WASHINGTON – President Obama recently announced U.S. plans to accept 110,000 additional refugees for the next fiscal year, nearly a 30 percent increase, something that will likely affect Arizona as the state has historically been a haven for refugees. Arizona has taken in over 800 Syrian refugees since October and has resettled almost 5.2 percent of the total number of refugees the U.S. has admitted from all countries, according to the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center. The only states that have resettled more Syrian refugees than Arizona, are California and Michigan with over 1,000 resettled individuals this past year.

The reason Arizona is one of the top destinations for refugees is because it is a state with midsize communities that have a lower cost of living, according to Betsy Fisher, Policy Director at the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center.
Even though last year’s goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees was a six-fold increase, only 1 percent of all refugees are resettled to another country and a portion of that percent are resettled in Arizona, according to Connie Phillips, CEO and President of Refugee Focus, a program run by Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest.
“It’s certainly been a very busy summer because of the increased arrivals,” Phillips said. “It took a while for the vetting process to occur and for people to be ready to be processed. So instead of going throughout the year it kind of bunched up all at once.”
Fisher said The International Refugee Assistance Project welcomes the number the president announced of 110,000 additional refugees with hopes the U.S. will continue to expand refugee resettlement programs.
“Refugees in particular are a really crucial expression of our humanitarian commitment to people fleeing persecution,” Fisher said. She said one of the biggest obstacles refugees face once arriving in the U.S. is the expectation “to get on their feet very quickly,” adding, “which can be challenging especially for those that have experienced trauma or have lower levels of education.”
When the initial raised cap of 10,000 Syrians was announced, Republicans voiced concerns over national security in fear that potential terrorists could slip through the cracks.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, voiced his opposition of admitting Syrians and raising the cap on refugees overall last year and his position has not changed.
“The United States already takes in more immigrants than any other country on the planet,” Gosar said in a prepared statement. “Allowing tens of thousands of refugees to enter our country would further strain our out-of-control deficit spending. Even more troubling, leaders from the FBI, National Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security have said they do not have the necessary on-the-ground intelligence to thoroughly vet refugees.”
Gov. Doug Ducey was also among those who opposed the resettlement of new refugees in Arizona. He released a statement “calling for an immediate halt in the placement of any new refugees in Arizona” shortly after the 2015 Paris Attacks.
“These acts serve as a reminder that the world remains at war with radical Islamic terrorists,” he said in the statement last year.
Advocates believe a thorough vetting system is already in place and the process can take up to three years once approved for resettlement, according to Phillips.
Phillips said the vetting process is meticulous as it goes through the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State and FBI, and involves steps including: fingerprints, biometrics, background checks, health check and examining their personal story.
Because organizations working with refugees have gotten “very busy since this last May,” Phillips said Refugee Focus always needs help.
“What we need to focus on is that this is really about treating others how you would like to be treated,” Phillips said. “If the situation were reversed and we needed someplace safe to go, if our country was undergoing horrible violence, if our families, our children were being threatened, we would want someone to help us.”
Fisher said it’s safe to say last year’s admissions of 10,000 Syrians will probably be overshadowed by this year’s.
“We expect to see that number go up,” Fisher said. “Not sure how dramatically that will increase but definitely more than 10,000.”
The President set a target number for Syrians to be accepted this past year but that is not how it normally works, because the target is by region and not nationality, according to Anne Richard, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
“We don’t have a target number for number of Syrians for next year,” Richard said at a U.S. State Department briefing Tuesday. “This Administration has been very clear that we want to bring more Syrians, so my own guidance to our staff is that we want to bring even more than we brought this year without having a target.”