The steady flow of refugees fleeing persecution into Sacramento has fallen dramatically, new state figures show.

Sacramento – which once had possibly the highest concentration in the nation – has seen the number of new refugees drop from 2,247 in 2004 to 492 in 2008, the lowest in 25 years.

The shifting sands of geopolitics and California's flagging economy have played a role in the huge drop.

Religious persecution of Christian evangelicals – Sacramento's largest refugee group – has almost disappeared since the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union in 1989-91, experts say.

And the State Department has all but stopped accepting Hmong refugees who historically flocked to Sacramento.

Not only are refugees not coming any more, some are leaving.

In the past two years, more than 100 families returned to Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and other parts of the former U.S.S.R. after "they lost hope," said Florin Ciuriuc, executive director of the Sacramento Slavic Community Center.

For nearly 30 years Ciuriuc, a refugee from Romania, said he helped hundreds of people "go from A to Z to get their business licenses, find customers, pray and eat dinner in their first house."

The same people are coming to him in tears after losing their homes, businesses, jobs and cars, he said.

"The economic climate has had a huge impact," said Sacramento County refugee coordinator Michelle O'Camb. "New arrivals are going to have the least seniority when it comes to employment."

Those who arrived in recent years are starting to go back, said Kristina Sosina, a Ukrainian American job developer with the nonprofit Bach Viet Association Inc. "Two families left in May. They couldn't find jobs better than cleaning."

The trend runs counter to the region's reputation as a safe haven.

From Stockton Boulevard's mini-Saigon to enclaves in Rancho Cordova and North Highlands where Russian languages are spoken, more than 100,000 refugees fleeing political and religious persecution have changed the face of Sacramento forever. The region – which Time magazine once called America's most diverse – is home to the nation's largest Slavic evangelical and Iu Mien communities and one of the largest Hmong populations.

Sacramento County, which officially has 85,000 refugees – not counting children born here – could have the highest density of refugees in the United States, said O'Camb.

Refugees have had a tangible economic impact. Though many arrive with little English and few transferable job skills, they turn things around quickly.

County residents from the former U.S.S.R. who have entered the United States since 1975 earned $341 million in 2007, while those from Vietnam and Laos earned $618 million, census figures show. Experts say those figures undercount the refugee population.

Many take hard-to-fill, low-paid jobs until they find something better, O'Camb said.

Last year, the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA) found jobs for half of the 1,582 refugees who came in for help, O'Camb said. "The average wage was $9.80 an hour, and 81 percent were still on their jobs after three months."

The Russian connection

Estimates vary widely, but Michael Lokteff – a longtime Slavic community leader and radio host – believes the region is home to 110,000 to 120,000 Russian-speaking people who began coming in 1988 and their U.S.-born children.

About 25 percent to 40 percent are evangelicals, including at least half the roughly 60,000 Ukrainians here, Lokteff said. "First there was a trickle," he said, "and in 1989 there was a deluge."

In 1989, legislation sponsored by then- Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., broadened the definition of refugees to include a "presumption of persecution," and opened the door to thousands of religious refugees. Soviet citizens could gain refugee status simply by claiming they feared persecution in the future.

Many who came said they and their relatives were denied jobs, university educations and freedom of assembly under atheist regimes.

Call The Bee's Stephen Magagnini, (916) 321-1072.