MRS official tells Congress nation must address refugee problem

Published: 2004-09-30

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The dramatic drop in U.S. refugee admissions is beginning to reverse, but the nation should do more to alleviate a grave worldwide refugee situation, according to an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who offered several recommendations to a Senate subcommittee Sept. 21. Mark Franken, executive director of the USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services, told members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship that with appropriate funding, the United States could be on track to fulfill an earlier State Department commitment to admit as many as 90,000 refugees in fiscal year 2005. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the number of refugees admitted to the United States dropped to fewer than 30,000 a year for the 2002 and 2003 fiscal years. The government was authorized to admit 70,000 each year. Consequently, "almost 85,000 vulnerable refugees lost the opportunity to resettle in the United States," Franken said, at a time "when there were an estimated 13 million refugees in the world."

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