The Ethics of Citizen Selection of Refugees for Admission and Resettlement

The global space is in need of creative solutions to the challenges posed by those seeking, and deserving of, asylum. In some democratic states, experiments in permitting citizens to have a greater role in selecting refugees for admission are underway; in this article, I consider the conditions that must apply to any citizen-selection scheme, in order for such a scheme to be morally acceptable. I begin with an account of the way in which citizen-selection schemes – usually called ‘sponsorship programs’ – operate presently. I then offer a justification for engaging citizens in refugee resettlement in general, as well as in selecting specific refugees for admission in particular, and then identify several conditions that must attend any permissible citizen-selection scheme. I defend this account from two objections: (1) that states should be the primary, and indeed only, agent that selects refugees for admission and (2) that citizens will inevitably use problematic criteria in selecting refugees for admission, so they should be denied the right to do so. I conclude with some proposals for how a citizen-selection scheme can be crafted to respond to this latter worry, including an outline of an exception clause that permits citizens to make the case that some refugees ought to be resettled, even if not specially selected by the UNHCR for resettlement priority, including especially family members and friends.     

The Case of a City Where 1 in 6 Residents is a Refugee: Ecological Factors and Host Community Adaptation in Successful Resettlement

The notable success of an upstate New York community in resettling refugees raises the question of whether multiple waves of resettlement over a 15-year period have resulted in greater accommodation to refugees. Structured interviews based on transactional models of acculturation were used along with archival data to explore ecological factors supporting a host community's behavioral flexibility and perseverance in response to the influx of refugees. Evidence suggests that socioeconomic climate, historical background/social norms, and the organizational structure of agencies involved in resettlement moderate successful inclusion of refugees into a host community in a bidirectional process.     

A Comparison of Wages by Gender and Region of Origin for Newly Arrived Refugees in the USA

The resettlement model supported by the US government aims to help recently arrived refugees achieve economic self-reliance within the first 90 to 180 days of arrival. In addition to the challenges they face in adapting to their new locations, however, refugees enter a US labor market characterized by preexisting wage disparities based on race and gender. Meanwhile, recent changes in US refugee and immigration policies have infused debates over nationalism, Islamophobia, and the economics of resettlement. In this context, it is critical to assess whether refugees face wage discrimination that may affect their ability to become economically self-reliant. Drawing on the International Rescue Committee’s administrative data on refugee resettlement, we examine the extent to which starting wages for newly arrived refugees differ by region of origin and gender. The study found consistent gender pay gaps among the majority of new arrivals. The study also identified lower wages for refugees arriving from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean compared to other regions. These trends suggest a need for more consistent agency monitoring of employment placement, and the development of strategies to ensure more equitable employment outcomes for refugees.     

Service Needs of Immigrants and Refugees

This paper evaluates the service needs of immigrants and refugees, paying special attention to their entry status, social, and human capital. Analyses are based on administrative data consisting of 2915 clients collected by the YMCA of Western Ontario, Windsor-Essex Branch (YMO). Results reveal that immigrants’ and refugees’ major service need priorities are (1) government services and language skills, (2) information about Canadian life and access to community services, (3) education and work in Canada, and (4) social and professional networks and community involvement. These service needs varied by the entry status of the immigrant as well as human and social capital. Government-assisted and sponsored refugees identified more service needs than economic immigrants relating to Canadian life, language and skill training, and social networks. Sponsored refugees also identified more needs than the economic immigrants with respect to access to community services and work. Convention refugees’ higher service needs over economic immigrants were related to language training and access to community services. Finally, the service needs of clients with higher education, English proficiency, and ethnic networks were lower than those of their counterparts.     

The role of social support in the acculturation and mental health of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers

There is a lack of knowledge about psychosocial resources that may sustain post‐resettlement psychological adjustment among unaccompanied minor asylum‐seekers. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of social support from family abroad and friends on acculturation, discrimination, and mental health among these vulnerable children and youth. Questionnaire data were collected from a population‐based multi‐ethnic sample involving 895 unaccompanied minors resettled in municipalities in all regions of the country. They met in groups in their local communities. The informants were on average 18.6 years, and had an average length of stay in Norway of 3.5 years. The findings showed that the participants suffered from high levels of ongoing war related intrusive symptoms and depression. Still, at the same time they engaged in adaptation processes that are normative to youth with immigrant backgrounds, in terms of constructing supportive networks and developing culture competence. In accordance with the main effect hypothesis, social support had direct effects on depression and indirect effects by increasing culture competence that may aid the young refugees in dealing with discrimination. However, there were no effects of social support on symptoms of PTSD. The findings give direction to areas of interventions, beyond dealing with the sequel of the traumas the unaccompanied minors have been exposed to, not only for clinicians, but also social workers and school personnel.     

The impact of post-migration stressors on refugees’ emotional distress and health: A longitudinal analysis

Refugees often experience poor physical and mental health outcomes following resettlement. These outcomes have been linked to the conditions that are experienced by refugees in the post-migration context, but little is known about the mechanisms by which these conditions influence health. We therefore conducted secondary analyses of the Survey of New Refugees, a large longitudinal study commissioned by the UK Home Office with data collected at four time points spanning 21 months. Refugees’ experience of emotional distress such as feeling stressed, worried, and depressed fully mediated the relationship between post-migration stressors and longitudinal general health. There was no evidence that perceived social support influenced this relationship. These findings suggest that emotional distress contributes to poor health outcomes among refugees and thus that interventions might target emotional distress.     

A Phenomenological Study on the Experience of Syrian Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in the United States

Violence in Syria has displaced an unprecedented number of people from their homes. While couple/family therapy (C/MFT) scholars have explored migration experiences, particularly among refugees, there is still limited research using a bioecological framework. This exploratory study examined the experiences of Syrian asylum-seekers and refugees living in the United States using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Twelve Syrians (n = 8 men, n = 4 women) between 20 and 52 years of age (M = 35.8, SD = 10.7) were interviewed about their experiences across three stages of resettlement: (1) pre-resettlement, (2) resettlement/migration, and (3) post-resettlement. Findings suggest that the effects of conflict-induced displacement and resettlement permeate across multiple ecologies. These range from the individual and his or her interpersonal relationships to their larger community and society. C/MFTs should account for contextual factors while becoming familiar with the sociopolitical impact of displacement and resettlement in their clinical work with this population.     

Social Capital and Somali Families in Australia

This paper focuses on the hopes that Somalis who came to Melbourne as refugees have for their children’s education. It analyses their perceptions of the Somali and Australian education systems and the implications of these for their family’s ability to adapt and cope with Australian life. In doing so, it also shows how they use education to reconstruct their world as part of resettlement in Australia. This paper argues that specific programmes and activities that bring parents and teachers together around their child’s education can build bridging social capital, contributes to optimism about the future and sets the stage for positive agency at a time when Somali families are coping with trauma, loss and disconnection in an unfamiliar society.     

Lay definitions of family and social capital in later life

This study explores the lay definitions of family in old age and their consequences for social capital in using an egocentric network approach. Data were derived from a subsample of 578 elders (aged 65 and older) from the Vivre/Leben/Vivere (VLV) study, a large survey addressing family life and health conditions of older people in Switzerland. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to create a typology of family networks based on family members who were cited as significant. We identified six family networks: Conjugal, Son, Daughter, Sibling, Kinship, and Sparse. These feature bonding and bridging social capital unequally. Therefore, one should take into account the lay definitions of family to better understand social capital within families in later life.     

Review of refugee mental health and wellbeing: Australian perspectives

This review covers refugee mental health and wellbeing within the Australian context to assist psychologists who provide services for, or who conduct research with, refugees. It provides a brief overview of the refugee movement, prior to examining evidence relating to the impacts of pre‐displacement, displacement and resettlement factors on psychological adjustment in the resettlement phase, and the systemic and sociopolitical factors that influence the process of adaptation during resettlement. Australian findings suggest that mental health and wellbeing outcomes are influenced by a complexity of pre‐displacement, displacement, resettlement and systemic factors; the detention or award of temporary residence to refugees who are already experiencing psychological distress on arrival are cases in point. Limitations of the findings are considered. More research into the combined, pathwise relations between the psychosocial pre‐determinants and psychological sequelae of the refugee experience is required. Finally, suggestions for the development of practice, training and ethical guidelines are offered.     

Inclusive victim consciousness predicts minority group members’ support for refugees and immigrants

What motivates minority group members to support other minorities, rather than compete for resources? We tested whether inclusive victim consciousness —i.e., perceived similarities between the ingroup's and outgroups’ collective victimization—predicts support for other minority groups; and whether personal and family experiences of group‐based victimization moderate these effects. Study 1 was conducted among members of historically oppressed groups in India. As hypothesized, inclusive victim consciousness predicted support for refugees. Personal experiences of group‐based victimization moderated this effect. Conceptually replicating these findings, in Study 2 (among Vietnamese Americans, mostly second‐generation immigrants) inclusive victim consciousness predicted less hostility toward other refugees and immigrants, and greater perceived responsibility to help victims of collective violence. This effect was moderated by family experiences of victimization.     

Secondary migration and relocation among African refugee families in the United States

The purpose of this study was to understand the secondary migration and relocation of African refugees resettled in the United States. Secondary migration refers to moves out of state, while relocation refers to moves within state. Of 73 recently resettled refugee families from Burundi and Liberia followed for 1 year through ethnographic interviews and observations, 13 instances of secondary migration and 9 instances of relocation were identified. A family ecodevelopmental framework was applied to address: Who moved again, why, and with what consequences? How did moving again impact family risk and protective factors? How might policies, researchers, and practitioners better manage refugees moving again? Findings indicated that families undertook secondary migration principally for employment, affordable housing, family reunification, and to feel more at home. Families relocated primarily for affordable housing. Parents reported that secondary migration and relocation enhanced family stability. Youth reported disruption to both schooling and attachments with peers and community. In conclusion, secondary migration and relocation were family efforts to enhance family and community protective resources and to mitigate shortcomings in resettlement conditions. Policymakers could provide newly resettled refugees jobs, better housing and family reunification. Practitioners could devise ways to better engage and support those families who consider moving.     

Altruism in social networks: Evidence for a ‘kinship premium’

Why and under what conditions are individuals altruistic to family and friends in their social networks? Evolutionary psychology suggests that such behaviour is primarily the product of adaptations for kin‐ and reciprocal altruism, dependent on the degree of genetic relatedness and exchange of benefits, respectively. For this reason, individuals are expected to be more altruistic to family members than to friends: whereas family members can be the recipients of kin and reciprocal altruism, friends can be the recipients of reciprocal altruism only. However, there is a question about how the effect of kinship is implemented at the proximate psychological level. One possibility is that kinship contributes to some general measure of relationship quality (such as ‘emotional closeness’), which in turn explains altruism. Another possibility is that the effect of kinship is independent of relationship quality. The present study tests between these two possibilities. Participants (N= 111) completed a self‐report questionnaire about their willingness to be altruistic, and their emotional closeness, to 12 family members and friends at different positions in their extended social networks. As expected, altruism was greater for family than friends, and greater for more central layers of the network. Crucially, the results showed that kinship made a significant unique contribution to altruism, even when controlling for the effects of emotional closeness. Thus, participants were more altruistic towards kin than would be expected if altruism was dependent on emotional closeness alone – a phenomenon we label a ‘kinship premium’. These results have implications for the ongoing debate about the extent to which kin relations and friendships are distinct kinds of social relationships, and how to measure the ‘strength of ties’ in social networks.     

Quality of relationships and structural properties of social support networks of female survivors of abuse

The purposes of this study were to examine the structural properties of the social support networks of female survivors of violence and abuse and to investigate the quality of the relationship, and specific level of satisfaction, survivors have with their social support networks. Participants averaged 5.8 persons in their social support networks. Their levels of satisfaction with the emotional, practical, financial, guidance, and socializing support they received from members of their social support networks were higher with respect to close friends and coworkers than with respect to family members and professionals (e.g., attorneys and social workers). The most common type of support provided by close friends who were themselves victims of abuse was emotional, guidance, and socializing support, and the most satisfying support was the financial and practical help that came from parents or family. An interesting finding was the significant presence of men in the survivors' social support networks. Overall satisfaction with the quality of support from the social support networks was high, and satisfaction with support from men was comparable, if not higher, than support from women. Multiple regression models revealed that satisfaction with support networks was a potent predictor of self-esteem, emotional health, and loneliness. Intimacy, especially in terms of exclusiveness and trust or loyalty, with at least a few members of the support network contributed significantly to the variance in self-esteem, emotional health, and loneliness among the abused women. The size of the support network also emerged as a limited contributor to well-being. Implications and applications are discussed for professionals working with female survivors of abuse.     

Disclosing Sexual Assault Within Social Networks: A Mixed‐Method Investigation

Most survivors of sexual assault disclose their experiences within their social networks, and these disclosure decisions can have important implications for their entry into formal systems and well‐being, but no research has directly examined these networks as a strategy to understand disclosure decisions. Using a mixed‐method approach that combined survey data, social network analysis, and interview data, we investigate whom, among potential informal responders in the social networks of college students who have experienced sexual assault, survivors contact regarding their assault, and how survivors narrate the role of networks in their decisions about whom to contact. Quantitative results suggest that characteristics of survivors, their social networks, and members of these networks are associated with disclosure decisions. Using data from social network analysis, we identified that survivors tended to disclose to a smaller proportion of their network when many network members had relationships with each other or when the network had more subgroups. Our qualitative analysis helps to contextualize these findings.     

“Seeing the Life”: Redefining Self-Worth and Family Roles Among Iraqi Refugee Families Resettled in the United States

Social and geographic displacement is a global phenomenon that precipitates novel stressors and disruptions that intersect with long-standing familial and social roles. Among the displaced are war-torn Iraqi refugee families, who must address these new obstacles in unconventional ways. This study explores how such disruptions have influenced associations between gender and apparent self-worth experienced by Iraqi refugee families upon relocation to the USA. Further, the psychosocial mechanisms requisite of any novel approach to a new social construct are explored and reveal that production in the family is at the core of instability and shifting power dynamics during resettlement, preventing family members from “seeing the life” in the USA that they had envisioned prior to immigration. Over 200 semi-structured qualitative interviews with Iraqi participants and mental health providers were conducted over the course of the study, which demonstrate a plasticity among social roles in the family and community that transcends the notion of a simple role reversal, and illustrate the complex positionalities that families under stress must approximate during such physical and social displacement.     

Managing Identity in the Face of Resettlement

Refugees who are resettled in third countries may be at greater risk of experiencing identity problems, such as identity distress, crisis, and its resolution, than are their nonrefugee, nonimmigrant peers. A multidimensional approach was employed to explore the identity (re)formation and resolution of 50 Karen refugees who were resettled in London, Ontario, Canada. Problematic identity processes in social, personal, and ego domains of identity were examined. Fifty nonrefugee Canadians served as comparisons. The findings revealed that the resettlement process impaired the sense of temporal sameness and continuity, promoted confusion and crisis in identity, prolonged identity resolution, and stimulated distress concerning social and personal identity issues (work, career, values, group loyalties) for the refugees who participated in this study.     

Feeling at home: A multisensory analysis of former refugee and host society residents’ integration in Wellington,Aotearoa New Zealand

In this article we explore the multisensory experiences through which former refugee and host society residents develop, maintain, negotiate, and co-construct feelings of homeliness in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing upon data generated through semi-structured interviews and collaborative painting workshops with eight participants, we found that everyday multisensory stimuli were significant in shaping individual feelings towards different places, and evoking memories which further shaped unique place-based experiences. Whilst negative sensory memories at times caused anxiety and stress, individuals could also draw upon their past experiences to make connections that helped them to navigate complex sociospatial environments. These multilayered connections enabled individuals to (re)construct cultural identities in their new city, which was significant in enhancing a sense of homeliness and belonging. However, the consequences that resettlement had on changing social demographics and place dynamics also diminished a sense of homeliness for host society residents, leading to pressure being placed upon former refugees to adopt dominant cultural norms. The significant impact of everyday multisensory experiences and associated memories of place on individual resettlement and social integration suggest that these affective processes require greater attention in conceptualisations of home and belonging during refugee resettlement.     

Queer Migration and Digital Affects: Refugees Navigating from the Middle East via Turkey to Germany

This article explores the ways in which digital media are used as self-empowering tools by queer refugees in the course of their migration from several Middle Eastern countries via Turkey to Germany. Our discussion expands upon queer migration scholarship and insists on the need to shift attention away from refugees’ vulnerability to the empowering strategies that queer refugees develop for themselves. Based on observation and interviews conducted with queer refugees in Istanbul and Berlin, we argue that not only social media activism and interpersonal message platforms such as social networks, but also dating applications, open up opportunities for refugees to develop new coping strategies and a sense of belonging during migration. This leads us to focus on the emotional and affective value of digital media for queer refugees. While translocal digital media embed refugees within transnational networks that offer interpersonal/emotional support as well as useful tools for activism, our study reveals the restrictive power of such media. We argue that digitally circulated affects can become regulatory forces, which integrate queer refugees into European regimes of racialized and sexualized difference.