The White House announced Thursday it would take in as many as 10,000 Syrian refugees next year in the wake of growing concern in Europe over the flood of migrants fleeing the Middle East.
Since the Syrian Civil War began in March 2011, 1,584 refugees have been relocated in the U.S., the majority of whom have moved to Texas (180), California (171), Michigan (159), Illinois (132), Arizona (107) and Florida (97). Thirty other states have absorbed the rest, according to numbers compiled by the State Department.
In the U.S., a number of factors go into where refugees are moved, says Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch. Refugees are relocated through negotiations between the federal government and non-governmental organizations called VOLAGs (voluntary agencies), which contract with the State Department. Those NGOs help determine which communities are right for relocation based on factors like housing availability. At the same time, refugees can also indicate if they have family in the U.S. and can try to be reunited with relatives, which can help direct where they’re relocated.
Refugee communities take root in certain cities for a number of reasons. Minneapolis, for example, is home to a large Somali population that began moving to the area in the early 1990s during the Somali civil war. A sizable Hmong population relocated in Wisconsin after fleeing Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. One of the largest waves of refugees ever to make it to the U.S. were the Vietnamese “boat people,” who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s and largely settled in California.
See How Lesbos Became a Limbo for Thousands of Migrants
Migrants rest in makeshift camps on the roadside as they make their way on foot across the Greek island of Lesbos, the first piece of European land they reached after crossing in rickety boats from neighboring Turkey.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants rest in makeshift camps on the roadside as they make their way on foot across the Greek island of Lesbos, the first piece of European land they reached after crossing in rickety boats from neighboring Turkey.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA migrant carries her child up from the beach to a road on the Greek island of Lesbos, the first piece of European land they reached after crossing from Turkey with a few dozen other migrants in an overcrowded motorboat.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEVolunteers rush to welcome a boat full of migrants as it arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants from Afghanistan rejoice after crossing safely by boat from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, the first piece of European land they reached on their journey to claim asylum in Germany and other wealthy European nations.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA German volunteer helps a family from Afghanistan that has just come ashore from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, the first piece of European land they reached on their journey to claim asylum in Germany and other wealthy European nations.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEVolunteers rush to welcome a boat full of migrants as it arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants grasp at a bowl of rice during food distribution at a newly built camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants pray at the makeshift mosque they have built inside a detention and processing camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAn Afghan migrant shaves with the help of a traffic mirror on the side of a highway on the Greek island of Levos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA Syrian migrant rests at a hastily built camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos. Sept. 4, 2015.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants wait at a camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos to receive registration documents from Greek authorities that will allow them to leave the island on ferries and travel onward toward Western Europe.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMETents full of migrants stand outside a detention and processing center for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos, one of the most crowded and volatile outposts for the unprecedented wave of migrants coming to the European Union from conflict zones across the Muslim world.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants wait for bowl of food during mealtime at a newly built camp for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants come aboard a cruise ship that the Greek government chartered to transport them to Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos. The regular ferry service traveling this route was unable to cope with the unprecedented influx of migrants going through Greece to Western Europe from various conflict zones across the Muslim world.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMECrewmembers of a Greek cruise ship help a Syrian woman who has collapsed while boarding the ship, along with nearly 2500 other asylum seekers, to be taken Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos. After regaining consciousness inside an ambulance parked at the pier, the woman asked to go back on the ship rather than be taken to hospital. The crew obliged.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants rest and recharge their phones aboard a cruise ship that the Greek government chartered to transport them to Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos. The regular ferry service traveling this route was unable to cope with the unprecedented influx of migrants going through Greece to Western Europe from various conflict zones across the Muslim world.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants rest and recharge their phones aboard a cruise ship that the Greek government chartered to transport them to Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos. The regular ferry service traveling this route was unable to cope with the unprecedented influx of migrants going through Greece to Western Europe from various conflict zones across the Muslim world.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants rest and recharge their phones aboard a cruise ship that the Greek government chartered to transport them to Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos. The regular ferry service traveling this route was unable to cope with the unprecedented influx of migrants going through Greece to Western Europe from various conflict zones across the Muslim world.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA migrant takes a selfie aboard a cruise ship that the Greek government chartered to transport them to Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEMigrants use the netting over a swimming pool to dry their laundry aboard a cruise ship that the Greek government chartered to transport them to Athens from the Greek island of Lesbos.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
The states that have taken in the most Syrian refugees are sizable and can handle a bigger influx of people looking to resettle. California has historically taken in large numbers of refugees, and Texas—despite the perception of being anti-immigrant—has actually led the U.S. in refugee resettlement over the last four years. Some areas already have communities with a long-established Middle Eastern presence. Dearborn, Mich., for example, has a large Arab-American population that stretches back to the late 19th century, and the state has continued taking in refugees from war-torn Arab countries over the last decade. Margon says that any new influx of Syrian refugees will likely look to states that already have significant Middle Eastern populations.
“Once a community gets established, you see refugee populations who want to reconnect with those communities,” Margon says.
The White House has been under pressure to open its doors to more refugees as Europe struggles to deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants looking to resettle. The increase in refugees relocating to the U.S., however, would still comprise just a small portion of the overall number of people fleeing Syria. The United Nations estimates that 11 million Syrians have been dislocated since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011, 4 million of whom have fled to neighboring countries. Germany alone is expecting 800,000 refugees seeking asylum by the end of the year.
