How many refugees who come to the U.S. come to California? According to data on refugees, California has seen 186,924 refugee arrivals between 1995 and 2016.
Now, the rate of refugees coming to the state hasn’t been uniform over this period. It has seen its peaks and valleys. The rate was particularly high from 1995 to 2001. Compared to that stretch, refugee arrivals in the state for the past few years are down quite a bit. However, even with such arrivals being down from some other years, California has still seen thousands of refugees a year come to it in recent times.
Orange County has been one of the top destinations in the state for refugees. Orange County had the fifth highest refugee arrival total among California counties over the 1995 to 2015 period. The only counties with higher totals were Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Santa Clara counties.
So, there are many people here in Orange County who can be dealing with immigration issues related to refugee status. One example of such issues are matters related to their long-term immigration status, such as navigating the process of applying for a green card. When a person has come to California to escape persecution in their home country, what such issues come up for them and how such issues are addressed can have all manner of life-impacting ramifications. Immigration lawyers can give compassionate and tailored legal guidance to foreign nationals in the Orange County area who are trying to navigate issues connected to refugee status.
Source: The Orange County Register, “FOCUS: The world has more refugees but less are coming to California,” Feb. 17, 2017