Preserve Refugee Resettlement and America's Ideals

As Washington moves forward with largely symbolic cuts to the federal budget, with no substantive discussion on the biggest parts of spending (tax breaks for the rich, military, entitlements), many critical human services programs are being threatened.

In February, the House of Representatives approved drastic cuts to refugee services- including a 45% decrease for Migration and Refugee Assistance, which provides overseas assistance to refugees and funds the Reception and Placement (R&P) Grant for refugees resettled in the United States; and a 10.4% decrease for the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Although the Senate rejected them, the debate is to start all over again.

Call your Senator (John Kerry 202-224-2742and Scott Brown 202-224-4543) and urge them to support strong Fiscal Year 2012 funding for refugee accounts, Office of Refugee Resettlement and Migration and Refugee Assistance

Below is background information on the budget situation, talking points to use during the call, and directions on how to get in touch with your Members of Congress. Please take a minute to make this call to your Senators , it is very important that we make our voice heard!

What We Need to Do: Please call your Senators and urge them to not cut and support strong funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Migration and Refugee Assistance. Please call as soon as possible and no later than the end of next week.

Script:

- Hello, my name is [name] and I'm calling from [name of town/city]. I am the [position title] at [name of resettlement agency] in [name of city].

- I am calling to ask [Senator] to not cut and support strong funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Migration and Refugee Assistance.

- My agency resettles and provides services to refugees in [name towns/cities in the member's district]. [Describe what you and your community do to support refugees and discuss the impact of cuts on funding could have on refugees in your community]

- As a constituent, I deeply care about the fate of refugees in the U.S. and our humanitarian commitment to vulnerable people overseas. Cutting these accounts will have a devastating impact on refugees and the communities hosting them.

Additional Talking Points

- The current economic/fiscal context: we understand the current economic/financial situation and understand that Congress and the Administration have to make difficult decisions in relation to the budget. We believe that cutting current level of funding for refugees would have a devastating effect on refugees resettled in the U.S. and the communities that welcome them.

- Overall funding for ORR has been chronically insufficient: ORR funding has been stagnant for decades in many programs. That means that today ORR is serving an increasingly complex and diverse population with the same amount of resources that served a rather homogenous population several decades ago.

- Supporting the public-private partnership: one of the greatest characteristics of the URSP is the partnership between the U.S. government and private organizations. Voluntary Agencies, churches, local NGOs, community groups, etc. work together to welcome refugees across the U.S. We are committed to continue our support to refugees, but the work cannot be accomplished without strong support and financial follow-through on the part of the U.S. government.

- Federal funds release pressure on state and local governments: it is important that the federal government provides adequate resources for ORR, since severely cutting funding for the program would mean additional pressure for state and local governments to assist refugees with their already dwindling budgets.

- Smart investment: Providing adequate funding for refugees through ORR to fund employment services, case management and other upfront services will save resources in the long term, reduce reliance on welfare and promote early self-sufficiency. Refugees have proven that they will be successful and contribute back to their communities if given the proper foundation to rebuild their lives in the U.S.

- Life saving assistance: Programs funded by the U.S. Government through these accounts are life saving. Without these programs, refugees will not receive necessary food, water, and medical assistance. The economic crisis has had a profound impact on the United States, but it has also had a devastating impact on extremely vulnerable populations supported by these life-saving programs. For many of these people, the assistance provided by the international community is their only source of support and last option for relief.

- Stabilizing assistance: Humanitarian assistance programs funded through this account support communities in countries of strategic importance to the U.S., such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. Funds go towards such programs as access to economic opportunities, keeping kids in schools, and protecting and empowering women. These all serve as a crucial stabilizing presence, giving people hope for the future and supporting broader U.S. foreign policy interests

The Refugee Journey

Each refugee’s story, itself unique, is ripe with astonishing feats of survival, compassion, courage, and hope. War, unrest, upheaval: the terrible causes of flight from one’s home country. Families and survivors seek safety, protection, and refuge in a border country not their own. Through a complicated, interrelated series of charters, treaties, pacts, and obligations the international community unites—as best they can—to offer safety, protection, and refuge to those who have fled. The refugee remains resilient, fighting to avoid anonymity in the complex sea of legal processes, which are inextricably linked to politics. The refugee is confronted with an array of choices. To stay, to search out new livelihood, to begin a new, to return, to rebuild (should such an option exist), to reinvest? Or to risk and apply for resettlement? It is here, at this juncture, that the refugee journey truly begins.

The United States boasts one of the world’s foremost refugee resettlement programs, officially resettling the highest percentage of refugees worldwide each year. Under the direction of the U.S.State Department, resettlement agencies across the U.S. work tirelessly to provide basic needs for those who are tired, poor, weary, yearning to breathe free. Despite this position as a global leader in refugee resettlement, the US officially resettles, less than 1% of the world’s refugee population (approximately 80,000 per year of the 25 million refugees worldwide).

Frequently we romanticize the refugee resettlement experience. These individuals who had so little are now sharing in our abundance; the downtrodden are finally able to enjoy a western standard of living. It is here at this crossroads, that we as a society tend to close the book on the refugee journey. In our minds they are resettled, they are safe, they are free. When, in fact it is at this juncture, that one can say the refugee journey really begins.

For nearly 30 years the U.S. State Department allotted resettlement agencies $425 per person to provide all the basic services newly arrived refugees need within their first 30 days in the U.S. The list of necessary services includes: apartment deposit, lease and first month’s rent, new bed, basic apartment furnishings, one week of food, etc. Mercifully this meager sum was doubled during the Obama administration’s first year in office to $850 per person. However, resettlement agencies must still rely heavily on outside funding, in-kind donations, and other forms of charity to meet these first, most basic needs.

Refugees, per US resettlement standards, are then expected to achieve self-sufficiency within the first six months after arriving to the United States. Resettlement agencies work diligently to enroll refugees in the appropriate federal and state welfare programs that provide anywhere from 8 months to 3 years of services, depending on the family.. Many refugees arrive without English proficiency or basic literacy skills. Resettlement agencies must enroll these individuals in English classes, when free services are provided. Simultaneously, refugees must begin to look for work, enroll their children in school, learn a new culture and attempt to assimilate, while simultaneously begin to grapple with the mental and emotional challenges that have befallen them.

At the end of the refugee’s first six months in the United States their cases are relinquished from the resettlement agency’s caseload, due to a lack of funding for extended services. Some cities have post-six month agencies that rely solely on donors to provide more long-term services. In most cities no such services exist. It is here the refugee finds him or herself at a curious juncture: sink or swim? And, it is here that our society, if it has not already, completely forgets the refugee. And, it is here, if we watch closely, that we can see the truly inspirational aspects of the human spirit come to fruition. Refugees are resilient, they are fighters, and they are capable, courageous survivors. Political pawns cast about on the seas of international good intentions and then forgotten, washed up on a foreign shore. Yet refugees rise.

Other facts:

The U.S. resettles only certain groups of refugees through a quota system. The U.S. currently accepts refugees from Iraq, Burma (with the exception of the ethnic Rohinga), Somalia, DRC, Burundi, Cuba, and Bhutan. Others may apply if they have blood relatives already in the U.S. from another specified list of countries, under P-2 status (ex: Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, etc). The US expects to begin resettling Darfurnians and the Rohinga before the close of 2011.

Current resettlement standards do not provide adequate mental health or basic health services. Due to the economic recession, even refugee’s Medicaid services have been cut, with some states eliminating access to dental care, and physical therapy—a serious issue for torture survivors. Mental health issues tend to present themselves after the initial shock of resettlement wears off. Studies have shown this occurs around month four or five. However, due to overworked, underfunded resettlement agencies and a lack of resources many of these potentially serious mental health concerns are unable to be addressed, leading to a plethora of issues for the refugee, their family and the community as time progresses.

Refugees are not subject to the five-year bar on U.S. welfare services that other immigrants are. However, they are subject to U.S. standards of monetary disbursements and requirements. Thus, like countless Americans living below the poverty line, these refugees are often unable to make their rent payments after the six-month resettlement services end. Refugees are ending up homeless as a result.

While the U.S. lays claim to being the host of the largest number of resettled refugees, it is important to note that we score far, far below the international average on services provided to the client upon arrival. Nations like Sweden, Denmark, and Canada boast the better resettlement services.

There is not a great deal of distinction between refugees and immigrants. Debate stems from the query as to whether or not this distinction should be made. Regardless, as it stands, refugees are also subject to discrimination and other issues inherent in immigrant communities.

Posted by Dani Grisby, intern extraordinaire. Contact her at grigsby@miracoalition.org.

The Shermeyateva 16 - A Call to Action

“Because [they] slipped through and fell in a crack. Nobody likes staying in a crack because they're nothing. Nobody likes to be stuck in a crack.” –Frank Dixon, character from DreamWorks’ 2004 film, ‘Terminal’

In 2004, theater-goers were regaled with the fictional tale of Viktor Navorski—a man from “Krakoshia”, an artificial Eastern European state—whose country became engulfed in war while he was in transit to the US. Upon his arrival at US customs, his passport was invalidated, no longer recognized by the US government. He was forced to remain in the airport until his status could be determined; he could not return to his war-tattered nation, nor could he, legally, enter the USA.

Comedy, friendship, love and intrigue are artistically woven into Navorski’s story as he navigates airport life over the course of the film. An ever-resilient Navorski is finally able to return “home.” This humorous and intriguing story is intended to be a piece of mainstream entertainment, enjoyed and then forgotten. But the situation is all too real.

Mr. M and his travel companions have been living the fictional horror of Viktor Navorski for the past six months. These young men and women, desperate refugees from Somalia, paid $3,500 USD each to an individual who purported to have the means to assist them in seeking asylum via Moscow, Russia. They learned that they had been deceived upon arrival to Moscow’s Shermeyateva Dva airport, 45 minutes north of the city, in May of 2010. Russian customs officials discovered their falsified documents and their visas were summarily revoked. Unable to officially enter or exit the Russian Federation, their fates are left in the hands of charitable airport staff and non-governmental workers in Moscow’s unofficial humanitarian services sector. Food, water, and clothing needs are met through daily acts of charity. Their future remains unclear, and their hope dwindles.

In Mr. M’s own words:

“We feel stress and we need a big help. . .it’s taking a long time, you understand? Being in an airport for months? I cannot describe it. It hurts so much to be in this place but we don’t have a choice . . . we don’t feel safe and worry for the future. All we ask is when will we be out of here? Please, please try to help us.”

Mr. M and his travel companions (deemed the Shermeyateva 16) are not the first refugees to fall victim to Russia’s inadequate asylum system, forced to remain captive within its borders. Refugees and other forced migrants have sought refuge in or via Russia in great numbers since the fall of the Soviet Union. Seen as a veritable portal to the west, Moscow’s emerging economy and seeming openness (Soviet détente established ‘friendship universities,’ and recruited attendees from developing nations in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond) has captured the attention of the desperate asylum seekers from far abroad.

The first such noted case of airport detainees was documented in the Moscow Times in 1992. A group of over sixty refugees were held in a Moscow airport for months before finally being returned to their country of transit.

International conventions, to which Russia freely submits, set forward standard operating procedures to ensure the rights of forced migrants like Mr. M. The UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention recommends that governments “continue to receive refugees in their territories and that they act in concert in a true spirit of international cooperation in order that these refugees may find asylum and the possibility of resettlement.” What’s more, disallowing the Shermeyateva 16 access to the court system is, too, in direct violation of international standards set forward in the 1951 Convention.

This real-life drama, grimly mirroring fabricated situational comedy, unfolds day by unchanging day for these refugees. How it plays out depends very much on the tenacity of the cast of characters involved. Global advocates must step-up, forgive the pun, to the international stage. Decision makers, law enforcers, and politicians must unite in political prowess on behalf of the Shermeyateva 16.

Join us in asking Amnesty International to host a worldwide letter writing campaign to grant these individuals equitable access to asylum proceedings. Write or call Amnesty International USA and offer your support of this campaign: (212) 807-8400 or submit the following email to: aimember@aiusa.org and please cc: ellenp@alum.dartmouth.org.

Dear Amnesty International USA:

Please take up the case of the Shermeyateva 16 as a special focus case. This group of 16 refugees have been unofficially detained in Moscow’s Shermeyateva Dva airport for the past six months without access to legal support of any official asylum proceedings. We urge you to allow us to unite and take action under Amnesty’s esteemed reputation, in order to reach a broader global support network and assist in ensuring these refugees are afforded their full, deserved human rights.

For more information, please contact Danielle J. Grigsby, Shermeyateva 16 Coordinator, at grigsbyd@bc.edu or 801-710-7148.

Respectfully,

Your Name Here

Thanksgiving: an enduring immigrant tradition

On November 16th, MIRA continued the tradition of celebrating the immigrant family at it's 7th Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. Thanksgiving first began when a group of some of the first immigrant settlers in America celebrated their harvest and the generosity of the native peoples. History since that idealized episode has been fraught with tensions between nativists and immigrants who believe in the the American Dream. But time and time again, as families gather around the table at the end of Fall, we remember the opportunities and rights this country promises its citizens. We also remember those who have joined our American family simply through a desire to succeed and be free, and whose inclusion was not based on race, ethnicity, origin or even heritage.

MIRA’s annual Thanksgiving Luncheon recalls that promise to newcomers in our midst who continue to expand America’s economic pie, enrich communities, and enliven our democracy. Represented by over 300 MIRA members, advocates, policymakers, religious leaders and service providers, the luncheon demonstrated the cultivation of a new life in this abundant land and the renewal of the American promise as a place of opportunity, justice, and refuge.

This year’s Thanksgiving Luncheon specially recognized the refugee journey, highlighting the accomplishments of the MAA Coalition of MA and the MA Haitian TPS consortium who have helped settle refugees from many tumultuous corners of the globe. Refugees who are given the resettlement resources and who successfully integrate into our society provide a rich example of the contributions immigrants make to Massachusetts and the nation. Regardless of the circumstances from which families and individuals emigrate, and the barriers they face as newcomers, they share a common destiny as part of America’s future, and common goals to work hard, provide for their families, and contribute to society.

As the nation pauses to celebrate family and recount blessings, let’s remember the immigrant story that began Thanksgiving. We thank immigrants for their determination to survive. We thank immigrants for their entrepreneurial skills and imaginations. We thank immigrants for the businesses and civic spaces they create. We thank immigrants for their wonderful examples of family devotion and sacrifices. We thank immigrants for giving us the thanksgiving spirit.

Gov. Patrick's Speech, courtesy of State House News Service:


Press Clips from the event: Boston Globe, MassLive, State House News