Refugee Integration in Canada, Europe, and the United States: Perspectives from Research

• Author: Elizabeth Ferris,Katharine M. Donato
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716220943169
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Date: 01 July 2020

943169ANN
THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYREFUGEE INTEGRATION IN CANADA, EUROPE, AND THE U.S.
research-article2020
As the number of migrants, refugees, and asylum seek-
ers have grown worldwide, intense debate has emerged
about how long and how well they integrate into host
countries. Although integration is a complex process,
realized differently by different groups at different
times, most prior studies capture, at best, disparate
parts of the process. Overcoming this limitation is a tall
task because it requires data and research that capture
how integration is both dynamic and contextual and
Refugee
requires focusing on conceptual issues, emphasizing
how integration varies across spatial scales, and includ-
Integration in ing perspectives of the process through the eyes of both
scholars and practitioners. this article reviews recent
key studies about refugees in Canada, Europe, and the
Canada,
United States, as a way of putting into context the schol-
arship presented in this special issue of The ANNALS.
Europe, and We analyze whether and how prior studies capture
integration as a dynamic process that unfolds in various
aspects of life, such as education, employment, and
the United
health. We also consider the extent to which prior stud-
ies are shaped by long-standing divides between the
States:
terms refugee and migrant, and integration and assimi-
lation, and what those divides mean for research on
Perspectives refugee and migrant integration in the twenty-first
century. throughout, we assess the data needed for
researchers to address a wide variety of questions about
from Research refugee integration and understand the long-term con-
sequences of the ever-growing number of displaced
persons seeking refuge. this volume presents research
that uniquely enhances our understanding about the
breadth of the integration process in the United States,
Canada, and European countries.
Keywords: refugees; integration; assimilation; immigra-
By
tion; immigrant; migrant; United States;
KAthARINE M. DONAtO
Canada; Europe
and
ELIzAbEth FERRIS
Since 2010, the number of refugees and asy-
lum seekers in the world has grown dra-
matically. Although only 15 percent of these
refugees are living in developed countries,
growth in the numbers of asylum seekers arriv-
ing there has triggered a strong public response.
between 2013 and 2017 alone, the number of
Correspondence: kmd285@georgetown.edu
DOI: 10.1177/0002716220943169
ANNALS, AAPSS, 690, July 2020 7

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refugees in Europe tripled, from 1.8 to 6.1 million (Ferris and Donato 2019). In
the United States, the number of asylum cases jumped by 74.2 percent between
2015 and 2017 (U.S. Department of homeland Security 2019). During the
Obama administration, the number of resettled refugees admitted to the United
States rose from seventy thousand to eighty-five thousand. Subsequently, in the
trump administration, the number declined to fifty-four thousand in 2017,
twenty-two thousand in 2018, and thirty-two thousand in 2019 (Migration Policy
Institute 2020).
these shifts have generated intense public debate and concern in developed
countries, despite findings of significant public support for immigrants as a
national source of strength (Gonzalez-barrera and Connor 2019) and greater
support for taking in refugees than immigrants (Rasmussen and Poushter 2019).
they have also generated new theoretical and empirical research on refugee and
migrant integration. In this introductory article, we assess the scholarship as a
way of putting into context the research presented in this volume. We consider
whether and how the research captures integration as a dynamic and contextual-
ized process that unfolds in various life arenas, such as education, employment,
and health. We also consider the extent to which prior studies are influenced by
long-standing divides between the terms refugee and migrant, and integration
and assimilation, and what those divides mean for research about refugee and
migrant integration in the twenty-first century.
the studies that appear in this volume were first presented at a conference
held at Georgetown University in November 2018. Supported by the Global
Engagement Committee of Georgetown University’s board of Regents, the con-
ference brought together invited scholars, government actors, and practitioners
to present work that addresses various aspects of refugee and migrant integration
in the United States, Europe, and Australia. In this way, we attempt to go beyond
the conventions of existing studies to incorporate insights from multiple cases,
different academic disciplines, and key national and local government actors and
practitioners. We aim to situate the research findings in this volume in its larger
context and, by doing so, consider how the integration of refugees and migrants
Katharine M. Donato is the Donald G. Herzberg Professor of International Migration and
director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University.
Her research interests include migration in the Americas, environmental drivers of outmigra-
tion in Bangladesh, global governance, child migration, and gender. She is the author (with
Elizabeth Ferris) of Refugees, Migration and Global Governance: Negotiating the Global
Compacts (Routledge 2019) and (with Donna Gabaccia) Gender and International Migration:
From the Slavery Era to the Global Age (Russell Sage Foundation 2015).
Elizabeth Ferris is a research professor in the Institute for the Study of International Migration
at Georgetown University. She has written extensively on humanitarian issues, including
Consequences of Chaos: Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis and the Failure to Protect, with Kemal
Kirsici (Brookings Institution Press 2016) and Refugees, Migration and Global Governance:
Negotiating the Global Compacts, with Katharine Donato (Routledge 2019).
NOtE: We are grateful for generous support of this project from Georgetown University’s
Global Engagement Committee’s board of Regents and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

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REFUGEE INtEGRAtION IN CANADA, EUROPE, AND thE U.S.
9
is dynamic and contextualized, responding to, and contingent on, the actions of
refugees and migrants, local institutions and communities, and national
governments.
Scholarship on Refugees and Migrants: Understanding
the Divide
For much of recorded history, refugees and migrants were not seen as distinct
groups (Long 2013). In the 1920s and 1930s, high Commissioners for specific
refugee groups under the authority of the League of Nations distinguished
between those fleeing conflict and those searching for labor opportunities.
Following the massive displacement resulting from World War II, the establish-
ment of the UN high Commissioner for Refugees (UNhCR) in 1950 and the
adoption of the Convention Related to the Status of Refugees in 1951 solidified
differences between refugees and migrants and created a distinct international
system for refugees. the Convention defined refugees as persons not living in
their countries of birth because persecution—related to race, religion, national-
ity, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group—forced them to
leave and fear prevented them from return. With support from 145 UN Member
States, the concept of refugee became a well-established legal category that is
backed up with 70 years of international and national jurisprudence.
In contrast, there is no consensus about the definition of a migrant, and global
leadership on migration has taken much longer to emerge (Ferris and Donato
2019). Although the organization that was to become the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) was established in 1951, it remained outside
the United Nations until 2016,1 when it became a UN-related organization.
Although it has become the largest intergovernmental agency working in migra-
tion, IOM persists without one universal legally codified definition for migrant.
the IOM’s (2019) glossary of terms is illustrative, citing various definitions for a
migrant. the first defines migrant as an umbrella term covering all types of
movement, and the second excludes from the term those fleeing wars or persecu-
tion, to acknowledge UNhCR’s domain for refugees. the third definition is one
used by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN
DESA) to facilitate global data collection. that is, an international migrant is a
person who is residing in a country that is not his or her country of birth. One
consequence of this definitional ambiguity is that scholars, policy-makers, and
sovereign states are left to define migrants as they wish. Differences in refugee
and migrant categories became institutionalized in academic arrangements in the
twentieth century (FitzGerald and Arar 2018).
Assimilation theory emerged from the Chicago School of Sociology in the
1920s and 1930s (Alba and Nee 2003) and focused on migrants who sought eco-
nomic opportunity. Since then, U.S. universities have embraced migration schol-
arship that largely emphasizes economically motivated migrants seeking better
opportunities. In contrast, the field of refugee studies first emerged in relation to

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policy and practice (black 2001). Much later, in the 1980s, the field of refugee
studies emerged in European...