Fewer refugees from Myanmar will be resettled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the future, a US State Department official said last week, according to a report in the local Journal Gazette.
Fort Wayne is home to about 5,000 refugees from Myanmar, one of the largest concentrations of Myanmar people outside the country.
This year’s cap is 170, the local report said.
The exodus from the Southeast Asian country is expected to slow down and eventually reverse, a local official said.
The decline of Myanmar refugees in the town might be offset by an increase in refugees from Congo and Iraq, according to Larry Bartlett, director of refugee admissions for the US State Department.
“To me, it’s a good problem to have,” the Fort Wayne mayor is quoted as saying. “They wouldn’t come here if we didn’t have something to offer them.”
