General Discussion

Stinky The Clown

(67,817 posts) Tue Apr 24, 2012, 07:32 PM Apr 2012

Wow. Seventy Two Percent of all the resettled people in the world are resettled in the USA.

They just did a story on this on the CBS Evening News.

That statistic is, to me, staggering. It also make me feel good because it means, xenophobes and selfish assholes remain a minority in this country.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
~Emma Lazarus, now the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.

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Wow. Seventy Two Percent of all the resettled people in the world are resettled in the USA. (Original Post) Stinky The Clown Apr 2012 OP

72% over what period? I can be a little dense sometimes. In virgogal Apr 2012 #1

Here's what appears to be the story; the way it's phrased is strange muriel_volestrangler Apr 2012 #2

virgogal

(10,178 posts)

1. 72% over what period? I can be a little dense sometimes. In

Reply to Stinky The Clown (Original post)

Tue Apr 24, 2012, 07:37 PM

Apr 2012

other words I doubt that it means 72% of the current population.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,355 posts)

2. Here's what appears to be the story; the way it's phrased is strange

Reply to Stinky The Clown (Original post)

Wed Apr 25, 2012, 05:02 AM

Apr 2012

(CBS News) We're a nation of immigrants. Most of our families came from somewhere else. Maybe that's why the United States accepts more refugees than all the other countries of the earth combined. About 72 percent of people who are resettled by the State Department as a result of war or persecution are welcomed here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57420502/from-tropical-burma-to-syracuse-refugees-adjust/

72% of people who are resettled by the State Department. That may mean that the State Dept also arranges for some people to resettle in other countries, but that wouldn't be the entire group of resettled people in the world. It may also mean 'in the past year' or 'in the past X years'.

For figures of total refugees in the world, and in the US, we have:

February 21, 2012

The number of refugees resettled in the United States topped three million on February 15. The resettlement program continues to offer life-changing and life-saving support for refugees who have been in camps or urban locations for many years. Equally important, it serves many more refugees by preserving and expanding the humanitarian space in countries of first asylum. We have seen this vividly in the past during the Kosovo crisis, and more recently in Libya.

http://www.state.gov/j/prm/releases/letters/2012/184326.htm

Right now there are about 42 million displaced people in the world. One in every 170 persons in the world has been uprooted by war. This is the largest category of vulnerable people in the world. About one third of them are officially recognized refugees because they have crossed an international border. The other two thirds are so-called internally displaced persons, or IDPs, because they are still within their own country. Of the world’s 12 million or so refugees, about 3.2 million are in Africa. In addition, Africa has about half of the world’s 25 million IDPs.

http://www.rescue.org/refugees

So it would seem the US has resettled about 25% of the world's refugees. There may be a question of permanence, as well - does 'resettled' mean granted permanent permission to stay, while the status of 'refugee' can be temporary?

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