Despite fewer refugees, Valley rescue group to continue providing support

PHOENIX — Although the Immigrant Integration Conference is over, issues that it covered still remain.

One of those issues is refugees.

Stanford Prescott with the International Rescue Committee in Phoenix said the Trump administration has been hostile toward immigrants and refugees and its travel ban has led to fewer refugees in Phoenix.

The ban allows no more than 40,000 refugees into the country per year. They cannot be from several Muslim-majority countries, such as Syria and Yemen. The administration has said this protects the U.S. from terrorists.

“Our office settled over 1,200 individuals in fiscal year ’16,” he said Monday. “We settled more than 600 individuals in fiscal year ’17.”

Despite the sharp decline in immigrants and evacuees coming to the Valley, Prescott said the committee will continue providing services for refugees.

“We’ve been really focusing on that longer-term aspect,” he said. “For us, that means come back to the refugees who have been resettled and … making sure they are as successful as possible,” Prescott said.

“When we’ve done our resettlement programs, about 84 percent [of refugees] are self-sufficient after six months. That means they have a job and they’re paying their bills, just like any other American.”

Other services the IRC provides are micro-loans for refugee businesses and help with housing.

The 2017 Immigrant Integration Conference took place from Dec. 10 to 12. Topics included how to become a U.S. citizen; financial solvency and immigration law.

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