AMARILLO, TEXAS -- According to the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, more than 56,400 refugees came to America in 2011- more than 5,600 of them reached Texas.
Catholic Family Service helps refugees get started with their news lives in Amarillo, something that can be challenging for people unfamiliar with the U.S.
"We set them up in an apartment," Director of Communications and Development Katherine Camp said. "They get a certain amount of assistance for their placement and then we have case management, employment services and ESO classes that we use to try to help them assimilate in the community."
According to Happy State Bank Economist Karr Ingham, features ranging from entry level jobs to careers requiring a higher education are what attract so many to the Lone Star state.
"First of all, our labor market is simply better than it is in many other parts of the country," he pointed out. "Our unemployment rate is lower. We have more robust rates of growth."
Ingham said despite America's ups and downs, Texas offers the best opportunities for refugees hoping to get a fresh start.
"The U.S. economy remains, really, the single shining star in terms of the economies around the globe."
As refugees take on some of those economic barriers, they also battle the cultural ones.
"A lot of them are coming from refugee camps where they didn't have anything- they didn't have showers, they didn't have stoves," Camp added. "So, when they get here they don't really know how to use anything."
According to the report, Houston was the favorite city nationwide among refugees.
