Refugee admissions down in Kansas, Wichita amid ‘uncertain times’

While President Trump’s executive orders on refugees and overseas travel are ensnared in legal challenges, refugees continue to settle in the United States, including Kansas.

But the total has dipped in the first four months of the year in the Sunflower State, according to data maintained by the U.S. State Department.

“We’re significantly behind what’s anticipated,” said Michele Green, executive director of the International Rescue Committee’s Kansas operations. “We have not seen an uptick since the first executive order.”

So far, 236 refugees have arrived in Kansas this year. That’s down from 295 refugees in the same period last year.

In Wichita, the figure has dropped from 188 to 83 from last year to this year.

The drop occurred after Trump signed his Jan. 27 executive order suspending all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocking refugees from Syria indefinitely. The order also temporarily limited travel to the United States from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Sudan.

The order was challenged in the courts amid scenes of protest at the nation’s airports. On March 6, Trump signed a revised executive order.

“Things change daily right now in the resettlement field,” said Marla Schmidt, field office director for the Episcopal Migration Ministries-Wichita.

Since the first order was drafted, 149 refugees have settled in Kansas. During the same period last year, 259 were settled.

In Wichita: 57 refugees, down from 167 in the same three-month span in 2016.

In late January, Episcopal Migration Ministries-Wichita said it hoped to resettle another 110 refugees in Wichita between then and the end of September, the end of the federal fiscal year.

It has resettled 16 refugees since Jan. 27, Schmidt said last week. The organization expects a few families to arrive in May since the State Department is still scheduling some travel for refugees to the U.S.

Schmidt said the number of refugees expected to arrive the rest of the year is “impossible to predict during these uncertain times in refugee resettlement.”

The national ministry of the Episcopal Church announced last month it was cutting some affiliate offices because of the lower number of refugees being resettled in this country.

The International Rescue Committee helps settle refugees in Wichita, Garden City, Dodge City and Liberal.

Green said they hoped to place about 400 refugees in Wichita this year. But she said the total would likely be closer to 240.

“We’ll do the best we can with what we have to work with,” she said.

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas also works to resettle refugees in Kansas.

Here’s the country of origin for refugees who have settled in Wichita through May 1.

▪ Democratic Republic of the Congo: 30

▪ Somalia: 26

▪ Eritrea: 16

▪ Burma: 4

▪ Ethiopia: 3

▪ Iraq: 3

▪ Sudan: 1

Other Kansas cities like Kansas City, Shawnee and Overland Park have welcomed refugees from Bhutan, El Salvador, Iran and Nigeria.

This story was originally published May 2, 2017 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Refugee admissions down in Kansas, Wichita amid ‘uncertain times’."