Social-service providers are expecting up to 200 Iraqis who were displaced by the war in their homeland to move to the Portland area from other parts of the U.S. in the coming months.
Portland's Iraqi immigrant population is relatively small, but some refugees settled by the federal government in large U.S. cities have expressed an interest in moving to Portland, according to Catholic Charities Maine, which works with federal agencies to help immigrants settle in Portland.
People who settle in a community with federal assistance are considered primary refugees. Those who relocate from where they originally settled – which includes most of the Iraqis planning to come to Portland – are referred to by social service agencies as secondary immigrants.
"Basically, the ultimate goal, and it's the same goal, is to help move them toward self-sufficiency and independence. It's what they want and it's what we want," said Steve Letourneau, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Maine.
Refugee relocations in the U.S. are not regulated, so it can be hard to predict how much secondary migration into Portland will occur.
But people here and in other cities have indicated the number may total roughly 200, said Arian Giantris, director of Refugee and Immigration Services for Catholic Charities.
"When word (about the Portland area) reached the Iraqi communities resettled in other U.S. cities, many members voiced a desire to leave their cities of primary resettlement and to re-establish their community in Portland," Giantris wrote in a press release issued Monday.
"We did ask (Iraqis in Portland) if they know of people coming, to space it out and let us know ahead of time," Giantris said. "It's not in (the refugees') best interest to come in a huge mass."
The press release clarified that even though Catholic Charities provides assistance to refugees in Maine, the expected arrival of Iraqis in the Portland area is not part of an organized resettlement effort, like those the agency has assisted in before.
Most of the refugees resettling recently in Portland have been from Somalia – 197 of 260 in 2006 and 2007.
During that period, no Iraqi refugees settled here, according to national data, although Catholic Charities has in recent months helped settle several Iraqis who already had family in the area.
Federal refugee assistance money for housing and education does not get redirected to the new host community. Instead, agencies in communities that experience so-called secondary immigration can take advantage of grants to provide case management and job training.
Those grants total about $350,000 in the current grant cycle, Giantris said.
Danny Muller, the executive director of Peace Action Maine who has been working with Iraqis for years, said that as a group, they are among the best-educated refugee nationalities and could be a major asset to a host community.
"From an economic perspective, if you gave me one group of people to bring into the country to benefit the United States, hands down I would choose Iraqis," Muller said.
The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, for all its faults and crimes, made college available to millions of Iraqis, many of whom were able to obtain advanced degrees in the U.S. and Europe, Muller said.
Unlike many countries in that region, education was extended to women as well, he said.
That said, the job market in the U.S. is poor, and many immigrants might find themselves doing work that does not fully use their skills, Muller said.
The issue of secondary migration is a familiar one in Maine. Earlier this decade, a number of Somali families decided to move out of major U.S. cities and relocate to Lewiston.
Giantris said about 3,000 Somalis moved there from 2001 to 2006, but that flow has slowed dramatically since then.
The drop-off in Somalis...
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