As the Obama administration marks the 10,000th Syrian refugee of 2015-16 arriving in the U.S. today, Michigan, and especially the Detroit area, serve as the top destination for those fleeing their nation’s bloody civil war.

According to State Department figures, most of the 1,036 new arrivals in Michigan will settle in Metro Detroit, particularly in places such as Troy, Clinton Township, Ann Arbor and, of course, Dearborn. Refugee resettlement officials favor placing the newcomers in areas with a relatively established Syrian community, which makes assimilation easier to accomplish.

Dearborn and the tri-county area have been a magnet for Arab immigrants for decades and in recent years they have taken in thousands of Iraqis fleeing the wartime conditions there.

Gov. Rick Snyder last November tried to pause efforts by the Obama administration to bring a large number of refugees to Michigan. But Snyder press secretary Anna Heaton told NBC News this week that the governor “never suspended refugee resettlement” and is not opposed to more Syrian refugees settling in Michigan.

“The governor suspended efforts to bring in additional refugees above and beyond the amount Michigan normally receives,” Heaton said. “This increase in Syrian refugee resettlement is not surprising as our state continues to be a welcoming home for refugees who go on to contribute to our economic comeback and Michigan’s overall quality of life.”

Across the border, the Canadian government has accepted far more families (photo above) fleeing the carnage in Syria than the U.S.

While Obama’s resettlement program got off to a slow start, the administration reached its 10,000-refugee goal a month ahead of schedule, according to the New York Times blog, “Upshot.” Eight months into the program, the United States had accepted only a quarter of the target.

One challenge was that the Syrian refugees were subjected to an additional layer of background checks, which extended an already lengthy vetting process.

Though the Syrian civil war has raged for five years, Syrians were just a small percentage of all refugees allowed into the United States as recently as last fall. The Times reports that in the 2015 fiscal year, just 2 percent of the 70,000 refugees admitted were from Syria. The majority were from Myanmar, Iraq and Somalia.

In the past, the United States has admitted far larger numbers of refugees. In 1979, it provided sanctuary to 111,000 Vietnamese refugees, and in 1980, it added another 207,000. Around the same time, the country took in more than 120,000 Cuban refugees fleeing the communist Castro regime via the Mariel boatlift, including around 80,000 in one month alone.

 

Photo: Canadian Immigration and Citizenry

Map: New York Times

Map - Syrian refugees

 

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