Safety Among Newly Resettled Refugees in the USA
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Safety Among Newly Resettled Refugees in the USA Stacey A. Shaw 1 & Graeme Rodgers 2 & Patrick Poulin 2 & Olive Minor 2 & Ashley Allen 1 Accepted: 22 September 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Within a context of changing political and social perspectives toward refugee resettlement in the USA, this mixed methods study examines experiences of safety among recently resettled refugees. The study was conducted by resettlement agency personnel within two states, Utah and Arizona. We examine risk and protective factors associated with perceptions of safety among a sample of 243 participants, as well as experiences related to safety as described in focus groups with 50 participants. Of the environmental factors examined, attending events related to one’s culture, language, or religion and more frequent home visits were associated with higher levels of perceived safety, while experiencing discrimination was associated with lower levels of perceived safety. Some individual and social factors such as nation of origin were also associated with perceptions of safety. Focus groups identified key themes related to safety in the USA which included discrimination, concerns about family safety, and feeling safe in the USA. An increased emphasis on safety as a key resettlement outcome can strengthen resettlement policy and guide community responses. Keywords Refugee . Resettlement . Safety . USA . Immigration . Forced migration
Introduction Opportunities for asylum and resettlement have declined worldwide in recent years as countries that have traditionally provided resettlement opportunities experience increases in nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment (Connor and Krogstad 2018; Konle-Seidl 2018; European Parliament 2019). Refugee resettlement within the USA is a legal opportunity for permanent residence and citizenship, with case management
* Stacey A. Shaw [email protected]
1
School of Social Work, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
2
International Rescue Committee, New York, NY, USA
Shaw S.A. et al.
and supports provided during the initial years post-arrival (Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration 2020; Darrow 2015; Halpern 2008; U.S. Department of State 2020). The election of Donald Trump to the US Presidency led to a rapid and significant change in the US resettlement program (Darrow and Scholl 2020). Starting in January 2017, the Trump administration utilized executive orders to issue the first of several travel bans (National Conference of State Legislatures 2019). In FY18, the administration lowered the admissions ceiling to 45,000 and narrowed admissions requirements. While the US resettlement program accepted an average of 80,000 people per year from 1980 through 2017 (Kerwin 2018), in fiscal year 2019, the admissions ceiling was lowered to 18,000 (The White House 2019), and only 12,320 people were admitted (Refugee Processing Center 2020). In 2020, admissions will likely be lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as ongoing political restrictions (Refugee Council USA 2020). The c
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