The Refugee Influx - East Asian Refugees

President Bush's September 2004 Proposed Refugee Admissions for FY 2005—Report to Congress included information on recent refuge programs in Southeast Asia. In FY 2004 Thailand continued to host the largest population of refugees in East Asia. More than 140,000 Burmese, mostly ethnic minorities, were recognized by the UNHCR and lived in nine Thai-administered refugee camps along the Thai–Burma border. In FY 2004, at the request of the Thai government, some 15,500 Lao Hmong at Wat Tham Krabok and several thousand urban Burmese were expeditiously processed for resettlement in the United States.

As of June 2004 nearly one hundred Vietnamese Montagnards had sought UNHCR protection—more than eighty in Cambodia and others in Thailand. Most were referred to the United States for resettlement. Over 19,000 Burmese Muslim Rohingyas remained in two UNHCR camps in southern Bangladesh. From 1995 to 2005 more than 200,000 of this group had repatriated to Burma.

In April 2004 the U.S. and Philippine governments announced plans for the majority of a group of some 1,885 Vietnamese longstayers in the Philippines to be considered for possible resettlement in the United States. The Philippine government agreed to make efforts to regularize the status of those not approved for the U.S. program.

TABLE 4.7
Refugee arrivals by state of initial resettlement, FY 2003
SOURCE: "Table V. Refugee Arrivals by State of Initial Resettlement, FY 2003," in Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2005: Report to Congress, Submitted on behalf of The President of the United States to the Committees on the Judiciary, United States Senate and United States House of Representatives in fulfillment of the requirements of Section 207(e) (1)-(7) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Department of State, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, September 2004, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/36228.pdf (accessed March 1, 2005)

State	Refugee arrivals	Amerasian arrivals	Total arrivals to state	Percentage of total arrivals
Alabama	46	0	46	0.16%
Alaska	28	0	28	0.10%
Arizona	967	0	967	3.44%
Arkansas	4	0	4	0.01%
California	4,166	12	4,178	14.85%
Colorado	472	0	472	1.68%
Connecticut	204	1	205	0.73%
Delaware	36	0	36	1.13%
District of Columbia	107	0	107	0.38%
Florida	911	7	918	3.26%
Georgia	1,080	4	1,084	3.85%
Hawaii	15	0	15	0.05%
Idaho	257	0	257	0.91%
Illinois	936	0	936	3.33%
Indiana	262	0	262	0.93%
Iowa	220	7	227	0.81%
Kansas	99	0	99	0.35%
Kentucky	314	0	314	1.12%
Louisiana	77	0	77	0.27%
Maine	105	0	105	0.37%
Maryland	786	0	786	2.79%
Massachusetts	807	0	807	2.87%
Michigan	443	5	448	1.59%
Minnesota	1,749	0	1,749	6.22%
Mississippi	3	0	3	0.01%
Missouri	437	4	441	1.57%
Montana	34	0	34	0.12%
Nebraska	211	0	211	0.75%
Nevada	185	0	185	0.66%
New Hampshire	240	0	240	0.85%
New Jersey	562	0	562	2.00%
New Mexico	27	0	27	0.10%
New York	2,239	5	2,244	7.98%
North Carolina	576	4	580	2.06%
North Dakota	105	0	105	0.37%
Ohio	655	0	655	2.33%
Oklahoma	54	6	60	0.21%
Oregon	789	0	789	2.80%
Pennsylvania	1,227	0	1,227	4.36%
Rhode Island	129	0	129	0.46%
South Carolina	110	0	110	0.39%
South Dakota	159	0	159	0.57%
Tennessee	451	0	451	1.60%
Texas	1,520	12	1,532	5.45%
Utah	400	0	400	1.42%
Vermont	78	0	78	0.28%
Virginia	796	0	796	2.83%
Washington	2,750	0	2,750	9.77%
West Virginia	2	0	2	0.01%
Wisconsin	236	0	236	0.84%
Wyoming	1	0	1	0.00%
Total	28,067	67	28,134	100.0%
Note: Arrival figures do not reflect secondary migration.

In 2003 Malaysia became the largest UNHCR refugee status determination operation in the world. From January 2003 to April 2004 the UNHCR registered 18,092 persons of concern. They included asylum seekers

TABLE 4.8
Refugees and asylees granted lawful permanent resident status by region, fiscal years 1946–2003
SOURCE: Adapted from "Table 21. Refugees and Asylees Granted Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Region and Selected Country of Birth, Fiscal Years 1946–2003," in 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, September 2004, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/RA2003yrbk/2003RA.pdf (accessed March 2, 2005)

Region and country of birth	Total	1946–50	1951–60	1961–70	1971–80	1981–90	1991–2000	2002	2003
All countries	3,772,411	213,347	492,371	212,843	539,447	1,013,620	1,021,266	126,084	44,927
Europe	1,513,325	211,983	456,146	55,235	71,858	155,512	426,565	62,911	17,290
Asia	1,379,836	1,106	33,422	19,895	210,683	712,092	351,347	21,414	9,885
Africa	112,146	20	1,768	5,486	2,991	22,149	51,649	13,454	7,723
Oceania	523	7	75	21	37	22	291	33	18
North America	752,825	163	831	132,068	252,633	121,840	185,333	26,807	8,454
Caribbean	708,540	3	6	131,557	251,825	114,213	154,235	25,706	7,547
Central America	40,795	*	*	4	289	6,973	30,582	974	806
South America	12,992	32	74	123	1,244	1,986	5,857	1,222	1,518
Unknown or not reported	764	36	55	15	*	19	224	243	39
*Disclosure standards not met.

from Burma—mainly Chin, Rohingyas, and other Burmese Muslims—and Acehnese from Indonesia. The UNHCR estimated that more than 2,000 persons would be in need of resettlement from Malaysia in 2005 and was preparing referrals of some 1,000 Burmese Chin to the U.S. program. Indonesia continued to host a number of asylum seekers from East Asia and elsewhere.