This document discusses several key topics related to human migration including push and pull factors, voluntary vs forced migration, refugees vs asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, and refugee resettlement statistics. It defines refugees according to the 1951 Refugee Convention and notes the top refugee producing countries. It also explains that internally displaced persons differ from refugees in that they have not crossed an international border despite facing similar circumstances like conflict, violence or disasters.

1. Ms. Patten

2. Push or Pull Factors

Economic
employment
poverty

Cultural/Political
government
ethnic or religious conflict
civil war

Environmental
climate
natural disasters
drought

3. Voluntary or Forced


Voluntary migration usually occurs as a
result of a choice related to economic
conditions
Forced migration means the migrant has
been compelled to move most likely due
to cultural factors

4. The United States is currently the most popular
destination for immigrants

5. Russia is the second most popular destination
for immigrants

6. Refugees
A very simplified definition of a refugee is
“someone who is afraid to go home.”
According to the 1951 Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person
who “owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion, is outside the
country of his nationality, and is unable to or,
owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself
of the protection of that country.”
http://www.openingdoorsinc.com/whatwedo_refugeeresettlementprogramfaq.php#FAQ1

7. Asylum Seekers or Refugees?

The US maintains a distinct program for asylum seekers, as opposed to
resettled refugees. Asylum seekers are persons who have fled their
countries of nationality as a result of armed conflict, violence, persecution,
human rights violations, etc., and are seeking protection and immunity from
forced return by the government of the country in which they are seeking
asylum. For the most part, asylum seekers are individuals who have, by
any of a variety of means, transported themselves to the country in
which they are seeking asylum. Upon arrival in the "safe" country, an
asylum seeker must plead his or her case before the relevant government
agency in the hopes that the request will be granted and the individual will
be allowed to permanently settle in the country of asylum.
In contrast, refugees are people who have fled their countries of nationality
for reasons generally similar to those mentioned above. For the most part,
however, refugees flee en masse, often by foot, into the nearest
neighboring country (the vast majority of Rwandan refugees, for example,
fled to Tanzania and what today is known as the Democratic Republic of the
Congo).
http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=229

8. Refugee Stats

The World Refugee Survey reports that there are more than
13 million refugees worldwide. In 2000, the US resettled
72,515 refugees; more than any other country in the world.

The President of the United States determines how many
refugees may be admitted into the country. For 2011, it was
determined that up to 80,000 refugees could be admitted to
the US under the following regional allocations (quotas):

Africa: 15,000
East Asia: 19,000
Europe and Central Asia: 2,000
Latin America/Caribbean: 5,500
Near East/South Asia: 35,500
Unallocated Reserve: 3,000
(Source: ImmigrationPolicy.org)

Since WW2 more refugees have found homes in the US
than any other nation

Since 1980, the US has accepted 2,000,000+ refugees
http://www.openingdoorsinc.com/whatwedo_refugeeresettlementprogramfaq.php#FAQ1
http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=229

9. Refugees by Country of Origin

10. Internally Displaced Persons

Internally displaced persons are “persons or
groups of persons who have been forced or
obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of
habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in
order to avoid the effects of armed conflict,
situations of generalized violence, violations of
human rights or natural or human-made disasters,
and who have not crossed an internationally
recognized State border.”

IDPs endure similar circumstances as refugees,
but lack legal protection because there is no
international border crossing
http://www.jrsea.org/refugees

11. IDP Populations

12. Refugees and IDP’s

14. Refugee Resettlement

18. Internally Displaced People

19. Minnesota Immigration