[killer_carlson]

I agree. Australia has a model we can employ.

I see a lot of refugees through a pro bono clinic I do. Pretty rough stories these people have gone through and are accepted on the official record.

Where we need to spend more money is on settlement of teen children of refugee parents. For example, consider this scenario: A woman who has been brutally raped for years in a war torn country has a few kids as a result of the rape. It takes years to get to Canada and her kids are teens when they arrive. They have little or no formal education (not even grade 1). What they do have is usually not english. they arrive and mom works her butt off at a couple of very low paying jobs and the kids get put into schooling to try and catch up. A couple of months in, the local mafia shows up and asks the kid if he wants to keep reading Mr. Muggs and learning how to print, or he could go work for the mafia and own a leather jacket, blackberry and have spending money that very same day. Pretty easy decision for these kids. It's likely all they know and don't appreciate the altenatives.

We spend a lot on the refugee program, but lose too many on the back end of it. Similar to the end of the Tom Hanks movie Charlie Wilson's war. A little money on the back end would save lives and save a lot more money in the long run.