of Refugee Programs in the State Department; the Office of
Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services; and
the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Justice Department.
The Office of the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs in the State
Department encourages coordination between the government and
private-sector agencies concerned with refugees and between various
levels of government with regard to both domestic and overseas
resettlement activities. This office oversees activities related to the
consultation process, but it is not involved in the admission or
reset Clement of refugees.
The Bureau of Refugee Programs, which administers the State
Department' s refugee programs, is responsible for the development and
implementation of U. S. policies related to refugee relief and assistance
overseas, for setting priorities for admission of refugees to the United
States, for providing resources for their processing and training
overseas, and for reception and placement of refugees in U. S.
communities. In the formal consultation process, this of lice is
responsible for reporting on the worldwide refugee situation.
In the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) operates the domestic assistance program and carries
out the informational requirements of the refugee legislation. During
the consultations, ORR provides information on the U.S. domestic
assistance program and its capacity to resettle refugees who are
admitted. Finally, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is
responsible for determining if an individual meets the statutory
requirements for admission to the United States as a refugee. The
Refugee Act gives responsibility to the Attorney General for developing
procedures for making those determinations.
At the heart of the consultation report are descriptions of the
conditions in countries that generate refugees, in countries of first
asylum, and in countries that resettle refugees. These country reports
on the world refugee situation, which are prepared by the State
Department using annual reports from U.S. embassies, are meant to provide
as comprehensive a picture as possible of the international refugee scene.
The State Department also prepares statistics (presented in a
separate volume for the first time in 1984) on the number of refugees who
have left countries of persecution and sought asylum elsewhere, on those
who are in need of protection and relief assistance, on those who have
been resettled, on internally and externally displaced persons, and on
the voluntary return of refugees to their home country. The statistics
are drawn primarily from information provided to the Bureau for Refugee
OCR for page 113
113
Programs by U.S. embassies and consulates in the countries covered by the
report, by international organizations such as the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (which assists
Palestinian refugees) , and by foreign governments. The international
organizations themselves publish periodic reviews of their assistance
programs, including the numbers of refugees receiving assistance, and
they have the capacity through their field offices to request specific
additional information if it is needed.
Counting Refugees
Reliable data on the number of refugees worldwide are limited by two
factors: differences of opinion as to definitions and difficulties in
counting refugees, particularly during the height of a crisis. To quote
from the Report to the Congress for Fiscal Year 1985 prepared by the
Bureau of Refugee Programs (U.S. Department of State, 1984~: "In most
instances, the statistics in this report should be regarded as orders of
magnitude."
The problem of counting is logistically the more difficult of the two
to overcome, for several reasons. Refugee flows are, by definition,
episodic, crisis-oriented phenomena, during which conditions and numbers
can change often and quickly. In addition, the flows often occur in
areas in which the statistical infrastructure is primitive or has broken
down, as a result either of the flow of refugees or of the political
events surrounding the flow. Trying to keep an accurate count of
refugees under these circumstances is difficult, if not impossible.
Beyond the logistical problems of counting, there are political
factors that undermine attempts to reach an accurate count. For example,
in order to get what they consider to be an appropriate level of
international assistance, host countries sometimes overestimate the
number of refugees living within their borders and resist efforts by
others to take a census. Since the permission of the host country is
needed to operate within its borders, international organizations are
sometimes unable or unwilling to do their own censuses of refugee
populations.
Definitional problems are easier, but agreement is by no means
readily at hand. The U.S. State Department defines a refugee, for the
purpose of its report, as one who is in need of international protection,
relief, and assistance. Given the use to which the country reports are
put--i.e., to justify U.S. assessments of the need for relief and
resettlement--this definition makes sense. The U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) defines a refugee as a person who does not yet have
the protection of a government by virtue of citizenship, a definition
that includes resettled refugees who have permanent status but have not
yet become citizens.
The UNHCR is the principal source for all other international
organizations reporting data on refugees. The major U.S. nongovernmental
reporter of data is the U.S. Committee for Refugees, which publishes a
World Refugee Survey, containing data drawn from both the U.S. government
and the UNHCR.
On occasion, the numbers reported by the different organizations
differ. Although the UNHCR and the State Department came to the same
OCR for page 114
114
general conclusion regarding the number of refugees worldwide in
1983--about 8 million in total--they showed markedly dif ferent numbers
for specific countries. For example, the UNHCR estimated that there were
234,000 refugees in Burundi; the State Department estimated less than
60,000. No explanation for the discrepancy, or for the figure itself,
was given in either source. In the 1984 reports the dif ferences were
reconciled, with both sources reporting about 60,000 refugees. Again, no
explanat ion for the reconciliation was provided.
Since counts can dif fer, even when definitions are the same,
depending on how and when the data are collected, it is not surprising
that there are discrepancies. What is troubling, though, is the lack of
explanat ion of fered by the various organizat ions as to how spec if ic
figures were formulated and from whom the data were collected or
received. Without such explanations (at least in statistical appendices
that can be made available on request), the reasons for the differences
are unclear. In addition, none of the organizations provides much
guidance in their reports as to why numbers change from year to year:
whether new flows have occurred, permanent solutions have been found, or
new censuses have been taken. In sum, then, it is difficult for an
outside user of these refugee reports to make informed judgments about
the comparability or accuracy of the data in them.
Processing Refugees for Admission
Since there are generally more refugees who are in need of resettlement
than the United States and other resettlement countries are able or
willing to accept, criteria have been established to determine if a given
individual will qualify for the U.S. program. The application of these
criteria requires data collection. Refugee processing varies from area
to area, depending on the number and concentration of people who may be
eligible for resettlement. This section describes how the process
usually works.
Prescreening by Voluntary Agencies
Applicants for admission are referred to the U.S. program by the UNHCR or
other internationally based organizations, which collect data on the ties
that refugees have to the various resettlement nations. They are
prescreened by the staff of U.S. voluntary agencies under contract to the
State Department to determine if they are eligible for resettlement.
Biographical data are collected about refugee applicants and members of
their family, including name, sex, birth date, country of birth, country
of residence, and marital status.
In Southeast Asia the prescreening Is conducted by the joint
voluntary agencies (JVAs) 5 which operate under cooperative agreements
with the Bureau for Refugee Programs. The JVAs coordinate data
collection for all the voluntary agencies that assist in resettling
refugees . Almost al l the JVAs use the same form for recording
biographical data. Elsewhere in the world, however, there is no
consistency in the reporting format, although standard questions are
asked. Each voluntary agency uses its own biographica 1 data form.
OCR for page 115
115
Agencies differ also in the amount of additional information about
employment and educational background or previous experiences that is
collected from refugee applicants. During the interview, a case number
(one per family) is assigned; that number is used in later phases of the
admissions process. The first letter of the case number indicates where
the refugee is being processed; if a refugee moves prior to admission,
additional letters are added to the case number to show the subsequent
locations.
INS Screening
Upon completion of the prescreening, the applications of refugees who
meet U.S. admission priorities are reviewed by a State Department refugee
coordinator and then presented to INS officers. The INS officers
interview applicants to determine whether they are admissible under U.S.
law. At this point, INS form I-590 is used to collect information
similar to the information collected by the voluntary agency
representative. At a later point in the process, information on the
medical condition of the refugee is collected and added to the refugee's
official file. If approved for admission as refugees to the United
States, all family members are issued alien numbers (A-numbers). These
numbers, and the case numbers assigned by the voluntary agency staff, are
the two major means of identifying refugees.
The INS collects statistics on the approvals and denials of refugee
applications as part of its management reporting system (form G-23~. The
informal ion inc. ludes the number of appl icat ions pend ing at the beginning
of the month; the number of new applications filed; the number approved;
the number denied, by reason; the number otherwise closed; and the number
pending at the end of the month.
The data on approvals and denials are used by the INS and the State
Department for both monitoring and planning purposes. Their use for
monitoring is difficult, however, because there are no clear standards
against which approvals and denials can be measured, that is, no basis
for determining how many of the refugees presented to the INS should be
approved or disapproved. Generally, therefore, people concerned with
refugee admissions look at fluctuations in the rate of approvals and
denials rather than at absolute numbers: for example, inconsistencies
from month to month and from post to post in Southeast Asia have provoked
considerable criticism of INS practices, leading to the development of
new guidelines for the processing of refugees.
Sponsorship Assurances
After the INS approves an application but before permission to travel to
the United States is given, a sponsor, which can be an individual, a
church group, or a resettlement agency, must be identified for each
refugee.
The data collected at the t ime of the initial screening of the
applicant are used for determining sponsorship. The data, generally
stamped with information about the refugee's current location (i.e.,
whether he or she is at a refugee processing center), are sent to the
OCR for page 116
116
Refugee Data Center (RDC), which is funded by the Bureau for Refugee
Programs. The RDC began operations in October 1979 as a temporary center
within the American Council of Voluntary Agencies (ACVA), with
responsibility for maintaining information on the relatively small number
of refugees entering the United States at that time. By 1979, as the
rate of admissions rose to 14,000 per month, the RDC became the main data
center with information about the vast majority of refugees sponsored by
U.S. agencies.
Once a sponsor is confirmed, an assurance form (I-591) is completed
and returned to the RDC for processing. The information is entered into
the RDC computer and sent to the overseas voluntary agency in the country
in which the refugee is located. The information is recorded on an
ACVAFS form #1, which includes: name of the principal applicant and
family members; A-number; date of birth; place of birth; nationality;
sponsoring voluntary agency; local sponsor; local relative, if
applicable; airport of final destination; and a statement that the agency
"agrees to assist the principal refugee named above to obtain employment
and housing for him/herself and family, if any." The overseas agency
then notifies the INS that an assurance has been obtained and the refugee
can be admitted to the United States.
The RDC also uses the information to prepare a computer printout of
refugee assurances by city and state of local sponsors. This report,
which is sent to the national voluntary agencies and state refugee
coordinators, provides detailed information about each refugee case. The
information includes: names; sponsoring voluntary agency; case number;
case size (number of individuals in the family unit); estimated date of
arrival; country of birth; sex; date of birth; English-language level;
occupation (using Department of Labor 3-digit codes); and highest level
of education completed.
The printouts are distributed to the voluntary agencies and state
refugee offices for dissemination to service providers within their
areas. Because each refugee is listed by name, issues of confidentiality
arise in the use of these printouts. Furthermore, no summary tables are
published, and it is difficult to construct, from the printouts, an
overall picture of the characteristics of refugees who have been
sponsored by U.S. agencies. Since the RDC has information that is not
yet available in other refugee data systems (see below regarding the ORR
system), it would be useful to have these data summarized in a more
easily used format.
Travel and Entry to the United States
Most refugees travel on flights arranged by the Intergovernmental
Committee on Migration (ICM), a nonprofit group established to function
as the "travel agency" of the refugee program. Working with the State
Department to spread arrivals over time, ICM develops travel manifests
that specify when individual refugees and their families will travel to
the United States. These travel manifests, called nominal rolls, are
transferred to the RDC where the information is entered into the master
computer so that local sponsors and others can be informed of a refugee's
arrival. The information constitutes official confirmation of a
refugee's arrival as far as RDC is concerned.
OCR for page 117
117
Refugees travel with the ACVAFS form #1, described above, or a letter
from a U.S. embassy that specifies that their admission has been
approved. They are also issued INS form I-94 (arrival/departure record),
which becomes their major form of identification after entry. Use of the
I-94 has presented difficulties for the refugee program since its primary
use is for nonimmigrants (visitors, etc.), and items that make sense for
that group may not make sense for refugees. For example, when a new I-94
fond was introduced in January 1983, it initially caused problems for the
refugee program because it did not contain space for some of the
information that was routinely used by refugee service providers in
identifying and serving clients: the A-number, English-language level,
and sponsoring agency. Negotiations between the State Department and the
INS led to changes in filling out the forms, and agreement was reached on
how and where to insert the additional data.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has maintained a computer system
for identifying and tracking arriving refugees since 1980, when
minicomputers were installed at the four West Coast ports of entry and in
New York. Information is also kept at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta
regarding refugees who enter elsewhere. These data are used to notify
local health departments about the arrival of refugees with major health
problems.
Statistics on refugee arrivals are kept by three separate U.S.
government agencies: the Bureau for Refugee Programs in the State
Department, the INS, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the
Department of Health and Human Services. These agencies do not agree as
to the number of refugees entering the United States. In fiscal 1983,
the discrepancies were large: the INS reported 57,064 refugees, the
Bureau for Refugee Programs reported 61,681, and ORR reported 60,622.
During the first quarter of fiscal 1984, the discrepancies remained but
the direction of the differences changed, with INS reporting more
arrivals than the State Department.
In part the discrepancies occur because each agency counts refugee
admissions at a different point in the process. The Bureau for Refugee
Programs uses the ICM nominal rolls as the basis of its statistics,
adjusting its data to account for refugees who do not travel as scheduled
or who travel on their own. In other words, the State Department counts
refugees at their point of departure for the United States. The INS and
the ORR count refugees at ports of entry, when they actually enter the
country, but the two agencies use different sources of data: the INS
uses data collected from its own officers; the ORR uses information
transferred to it from the quarantine officers who stamp and keep a copy
of the ACVAFS form #1.
All these agencies are believed to miss some arrivals. The Bureau
for Refugee Programs may miss refugees who do not travel under ICM
arrangements since they will not appear on the ICM nominal rolls
(although it may still overestimate the number of arrivals since some
refugees may make travel arrangements with ICM and then not use them
during the fiscal year in which they are counted). The INS and the ORR
may also miss refugees who make their own travel arrangements,
particularly if they enter at one of the smaller ports of entry or one
that is not a usual point of arrival for refugees. The categories of
refugees who are most likely to be undercounted are the spouses and minor
children of refugees who have already entered the United States, because
OCR for page 118
118
they are the people most likely to travel under their own t rave 1
arrangements. Also likely to be missed are the few refugees who do not
require sponsorship assurances because they have suf ficient resources to
support themselves in ache United States.
The official reports on refugee admissions, like the official
statistics on worldwide numbers of refugees, provide little explanation
as to the discrepancies among them. With the exception of the ORR, the
reports that are disseminated to people outside the authoring agencies
have few notes explaining the sources of the data. On occasion, changes
have been made in the statistical reports without any explanations.
Agency Coordination
At present there is little formal consultation or coordination among the
agencies that count refugee arrivals. Nor is there a single agency with
responsibility for monitoring the accuracy of the data issued by each
agency as "official" statistics. The lack of coordination and absence of
a single agency designated as responsible for preparing an accurate and
official data set presents problems, particularly in duplication of
effort in the collection of data and differences in basic identifying
data from system to system that make the transfer of records difficult.
For example, separate forms asking for the same basic information (name,
birth date, country of birth, etc.) are filled out by the voluntary
agencies and the INS, but currently there is no check on the accuracy of
the information that is recorded. Refugees also are identified in some
of the systems (e.g., RDC) by case number and in others (e.g., ORR) by
A-number.
The State Department's Office of the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee
Affairs has proposed a new approach to the issue of identification. A
Name Check System (AVLOS), which is operated by the State Department
foreign service posts, would be used for recording basic data. After the
INS approves a refugee for admission and an A-number is assigned, a copy
of the INS biographical information would be given to the State
Department for entry into the AVLOS computer system. This system
current ly has the capability to record name, date of birth, and place of
birth. Four other data elements would be added: sex, country of
citizenship, alien number, and entry status/classification. The AVLOS
file would be available to the other agencies that collect data on
refugees to be used as the basis for opening, updating, or validating
refugee records.
The INS also plans to include these basic identifying data on the
I-94 form, to be collected at ports of entry to record a refugee's
entry. Once plans for installing computer terminals at ports of entry
are implemented, the I-94 data would be entered into the computer system
and made available to all the appropriate agencies. These data would
become the official U.S. data on refugee admissions.
While this plan may ultimately help eliminate discrepancies, it is
recognized by all parties that the installation of computer terminals at
the ports of entry will take some time and is not a short-term solution
to the problem. The plan also does not address the issue of duplication
of effort in data collection. As a first step, the development of a
working group in refugee statistics should be considered. With regular
OCR for page 119
119
meetings of those who are concerned with this issue, perhaps more
immediate improvements in the statistical system can be implemented.
ASYLEES
People seeking political asylum in the United States must meet the same
criteria as those seeking to enter as refugees; the definitions (see
above) are the same. Unlike refugees, who are selected from overseas,
asylum seekers are self-selected from aliens already in the United
States. They present themselves to U.S. authorities and request
political asylum, whether they are legally in the country on a temporary
visa or have entered the country illegally. Valid asylum claims cannot
be denied on the basis of numbers, national preferences, illegal entry
status, or other selection criteria. When a person who has entered the
country illegally or overstayed a visa presents an asylum request that is
determined to be without merit, that person must depart or be subject to
deportation or exclusion, just like any other illegal entrant.
The volume of asylum applicants has increased dramatically since the
passage of the 1980 Refugee Act. While the INS received only 3,000
applications in 1979, there were 40,000 in 1981, and the present INS
backlog is about 160,000 cases.
The Political Asylum Process
Requests for political asylum are filed either with INS district
directors or with immigration judges. People who make themselves known
to the INS have their cases heard by the district director, and they may
raise their requests a second time in immigration court. Requests for
political asylum that are made by people who have been apprehended by the
INS can only be brought before immigration judges.
When a request for political asylum is filed, the local INS district
office opens a file on the applicant, containing the A-number, asylum
application (form I-589), and other pertinent information relating to the
asylum claim. Because asylum determinations are handled within the INS
and because they affect alien residence status, much of the information
collected by the INS on asylum applicants is aggregated with the
information collected on aliens generally. For example, data on
deportations and voluntary departures include but do not record
separately persons who have applied for political asylum.
The INS forwards all asylum requests to the Department of State for
advisory opinions, which are prepared by the Bureau of Human Rights and
Humanitarian Affairs (BHRHA). Most advisory opinions are form letters,
recommending either approval or denial. As such they do not give any of
the data on the basis of which the approval or denial was decided or the
source of any of the information used. When applications are filed by
people from countries acknowledged by U.S. authorities to have a high
level of human rights violations, such as South Africa or Iran, or when
applicants come from countries whose governments the United States
opposes, such as the Soviet Union, denial letters usually state the
reasons for the negative decision.
OCR for page 120
120
The BHRHA does not keep a formal count of the advisory opinions it
writes. At the end of each month, the staff members inform the office
director how many cases they have completed, for which nationalities, and
whether their determinations were favorable or unfavorable. This permits
the Asylum Affairs Section to answer public inquiries, but this office
does not turn the information into a formal record.
Successful asylum applicants initially are allowed to remain for one
year in the United States, and at that point they may become permanent
resident aliens by completing the standard application (form I-45.
Numbers of asylum applications by country of origin are reported on
the G-23 form. Information is publicly available, on a monthly basis, on
pending cases, new cases, cases approved, and cases denied. In addition,
the INS collects data on the number of requests sent to the State
Department for advisory opinions, the number of advisory opinions
received, the cases pending for which there are letters, and the cases
decided and awaiting a response from the applicant.
Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals
Immigration judges, appointed by the Attorney General, are located in the
office of the Chief Immigration Judge, part of the Department of Justice
but independent of the INS. Hearings before immigrat ion judges represent
the first level of administrative judicial review. The decisions of
immigration judges can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals
(BIA). Immigration judges hear asylum cases filed by people who have
either been denied asylum status by an INS district director or not
presented their claims to a district director. The latter usually arise
in exclusion or deportation proceedings. While the INS asylum interviews
are confidential, immigration court proceedings are relatively open and
adversarial in character, with the applicant frequently represented by
legal counsel and the INS always represented by a trial attorney.
In January 1983 immigration judges and the Board of Immigration
Appeals (BIA) were placed together in a new unit, separate from the INS,
called the Executive Office for Immigration Review. The separation was
effected, in large part, in response to criticism about the apparent lack
of independence of the review and appeals agencies from the INS itself.
An important change resulting from the reorganization was in the
record-keeping procedures: prior to the change, the INS kept monthly
consolidated case records that combined the cases heard by the district
directors and the immigration judges; now the two categories are reported
separately. After the reorganization, the immigration judges adopted the
counting procedures of the BIA, keeping track of the total number of
cases according to whether they involved exclusion or deportation
proceedings; however, the judges ceased to record the nationality of the
applicants so that immigration court statistics of asylum grants and
denials by nationality can no longer be compiled.
Fortunately, this situation is due to be remedied in early 1985, at
which time data collection will be more comprehensive than it was prior
to the reorganization.
OCR for page 121
121
Data Insufficiencies and Gaps
There are several major problems with the data on applicants for asylum.
Perhaps the most obvious is the lack of an accurate count of those
seeking asylum.
Although the INS has improved its data-keeping mechanisms and
introduced greater uniformity into reporting procedures throughout its
operations, there is still little confidence in statistical information
generated from the INS district offices, which are the source of
information about aliens seeking asylum. A need exists, therefore, for
the development and controlled implementation of a standardized
record-keeping procedure, incorporating necessary quality control, for
asylum seekers as well as other categories of aliens.
Wittingly or unwittingly, asylum applicants also contribute to
inaccurate counts by filing more than one application, by filing
incomplete applications, and by failing to appear for hearings.
Applicants often fail to appear for their second INS interviews or for
their hearings, sometimes because they have not received the notices of
their appearances, but at other times because they expect negative
rulings. Officials claim, for example, that when the New York district
office began to rule negatively on many Polish cases, the applicants
simply went across the river to Newark, where the reception was more
sympathetic, and applied again, presumably under different names. Some
districts apparently treat a nonappearance as a voluntary departure,
assume the person is no longer in the country, and close the case. Other
districts maintain active files for hundreds of applicants who have, in
effect, disappeared.
A second problem involves the application form. In June 1981 a
revised 45-item form replaced the existing 30-item form. On the old
form, the application itself contained primarily biographical and
immigration data. Many questions relevant to asylum evaluations, e. g.,
ethnic and religious affiliations and reasons for leaving the country of
origin, appeared on a supplemental form, which applicants frequently left
incomplete. The new form incorporates the questions previously on the
supplemental forms and requires more specificity on the questions related
to an applicant's "well-founded fear." Unfortunately, many of the
pre-1981 forms are still in use, because the backlog, particularly in
immigration court, is extremely heavy.
There are several gaps in information about applicants for asylum.
As noted, INS statistics do not distinguish nationality in certain areas
such as cases before immigration judges in which such information is
needed. Furthermore, the data specify neither the number of asylum
applicants among those who are subsequently deported or accept voluntary
departure nor the countries to which asylum applicants from particular
countries are deported.
The Department of State and the INS may determine that the members of
a certain nationality group merit "extended voluntary departure." This
status entitles those who make themselves known to INS officials to
remain in the United States until conditions in their countries of origin
are safe enough to ensure their physical safety. According to the State
Department and the INS, national groups granted extended voluntary
departure in the past have remained in the United States after the
special status was removed. There is no statistical evidence to support
OCR for page 122
122
this position, nor to support arguments that people do return to their
countries of origin when conditions improve. At a minimum, data are
needed both on the number who come forward to request extended voluntary
departure status and on those applicants who subsequently leave the
country. Such issues and those raised above are appropriate for review
by an interagency task force that should be established to deal with data
needs for refugees and asylees.
THE U.S. DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Upon admission to the United States (or approval of application, for
asylees), refugees and asylees are eligible for a range of programs that
are aimed at promoting their self-auf ficiency. The State Department's
Bureau for Refugee Programs is responsible for administering a reception
and placement grant program, using cooperative agreements with private
voluntary agencies. Under the cooperative agreements, agencies are
required to establish case files on each arriving refugee family unit.
These files are to record biographical data, health information,
English-language level, and other pertinent information to assist in
developing plans for employment and meeting the service needs of the
refugees. The files are also to detail the services that are provided to
the refugee during, at least, the first 90 days. Most other assistance
programs for refugees are funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in
the Department of Health and Human Services and adminis tered by the
states. The programs include cash medical assistance, social services,
health assessments, educational programs for children, and targeted
assistance programs for areas of high impact.
Data Collection and Reporting
The Refugee Act of 1980, as noted earlier, contains relatively detailed
and specific requirements for data collection and reporting, and these
requirements were continued and expanded when the ac t was reauthorized in
October 1982. All the requirements cover both refugees and asylees. In
addition, public interest in refugees, as a highly visible component of
the net ion ' s immigrat ion, has been strong. In this context, the
collection and dissemination of statistics on refugees has become
institutionalized. The Refugee Act of 1980 requires an annual report to
Congress on the progress of refugees who have arrived in the United
States since 1975; ache retroactive mandate is noteworthy. Specific
language in the act provides for "an updated profile of the employment
and labor force statistics for refugees," "a description of the extent to
which refugees received . . . assistance or services, . . . a description
of the geographic location of refugees, . . . evaluations of the extent
to which the services provided . . . are assisting refugees in achieving
economic self-sufficiency, achieving ability in English, and achieving
employment commensurate with their skills and abilities," and a summary
of the information collected at the time refugees become permanent
resident aliens. The Refugee Assistance Amendments of 1982 contained
additional data collection requirements on two topics: refugee receipt
of cash or medical assistance by state of residence and nationality and
OCR for page 123
123
the secondary migration (away from the initial resettlement site) of
refugees in the United States.
The ORR has been assigned the responsibility of carrying out the
reporting requirements of the act. Accordingly, an automated data system
for compiling and storing records on individual refugees has been
established, and a system of regular reports by state grantee agencies to
the ORR exists. An annual survey of Southeast Asian refugees provides a
regular picture of their progress, focusing on employment and the use of
services. Through agreements with other federal agencies, certain
additional statistics on refugees are being compiled. Finally, an
evaluation research program has produced several studies of topics
related to refugee adjustment, and other studies are being done.
Reports by State Agencies to the ORR
Since the first quarter of fiscal 1983, state refugee program agencies
have been required to report certain of their program activities to the
ORR on form ORR-6. This Quarterly Performance Report is the basis of
program statistics on refugee use of cash and medical assistance funded
by the ORR and on the number of refugee clients being served in other
types of ORR-funded programs. When completed fully and accurately and
combined nationwide, these quarterly reports can yield a useful picture
of the refugee cash, medical assistance, and social services caseloads
supported by the ORR.
ORR Reports
Several regularly scheduled reports are generated from the ORR data
system and the state reports submitted to the ORR, others are being
developed, and ad hoc reports are produced to meet management needs.
Each month, following preparation by the Center for Disease Control of
its tape file of arriving refugees, the ORR prepares a set of monthly
report tables, which provides current monthly and fiscal-year-to-date
arrival figures. This set, which is the basis of the ORR monthly data
report, normally contains five standard tables: estimated total state
populations of Southeast Asian refugees; arrival numbers by state of
resettlement; arrival numbers by country of birth and country of
citizenship; age-sex distribution of arrivals; and arrival numbers by
sponsoring agency. This report is distributed by the ORR to all state
refugee program agencies, the national headquarters of the voluntary
agencies, other federal agencies, and congressional offices. Further
distribution by these recipients is encouraged, and state refugee program
coordinators have agreed to serve as distribution centers for their own
local agencies and service providers.
The ORR also produces state-specific tables covering the same
subjects as the national tables, with each state's arrivals broken down
further by county of resettlement. These monthly reports are distributed
to the state refugee program coordinators in the mailing with the
national report. The county-level tables also are used by ORR officials
for detailed analysis of resettlement patterns and to assist them in
deciding where to place special projects and direct special funding.
OCR for page 124
124
At the close of each fiscal year, a number of special tables are
produced from the ORR data system for the annual Report to the Congress.
Some of these tables essentially summarize the information presented in
the monthly tables. In addition, information from the state reports on
public assistance utilization and secondary migration are presented. The
statistics represent the ORR's official program statistics for the year
just ended. A narrative discussion accompanies the tables. Other
statistical reports are not presented in tabular form in the Report to
the Congress but are summarized in the narrative.
The permanent resident alien file is also a major source of follow-up
information on refugees. The data are collected by the INS on form I-643
and given to the ORR for presentation in its Report to the Congress. In
use since 1982, the I-643 form is completed at the time a refugee applies
for ad justment of status to permanent resident alien; it includes items
on changes in residence since entry, household composition, work history,
and the use of cash assistance programs.
The ORR also carries out an annual survey of Southeast Asian
refugees, which represents the continuation of a series of nationwide
telephone surveys that were begun in 1975. The survey is done in
October. Sample sizes in recent years have ranged from 1,000 to 1,300.
Its major purpose is to fulfill a requirement in the Refugee Act of 1980
to report to Congress annually on "an updated profile of the employment
and labor force statistics for refugees who have entered under this Act
since May 1975, as well as a description of the extent to which refugees
received the forms of assistance or services under this chapter during
that period." Questions in the survey focus on labor force
participation, employment, participation in educational and training
programs, and the use of public assistance. Major findings appear in the
annua 1 Report to the Congres s .
Information From Other Federal Agencies Through interagency agreements,
ORR is currently funding studies on refugees based on data from two
existing federal sources: the Medicaid system and the Internal Revenue
Service. The Medicaid study, which is limited to three states, will
obtain information on the patterns of refugee use of public medical
assistance, including type of service, frequency, cost, and the condition
for which assistance is sought. The IRS study, based on aggregate data
for 1980, 1981, and 1982, covers numbers of tax returns filed, aggregate
income reported (by source), and total federal income taxes paid by the
cohort of Southeast Asian refugees who entered the United States in the
1975-1979 period. This cohort of refugees is identifiable because its
members were assigned special social security numbers during entry
processing; similar information for this cohort will be obtained for
sub sequent tax years .
The ORR Evaluation Research Program Since fiscal 1981 ORR has funded a
number of research contracts to assess refugee adjustment to life in the
United States and to evaluate ORR-supported projects to facilitate
adjustment. Among the issues covered in those studies are economic
self-sufficiency, the role of the refugee community, the effectiveness of
language training programs, and residency patterns and secondary
migration.
OCR for page 125
125
At present, the ORR data collection system is well-established and
capable of generating information on a wide range of issues. The major
weakness in the system is the lack of in-house analytic capacity or
adequate funding either to allow for timely distribution of the data for
analysis or to permit contracting for analytic resources outside the
agency.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It is quite clear that the processes involved in determining those
refugees eligible for entry into the United States and in effecting the
long journey from refugee camp to resettlement in this country are both
complex and involve a variety of participants here and abroad. They
require and generate many different kinds of data for use in
administrative control, program management, program evaluation, policy
review, and policy development. However, the utility of the data is
compromised by uncertain quality that is a reflection, in large measure,
of an absence of concern with consistency, coordination, and purpose.
For example, different series purport to measure the same thing but use
different definitions; efforts are needlessly duplicated; one group
revises a form without consulting a second group whose data needs are
based on the same form. Yet the picture is mixed. The legislation
establishing the refugee program in the United States sets an example
well worth noting in specifying data requirements and analytical
products; the agency charged with meeting these requirements, the Office
of Refugee Resettlement, has struggled to meet the mandate and, on the
whole, has set an example that others would do well to emulate. But the
effort cannot be left to rest there.
Therefore, the Panel recommends that the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee
Affairs:
o Establish an interagency task force, representing all federal
offices responsible for or concerned with refugee issues. The task
force, supplemented by persons with appropriate statistical and data
processing competence, would undertake to review the statistical program
and provide recommendations:
--on maximizing the utility of data currently being collected;
--on establishing standard definitions and resolving existing
contradictions in the data;
--on a priority ranking of data needs and where responsibility for
each should be placed;
--on which data items or series should be deleted;
--for institutionalizing coordination among the participants in
the area of data compilation; and
--on resources and time required to implement quality control and
other appropriate statistical methods designed to ensure the
maintenance of an adequate data bare for policy and program needs.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
voluntary agencies
