From Matthew 2:13, the “Flight to Egypt” story:
“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.”
In modern legal terms, the family would be “refugees”, under the relevant 1951 U.N. Convention: people who have crossed a national border “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” and cannot safely return home. The passage does not recount the family’s reception in Egypt, then a Roman province, though the implication is that they found a place to live and a temporary livelihood. An announcement from the University of Maryland’s Rosham Center for Persian Studies (a 15-year-old center for Persian language and cultural study) provides a modern parallel, combining government support and policy with non-profit charities and individual volunteerism:
“Afghan refugees are currently the largest refugee population in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area served by the International Rescue Committee. While making the difficult adjustment to life in a new country they frequently struggle with a variety of problems, including social isolation/integration into the community, developing English language skills, and learning about local community resources and American culture. UMD students chosen to participate in the ARA Program as ARA interns help our new Afghan neighbors during their transition into their new life in America while themselves benefiting from the opportunity to learn more about Afghan Persian culture and the Dari dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan. ARA interns also receive training in refugee care from the IRC and additional training in Afghan culture and Dari (Persian) from Roshan-UMD faculty.”
Background: The U.N. High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) keeps an annual count of refugees, along with “internally displaced” people (i.e., those forced to leave home for similar reasons but who have not crossed an international border), and several other categories* of people forced from homes by violence or threat of persecution. The steadily rising tallies over the last decade, and the acceleration of their growth in the last five years, are a human index of deteriorating world peace and security:
Parallel to this is a second story of tenuous hope for shelter and resettlement. Six countries now host nearly half the world’s refugees: Turkey with 3.8 million, Colombia with 1.8 million, Pakistan and Uganda with 1.5 million each, Germany and Poland with 1.3 million each. In the United States, roughly three million Americans (including two currently serving Members of Congress) came to the U.S. as refugees, and are now permanent residents or citizens. From the turn of the century to 2016, the State Department was admitting 27,000-85,000 refugees per year for resettlement, which was roughly 3% to 8% of net immigration, depending on the year. The Trump administration cut admissions to 11,411 in FY2021, the lowest level since passage of the 1980 U.S. law defining refugee eligibility. The count has rebounded a bit since, with 15,100 arriving from the beginning of the Fiscal Year in September 2021 through June 2022, including the Afghans now acclimatizing at the University. In parallel with this, the Justice Department runs a “Temporary Protected Status” program, with stays of deportation and work authorization (though not citizenship) for about 400,000 nationals of 15 countries.
* Other classifications in UNHCR’s count of forcibly displaced people include Palestinians in the U.N. Relief and Works Administration’s jurisdiction, asylum seekers, and Venezuelans displaced abroad.
Flight
UNHCR reports over 100 million people forcibly displaced from homes worldwide.
… also notes 20-year trends, main source countries, countries with the largest incoming populations, and more.
… and summarizes country situations in:
Shelter
The Justice Department’s Temporary Protected Status data.
The State Department’s refugee resettlement program site.
… and State Dept data on refugee resettlement from FY2000 through FY2022 (through June). The largest arriving groups for the first nine months of FY2022: 3,735 from Congo (DROC), 3,525 from Syria, 1,308 from Sudan, 1,129 from Burma, 1,028 from Ukraine, and 846 from Afghanistan.
The Department Health and Human Services explains available services.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on sponsoring Ukrainian refugee arrivals.
And the University of Maryland’s Rosham Center explains its Afghan refugee support program.
And resettlement
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., on growing up in a refugee family and support for Afghan allies of the U.S.
Minnesota’s Hmong community celebrates a local girl.
Delaware encourages refugee business creation.
And Atlanta does the same.
D.C.’s African refugee community runs a family support and job center for newly arrived Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syrian and others.
Ed Gresser is Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at PPI.
Ed returns to PPI after working for the think tank from 2001-2011. He most recently served as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In this position, he led USTR’s economic research unit from 2015-2021, and chaired the 21-agency Trade Policy Staff Committee.
Ed began his career on Capitol Hill before serving USTR as Policy Advisor to USTR Charlene Barshefsky from 1998 to 2001. He then led PPI’s Trade and Global Markets Project from 2001 to 2011. After PPI, he co-founded and directed the independent think tank Progressive Economy until rejoining USTR in 2015. In 2013, the Washington International Trade Association presented him with its Lighthouse Award, awarded annually to an individual or group for significant contributions to trade policy.
Ed is the author of Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and the Global Economy (2007). He has published in a variety of journals and newspapers, and his research has been cited by leading academics and international organizations including the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. He is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia Universities and a certificate from the Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union.
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