MPI's Migration Information Source Newsletter

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November 1, 2021

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U.S. Policy Beat
Biden Immigration Enforcement Priorities Emphasize a Multi-Dimensional View of Migrants
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-immigration-enforcement-priorities
U.S. immigration arrests have declined to the lowest level in years. Going forward, new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidelines could further shape how authorities arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants and noncitizens who have committed crimes. This article describes how the Biden administration prosecutorial discretion guidance marks a sharp turn from the approach taken by the Trump administration.

Spotlight
Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/vietnamese-immigrants-united-states
Vietnamese immigrants are among the largest foreign-born groups from Asia in the United States. The first significant arrivals came at the end of the Vietnam War; more recent immigrants from Vietnam have been more likely to come through family sponsorship programs. This article examines different dimensions of this immigrant population.

Feature
The Resettlement Gap: A Record Number of Global Refugees, but Few Are Resettled
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugee-resettlement-gap
There are more refugees than ever globally, but each year only a tiny share get selected for resettlement to new countries. This "resettlement gap" has grown due to political pressures in resettlement countries and procedural challenges throughout the process, as this article explains.


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EDITOR'S NOTE

The United States last week announced a new policy that may be among the most significant since its refugee resettlement program was formally created in 1980: Allowing groups of private individuals to take the lead in resettling some of the estimated 95,000 people from Afghanistan expected to arrive by next September.

Globally, the idea is not necessarily groundbreaking. Interest in community sponsorship of refugees has been growing, in part as a response to the widening gap between the number of resettlement-eligible refugees and those who are successfully relocated to a new country, which Benedicta Solf and Katherine Rehberg describe in a new Migration Information Source article. In 2020, only about 2 percent of the estimated 1.4 million refugees determined to need resettlement obtained it.

In some places, community sponsorship is baked into the system. Canada, for instance, has long relied on a novel system allowing private and nonprofit groups to sponsor significantly more refugees than the national government. As Ian Van Haren explained in the Source earlier this year, that unique system was a large reason why Canada became the world's top country for refugee settlement in 2018 and 2019, as the United States-historically the global leader-pulled back its operations.

Yet the new U.S. policy is likely to be significant, given the pole position that the country has inhabited in terms of resettlement and the Biden administration's commitment to resettle up to 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2022.

Although the current program is limited to Afghan arrivals (who, as my MPI colleagues recently explained, fall into a variety of legal categories that may differ from refugee status), it will offer a preview of a new pilot program on refugee resettlement more generally, which had already been in the works and is scheduled to be rolled out next year.

Officially known as the Sponsor Circle Program, the new effort for Afghans allows at least five adults to come together to form a sponsorship group. Groups must have $2,275 per individual they want to sponsor, be able to demonstrate they can support the new arrival for three months, and be willing to undergo background checks. Sponsors can specify a particular family or individual they want to sponsor, such as a former colleague, relative, or associate.

As one of several types of so-called complementary pathways for refugee resettlement, growing community sponsorship programs could help provide relief for a resettlement system that is in need of support.

Of course, there is a concern that such avenues not replace the current resettlement system or otherwise allow national governments to shrug off their responsibilities onto charitable individuals. But the new U.S. policy is a sign that countries are willing to explore new routes for migrants in need of them, particularly those who may not fall into narrowly defined legal categories.

Best regards,

Julian Hattem

Editor, Migration Information Source

[email protected]


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NEW FROM MPI

Medicaid Access and Participation: A Data Profile of Eligible and Ineligible Immigrant Adults
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/medicaid-immigrant-adults
By Valerie Lacarte, Mark Greenberg and Randy Capps

It Is Too Simple to Call 2021 a Record Year for Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border
www.migrationpolicy.org/news/2021-migration-us-mexico-border
By Jessica Bolter

How We Talk about Migration: The Link between Migration Narratives, Policy, and Power
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/migration-narratives-policy-power
By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Haim Malka and Shelly Culbertson

A Framework for Language Access: Key Features of U.S. State and Local Language Access Laws and Policies
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/state-local-language-access-policies
By Jacob Hofstetter, Margie McHugh and Anna O'Toole


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HAVE YOU READ?

Building Climate Resilience through Migration in Thailand
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/building-climate-resilience-through-migration-thailand

Canada's Private Sponsorship Model Represents a Complementary Pathway for Refugee Resettlement
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/canada-private-sponsorship-model-refugee-resettlement

Gender-Based Violence against Women: Both Cause for Migration and Risk along the Journey
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/gender-based-violence-against-women-both-cause-migration-and-risk-along-journey


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MEDIA CORNER

In "Planetary Specters: Race, Migration, and Climate Change in the Twenty-First Century," Neel Ahuja proposes a new framework for understanding climate change as a driver of displacement.
[link removed]

Journalist Albert Samaha traces the journey of his Filipino American family in "Concepcion: An Immigrant Family's Fortunes."
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611521/concepcion-by-albert-samaha/

"Global Views on Climate Relocation and Social Justice: Navigating Retreat," edited By Idowu Jola Ajibade and A.R. Siders, features multiple perspectives on so-called managed retreat strategies in the face of environmental change.
www.routledge.com/Global-Views-on-Climate-Relocation-and-Social-Justice-Navigating-Retreat/Ajibade-Siders/p/book/9780367693442

Joseph A. Kéchichian and Fahad Alsharif examine Saudi Arabia's approach to migration, particularly from majority Muslim countries, in "Sa'udi Policies towards Migrants and Refugees: A Sacred Duty."
www.sussex-academic.com/sa/titles/middle_east_studies/kechichianalsharif.htm

In "Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea," anthropologist Markus Bell writes about people who moved from Japan to North Korea and then returned years later.
www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BellOutsiders

Elizabeth Allen takes an historical look at protection in "Uncertain Refuge: Sanctuary in the Literature of Medieval England."
www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/16262.html


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