Presidential Determination

The Presidential Determination on the allocation of refugees to be accepted into the United States has officially been signed! That means the influx of new arrivals will once again hound this office (glad to have had 2 weeks off to catch up on the paperwork!).

I found the document itself rather interesting...to see the full version click here.

Italics added :)

Presidential Determination No. 2008–29 of September 30, 2008

Fiscal Year 2009 Refugee Admissions Numbers And Authorizations
of In-country Refugee Status Pursuant To Sections
207 And 101(A)(42), Respectively, of the Immigration And
Nationality Act, And Determination Pursuant To Section
2(B)(2) of the Migration And Refugee Assistance Act, As
Amended
Memorandum for the Secretary of State [and] the Secretary of Homeland
Security
In accordance with section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(the ‘‘Act’’) (8 U.S.C. 1157), as amended, and after appropriate consultations
with the Congress, I hereby make the following determinations and authorize
the following actions:

The admission of up to 80,000 refugees (less than 1% of the world's refugees, FYI) to the United States during Fiscal
Year(FY) 2009 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in
the national interest; provided, however, that this number shall be understood
as including persons admitted to the United States during FY 2009 with
Federal refugee resettlement assistance under the Amerasian immigrant admissions
program, as provided below. The ceiling shall be construed as
a maximum not to be exceeded and not a minimum to be achieved.

The 80,000 admissions numbers shall be allocated among refugees of special
humanitarian concern to the United States in accordance with the following
regional allocations; provided, however, that the number of admissions allocated
to the East Asia region shall include persons admitted to the United
States during FY 2009 with Federal refugee resettlement assistance under
section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act of 1988, as contained in section 101(e) of Public
Law 100–202 (Amerasian immigrants and their family members):

Africa ................................................ 12,000
East Asia ........................................... 19,000 (YES!!! East Africa's refugee influx had been temporarily stopped due to the violence in Kenya)
Europe and Central Asia ................. 2,500
Latin America/Caribbean ................. 4,500
Near East/South Asia ....................... 37,000
Unallocated Reserve ........................ 5,000

The 5,000 unallocated refugee numbers shall be allocated to regional ceilings,
as needed. Upon providing notification to the Judiciary Committees of the
Congress, the Secretary of State is hereby authorized to use unallocated
admissions in regions where the need for additional admissions arises.
Additionally, upon notification to the Judiciary Committees of the Congress,
the Secretary of State is further authorized to transfer unused admissions
allocated to a particular region to one or more other regions, if there is
a need for greater admissions for the region or regions to which the admissions
are being transferred. Consistent with section 2(b)(2) of the Migration
and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, as amended, I hereby determine that
assistance to or on behalf of persons applying for admission to the United
States as part of the overseas refugee admissions program will contribute
to the foreign policy interests of the United States and designate such
persons for this purpose.

Consistent with section 101(a)(42) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42)), and
after appropriate consultation with the Congress, I also specify that, for
FY 2009, the following persons may, if otherwise qualified, be considered
refugees for the purpose of admission to the United States within their
countries of nationality or habitual residence:

a. Persons in Vietnam
b. Persons in Cuba
c. Persons in the former Soviet Union
d. Persons in Iraq
e. In exceptional circumstances, persons identified by a United States
Embassy in any location

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to report this determination
to the Congress immediately and to publish it in the Federal Register.