Influx of Burmese refugees to Fort Wayne drops

Associated Press
December 27, 2009

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The number of Burmese refugees resettling in the Fort Wayne area dropped in 2009 as the federal government responded to the recession by moving fewer refugees to northeastern Indiana.

The State Department says about 300 Burmese refugees resettled in the Fort Wayne area between October 2008 and October 2009 – about half the number aid agencies had been expecting.

While 2009’s number is still the third-highest number of refugees welcomed in a year, The Journal Gazette reports that it’s far below the more than 800 refugees that arrived in 2007.

Burmese refugees have been fleeing Myanmar, also called Burma, for decades to escape its ruling military government. Since the 1990s, many have been sent to Fort Wayne.

Human-services agencies say Fort Wayne is now believed to have the largest concentration of Burmese refugees in the U.S., estimated at more than 5,000.