Immigrants, Refugees and Asylees

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services defines refugees as “people outside of their country who are unable or unwilling to return home because they fear serious harm.” USCIS defines asylees as the same population seeking resettlement already inside the United States.1 According to a 2016 Current Population Survey,  there are 84.3 million immigrants and their first-generation children in the United States. 2 In the same year, 85,000 refugees entered the United States. 3 These populations, often with limited English proficiency, must navigate finding employment, housing, community, and education in a new country.

Resources:

Mentor: The National Mentoring Partnership

Mentoring Immigrant and Refugee Children Toolkit

Description: This comprehensive toolkit from Mentor lays out the steps to creating a successful and culturally competent mentoring program for immigrant and refugee children.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Asylee and Refugee Guide

Description: This is the official page for asylees and refugees from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The site provides access to relevant forms, office locations, and how-to guides for people seeking asylum or refugee status in the United States.

Austin Community College (ACC) Diversity Guide

Muslim Journeys Guide

Description: This interdisciplinary guide offers access to the Bridging Cultures: Muslim Journeys Bookshelf, which offers countless resources intended to educate the reader about Islam and its cultural and personal significance.

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Immigration and Child Welfare

Description: The Child Welfare Information Gateway offers resources and publications to help strengthen families and protect children. The diverse populations and communities page offers information for working with immigrant families for child welfare workers.

Services:

Caritas of Austin

Caritas of Austin

Description: Caritas of Austin provides comprehensive services in collaboration with community partners. Caritas aims to end homelessness through a range of services including housing, food, education, employment, support for veterans, and refugee resettlement.

Austin Public Library

Resources for New Immigrants Page

Description: The library provides a series of resources for new immigrants, including English classes, citizenship classes, newcomer cultural basics, and computer classes. All of these resources and materials are available in a variety of languages.

Refugee Services of Texas

RSTX Home Page

Description: With a local Austin branch, Refugee services of Texas provide a variety of services to refugees. Programs include but are not limited to housing and resettlement, English education, and legal and immigration advocacy services.

  1.  https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum
  2.  https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#CurrentHistoricalNumbers
  3.  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/05/u-s-admits-record-number-of-muslim-refugees-in-2016/