Refugee Resettlement and Domestic Assistance

February 11, 1998

Moderator: Kathleen Newland, Senior Associate, International Migration Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Panelist: Lavinia Limon, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Kathleen Newland welcomed Ms. Limon to the Carnegie Endowment and lauded her as an example of the able advocate who is also an able administrator. Even as various quarters question the fitness of the United States as a receiving country for refugees, Ms. Limon must deal with the constantly changing nature of the refugee experience. The IMPP is very pleased to have Ms. Limon discuss recent changes in the law affecting refugees.

Ms. Limon began by noting how the recent welfare reform, which ended the guaranteed federal safety net, has entailed the biggest change in welfare policy in 60 years. As the new welfare laws were taking shape, Ms. Limon defended the needs of refugees while agreeing that the old welfare laws had fostered a certain amount of dependence on federal programs. Even though refugee programs have been aimed at refugee self-sufficiency for over 20 years, programs such as AFDC (Aid for Families with Dependent Children) were antithetical to self-sufficiency. If Ms. Limon had been a refugee, she would have taken a check handed to her instead of working. Moreover, if a refugee did not qualify for AFDC, the refugee, usually single, received RCA (Refugee Cash Assistance) for an unlimited amount of time. Under welfare reform, however, there is now an eight-month limit on receiving RCA and a five-year lifetime limit on receiving TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), the latter of which has replaced AFDC. With TANF, states receive block grants and set the conditions under which refugees may receive assistance. According to Ms. Limon, more time is needed to assess the impact of TANF on refugees, but she nevertheless identified a few cases of concern: Florida, where an effective refugee placement and services system has been undermined by the new regulations; Idaho, where state authorities have set a low ceiling on payments to one family regardless of the number of children; and California, where state authorities blame families where both parents are refugees for the state's probable failure to reach a TANF-mandated threshold that requires 75% of two-parent families to work. Ms. Limon also expressed concern about refugees who may not be able to find a job during their first years in the United States. If the refugees do not find a job within one year, they are unlikely to find one within five years; moreover, states can choose to lower the five-year limit.

Although the United States has never admitted refugees based on their ability to become self-sufficient, some have called for such an approach. New refugees tend to be single, nonfamily reunion cases who are thus more dependent on refugee programs. The ability of many refugees to support themselves is marginal, especially ones who come from preindustrial societies. Nevertheless, Ms. Limon categorically rejected the idea that refugee admissions should be based on someone's potential for making money. Ms. Limon emphasized that refugees must be protected from persecution.

Lavinia Limon
Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement
Administration for Children and Families
Department of Health and Human Services
Aerospace Building, 5th Floor
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington DC 20447
202-401-9275
llimon@ACF.DHHS.GOV