Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (I.R.I.S.) is a New Haven-based non-profit that works to resettle refugees in southern Connecticut. It is one of a number of private organizations of its kind across the country. (Courtesy I.R.I.S.)

This tired man was Husham, an Iraqi translator and interpreter who worked for the U.S. from 2006 until recently. The other travelers were his wife and three children. The family recently fled Iraq, first to Damascus, then to New Haven. He did not say why he left the country, and no one asked—refugees rarely come with good stories to tell.

With no end in sight for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, cities across the U.S. can expect growing numbers of families like this one. Although the number of refugees accepted from these two nations is relatively low compared to the influx from other countries, the number will likely grow in coming years, especially if the U.S. decides to pull out from Afghanistan or Iraq. When the U.S. left Vietnam in 1975, it evacuated 130,000 Vietnamese who had supported the American cause. Thirty years later, the U.S. still resettles thousands of refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia every year. It is easy to imagine a similar outcome, with similar long-term consequences today.

The U.S. government has an official State Department office to deal specifically with refugees. Were the U.S. to see a surge in refugees from either Iraq or Afghanistan, the difficulty would not arise from the lack of organizational structure to deal with increased arrivals. The influx of Southeast Asian refugees in the 1970s prompted the government to form partnerships with independent organization to carry out the work of refugee resettlement. The system has functioned successfully for decades; but these organizations, predominantly Christian and Jewish, are encountering a new dynamic as they serve the ever-increasing population of Muslim refugees.

Religious Roots

Refugee resettlement is an American tradition that began with the Pilgrims and continues today: the U.S. currently resettles more refugees than all other nations of the world combined. The first official recognition of refugees as those fleeing persecution in their home countries came with the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which relied heavily on charities—often religious charities—to resettle refugees. Although religious organizations already had a long history of assisting immigrants and refugees, the Displaced Persons Act created an official place for religious organizations in national efforts at refugee resettlement, a precedent which has been upheld ever since.

Bill Rufleth is volunteer coordinator at Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (I.R.I.S.), a New Haven-based nonprofit that provides resettlement services to refugees throughout the New Haven area. Rufleth briefly described the history of refugee resettlement to the Globalist: “After Vietnam, there were all the translators, interpreters, and drivers, and the government felt it had moral responsibility for their fate. So they really stepped in and took a much more active role.” Learning from Vietnam, Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980. The Act provided the legal basis for the Office of Refugee Resettlement under the Department of Health and Human Services, the body which administers the federal government’s resettlement efforts today.

Instead of managing resettlement itself, the Office of Refugee Resettlement funds and gives contracts to independent organizations that in turn provide services to refugees. In this way, the Refugee Act of 1980 continued the tradition begun with the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. David Siegel, acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, confirmed: “Faith-based organizations, then as now, had a lot to do with the work of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.”

According to the State Department, the U.S. government currently has “cooperative agreements” with nine non-governmental organizations, six of which are faith-based, though none are Muslim. This unique public-private relationship allows faith-based groups—most of which have a longer history of refugee resettlement than the federal government—to continue their important role in refugee resettlement.

A Public-Private Relationship

I.R.I.S. is one such private agency working with the State Department to resettle refugees. Chris George, executive director of I.R.I.S., estimates that his organization resettles an average of 100 refugees each year, most of whom come from three countries—Somalia, Afghanistan, and Cuba—though a fourth, Iraq, is also becoming a major source of refugees. Since September 11, 2001, when the American government drastically reduced the number of refugees admitted to the U.S., I.R.I.S. has resettled between one-third and one-fifth of the refugees to Connecticut each year.