Immigration Statistics A Story of Neglect (1985) / Chapter Skim
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7 Collecting Data on Refugees and Asylees: An Illusion of a Complex Process
7 Collecting Data on Refugees and Asylees: An Illusion of a Complex Process
Pages 110-125
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From page 110... ...
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.
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From page 111... ...
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.
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From page 112... ...
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.
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From page 113... ...
, 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.
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From page 114... ...
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)
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From page 115... ...
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.
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From page 116... ...
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.
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From page 117... ...
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.
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From page 118... ...
, 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.
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From page 119... ...
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.
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From page 120... ...
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.
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From page 121... ...
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.
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From page 122... ...
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.
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From page 123... ...
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.
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From page 124... ...
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.
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From page 125... ...
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.
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