HHS News Release

REFUGEE EVACUATIONS

On April 21, Vice President Gore announced our commitment to relocate up to 20,000 Kosovar refugees to the U.S. The Vice President said our priority would be to help those with family ties in the U.S. and persons in vulnerable circumstances.

The focus of this relocation effort is Macedonia. Since May 5, 2,904 Kosovar refugees from Macedonia have entered US.

The majority of the refugees brought to the US, 2,627, are housed at Fort Dix, NJ, where they are completing their processing and await relocation to communities across the United States. Refugees will be there from two to three weeks.

270 refugees have entered on commercial flights. They arrived fully processed and able to join relatives who had applied to assist them.

While Fort Dix is being prepared to house up to 4,200 refugees, the US expects that the majority of the 20,000 refugees who enter the US will do so fully processed. Thus, it will not be necessary to place many more at Fort Dix.

The Kosovars enter the US as refugees, a legal status. As refugees, they will be able to work while in the United States. They also may decide to remain in the United States. After one year, they can apply to adjust their status to permanent residence. After five years, they may apply for US citizenship.

The USG expects the majority of the refugees will want to return to Kosovo. The US has committed itself to help them return when it is safe to do so.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been contracted by the Department of State to transport the refugees from Macedonia to their final destinations in the United States.

Refugees are sponsored by 10 resettlement agencies which have agreements with the State Department. These agencies, through their networks of more than 400 local affiliates, ensure that the refugees are properly resettled and receive assistance to get their children in school, seek medical attention, apply for work, receive language training, etc.

ASSISTANCE AT FORT DIX

The Department of Health and Human Services is coordinating the efforts of the Interagency Task Force of federal agencies and non-governmental organizations to provide a temporary safe haven for the Kosovo refugees at Fort Dix, NJ. The Operation Provide Refuge Task Force comprises HHS, the Department of Defense, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Department of State, the American Red Cross, the New Jersey National Guard and a representative of the voluntary agencies handling the resettlement of refugees in American communities.

Three HHS agencies are participating in providing support to the Kosovo refugees at Fort Dix led by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (part of HHS' Administration for Children and Families) with the Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ORR coordinates all the governmental and non-governmental organizations in ensuring the health and safety of the refugees and their timely resettlement into communities across the country. The Department of Defense, for example, provides the facilities and basic services at Fort Dix, offering a safe, secure and comfortable environment in which the refugees will live temporarily while they are being processed for resettlement. The Public Health Service conducts the medical screenings for all the refugees as part of their processing into the United States and operates a fully staffed medical clinic. The screening includes a physical examination, X-rays and blood tests. PHS is currently screening approximately 200 refugees per day. Open 24 hours a day, the clinic has emergency acute care services, general physicians, pediatricians, OB/GYN, nurses, physician assistants and emergency medical technicians. The CDC handles the medical records on each of the refugees, compiling medical histories and tracking past or potentially current communicable conditions. Any refugee who is diagnosed with a communicable condition such as tuberculosis will be fully treated at Fort Dix before resettling in the country.

As part of its administration of the national refugee resettlement program, ORR with its state partners and non-governmental organizations, will provide support to the refugees upon their resettlement in the country. ORR administers the refugee cash assistance and medical assistance programs through the states that will provide temporary financial and health support. The refugees also will receive ORR-funded employment placement, English as a second language classes, cultural orientation and social services, as well as links with health care providers and schools through a network of community based refugee service organizations.

ASSISTANCE TO HOST FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES

At present, about 47,000 families or about 7 percent of Albania's families are hosting 282,000 Kosovar refugees. USAID is supporting a program that will work to increase the amount of host families to 15 percent, to accommodate an additional 354,000 refugees. This brings the total to 640,000 refugees that could be accommodated in host family arrangements.

USAID has requested money in the Emergency Supplemental for Kosovo to fund the US portion of this initiative. Furthermore, USAID has already begun to implement some of these programs through initial grants of over $4 million targeting host families and communities in and around Tirana, Durres and Elbasan.

In order to encourage more Albanian families to host refugees, USAID will provide a one-time assistance package consisting of essential household items such as mattresses, blankets, clothing, hygiene supplies and other items identifies by the families.

In addition, the host family and refugees will receive monthly stipends of essential non-food items as well as increased monthly food rations to both refugee families and their Albanian hosts.

To complement these efforts, USAID will also provide direct assistance to communities which host large numbers of refugees-either through host family arrangements or through collective centers and camps. This assistance will be in the form of community improvement projects that expand basic public services and rehabilitate key infrastructure. Possible examples include expanding healthcare and other social services and rehabilitating clinics, schools, water supply and sanitation systems.

COLLECTIVE CENTERS AND UNUSED BUILDINGS

The United States is also surveying unused buildings that can be adapted for use as collective centers. There are currently 45,000 refugees housed in 140 collective centers across Albania. A conservative estimate indicates that there are more than 4,000 structures throughout Albania that could be adapted to house refugees. If each of those shelters were able to hold up to 50-75 refugees, we could accommodate another 300,000 refugees in collective centers for a total of 345,000 that could be housed in collective centers. There is a concerted effort underway to rehabilitate these structures. For its part, USAID will provide community based funding to convert unused structures into collective centers for refugees.

REFUGEE CAMPS

There are currently 30 camps in Albania housing 76,600 refugees. Of those camps, seven are in Kukes and deemed insecure. The 34,500 refugees in those camps will need to be relocated to other locations in Albania. There are an additional 40 camps under construction, including Camp Hope which has already taken in 1,000 of the 20,000 refugees it will house. The United States is looking at building two more camps in Albania for up to 40,000 if necessary. New camps will accommodate an additional 120,000 refugees. The total number of refugees that could be housed in camps (current and under construction) is approximately 200,000.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY THE US MILITARY

Thus far, the US military has brought to the region 1.1 million Humanitarian Daily Rations; 7,160 tents and 151,000 blankets; 50,000 health kits; 61,000 5-gallon water jugs, and five 10,000 liter water bladders.

Construction is complete on the first 2,500 units of the 20,000-person refugee camp in Albania - Camp Hope. Additional camp site selections are ongoing.

Military engineers are repairing the Tirana airfield apron to support humanitarian lifts.

D ASSISTANCE

The United States is committed to providing food to the Kosovo refugees until the end of this crisis.

The US Department of Agriculture and the US Agency for International Development are working with the UN High Commission on Refugees, the World Food Program, private relief agencies, and government officials in countries housing refugees to distribute US food aid. Other countries will be providing additional food aid assistance for the refugees.

The United States will be providing 14,000 tons of food per month to be distributed to people in refugee camps as well as to those with host families in Albania and Macedonia. This is enough to feed about 750,000 people every month. The United States also plans to provide about 160,000 tons of additional food and animal feed to countries in the region, who are experiencing economic problems because of the conflict.

The major commodities we plan to provide are: wheat flour for bread; rice; vegetable oil; corn, soybean meal, peas and beans; and corn/soy blend, a special high-protein food for children. We are continuing to provide high-energy biscuits to the refugees.

We are prepared to increase our donations if needed; USDA and USAID are taking steps to create a stockpile of one month's supply of extra food in the region in the event it is needed quickly.

All told, US food aid donations through the end of the year are likely to reach 250,000 tons, with a commodity and transportation value of about $100 million.

Our efforts in Kosovo are part of a major food aid initiative which President Clinton announced last July. This year, America will provide nearly 10 million tons of food aid to needy people around the world.

We are able to donate this food because of the productivity of America's farmers and ranchers. Our food aid initiative is feeding hungry people throughout the world and benefiting America's family farmers, who are suffering from the lowest commodity prices in years. Our farmers and ranchers can be proud to know that their labor helps so many.

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