Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
15-year-old Eritrean refugee boy shot to death in St. Louis – International Institute says refugees had incorrect “perception” of safety
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 15, 2010
Sahele Wodede
[Sahele Wodede] and his family were in search of a stable life, a place to rebuild. After Sahele’s father was killed in their home country of Eritrea, the rest of the family fled to a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia. When the family relocated to St. Louis in 2007, safety was foremost. So much so that the family picked up and moved when Sahele’s mother felt their apartment on Hodiamont Avenue was too dangerous.
But it wasn’t enough.
On June 11, one week after finishing his sophomore year, Sahele was gunned down at the same apartment complex his family had abandoned.
The 15-year-old had returned to the apartments often to visit one of his good friends and soccer mates, Jujuba, who came to the U.S. 10 months after Sahele. The boys were from the same refugee camp. They loved their new American life but talked fondly about their homeland.
Sahele and four other teens were dropping off Jujuba at his home June 11, after a day of soccer practice at Tower Grove Park. As the teens walked to the front door, a white car drove by. Several shots were fired from an automatic rifle. An 18-year-old took a bullet to the chest. Sahele was shot twice in the head, with the second bullet traveling down his back. He collapsed in Jujuba’s apartment, where eight family members were at home, terrified but unharmed after bullets came through a front window. Sahele died at a hospital a short time later. The 18-year-old is recovering.
The shootings have set the small Eritrean community in St. Louis on edge. here
The International Institute’s chief executive officer claims that the problem lies, not with her agency for placing the refugees in a dangerous area, but with the refugees who just don’t understand how dangerous the city is. Plus, they trained the refugees to be streetwise.
Anna Crosslin, chief executive officer of the International Institute of St. Louis, said that the agency worked with police and neighborhood groups and that refugees were trained to be streetwise.
“We struggle with the whole perception of what is safe and what isn’t,” Crosslin said.
Refugees think of the city as safe harbor from the atrocities they faced in their home country.
“They say: ‘I’m safe, I’m safe. I’m free.’ Until something like this happens, they don’t realize (crime) is real,” she said.
Yet, the refugees do indeed seem to have understood the dangers facing them in the neighborhood, contrary to Anna Crosslin’s claims.
When the family came to St. Louis, they moved in next to refugees from Somalia, Nepal, Iraq and Cuba. All sought the roomy and cheap accommodations of the apartment complex on Hodiamont Avenue.
Sahele’s family felt uneasy there, in a neighborhood that did not always welcome outsiders and is known for its violence. One of Sahele’s brothers was beaten. So the family moved to another part of town after only a few months.
Teachers who work with refugees in the St. Louis Public Schools say the students have complained about the Hodiamont apartments. The neighborhood is not walkable to the schools refugees attend or to most of the services they need.
“The kids are constantly harassed, their bikes get stolen. Car windows get broken out,” said teacher Sarah Natwick, also with the English language program at Roosevelt.
Ms. Crosslin goes on to claim that her organization just can’t find large enough apartments with landlords who are willing to take refugees with no credit or work history.
An ongoing challenge, Crosslin said, is finding large apartments with cheap rent. The agency must abide by city occupancy permits, which restrict how many people can live in a residence. Most refugee families are large.
“The ability to find three- and four-bedroom apartments is a woeful problem,” Crosslin said.
Most landlords require credit ratings and work history — two things refugees don’t have.
“We work with landlords who will take them on faith,” said Crosslin.
Yet, do landlords really ask for work histories as Ms. Crosslin claims? I asked a few people in our group and none of us have ever been asked for this when applying for an apartment or helping refugees to apply. They do ask for one’s current employer in order to verify income, although any source of income is usually acceptable. As to credit histories, many landlords do not ask for this as so many people on the market for inexpensive apartments have poor credit histories. Most landlords are more interested in whether or not someone has an eviction on their record or not.
Of course even if landlords in St Louis are asking for work and credit histories as Ms. Crosslin claims, does that mean that refugees must be resettled to dangerous apartment complexes? It is the International Institute in St. Louis, in partnership with the State Refugee Coordinator, Sandra Nelson, who is recommending St. Louis as an appropriate resettlement site for international refugees. If we are to believe that the only place to resettle these refugees is to Hodiamont Avenue apartments in which their property and lives are in danger, then is St. Louis really a good site for them?
I think that if refugee resettlement officials also risked paying with their lives for these decisions, just like the refugees do, that we would quickly see a sudden change in how they conduct refugee resettlement in this country.
FR said
Sandra Nelson is not the State Refugee Coordinator. The state of Missouri hasn’t had one for years. There is an “interim” coordinator.
Additionally, I’ve not been to a city that does not require a credit history and social security number BEFORE renting an apartment. Your assessment is completely unfair.
christophercoen said
Sandra Nelson is listed as Missouri’s state refugee coordinator on your public partner ORR’s website. I guess they haven’t updated their website in years. What does that tell you about the organization of government oversight agencies?
How many cities have you surveyed? Do you try to rent inexpensive apartments? The rules are much diffrent. I’ve found some landlords who ask for SS#’s and some who don’t. I wouldn’t give them a SS# in the age of identity fraud. Most seem to check criminal history, but not all, and some check credit history, but many don’t.
FR said
Most smart landlords (ones who rent apartments WORTH renting) ask for a SS#. This is because people who default on rent and/or fees can be reported to credit agencies AND they can take people to court for the default. If you refuse to provide a SS# to landlords, you would likely not be renting any place.
I also hope that you realize ORR and state coordinators have very little to do with the initial resettlement period. Actually, they have NOTHING to do with the initial resettlement period. PRM monitors the cooperative agreements, and the initial 90 days and core services is contrated by them.
christophercoen said
Smart landlords try to rent out their apartments, whatever that takes, without creating barriers so high that applicants are rejected or won’t even apply. Factors that lead to high vacancy rates include local competition, the economy, etc. A social security number is not required to take someone to court, and ability to try to collect a debt down the line does not trump trying to get warm bodies into a rental property to start with. They have no chance of collecting any rent at all if they erect barriers that people can’t scale. People in our group and refugees we help are living in good apartments right now for which they never supplied a SS#, a work history, or a credit history.
The apartments in question here are the Hodiamont Avenue apartments, which locals say they would never even visit let alone rent for fear of crime. I do not for one minute believe that that is the only landlord that the International Institute could have formed a relationship with. If it is, then refugees don’t need to be resettled to St. Louis.
The State Department’s Refugee Admissions Office has told us that from State Refugee Coordinators they take into consideration information about local conditions when deciding where to place refugees. Also, take a look at at the State Department R&P contract, V. Refugee Caseload Assignment — “…The number of refugees assigned to an approved applicant will be determined by the Bureau, in accordance with…placement recommendations of state and local officials,…”
FR said
Landlords in high dollar neighborhoods have much more competition, thus they can require the additional information. Landlords in less desireable neighborhoods are the ones who will cave and allow people to rent without that information.
The family in your story has been in the country for nearly three years. While they moved out of the neighborhood, their friends remainded. Thus, it is not impossible for refugees to move out of those less desirable apartments once they gain employment and some of the things that will be required for a nicer neighborhood. This is a tragic story of course. No one will deny that. But your pinning of blame on the II is just out of line three years down the road, and it is out of line with many of the other stories you put up. If you were really that interested in the story, you would contact the II and ask about the challenges they face when finding apartments. Around the country, I do not think that your experience is the norm. I’m sure you’ll say next that refugees shouldn’t be placed in a city where the competition is stiff for apartments, but the reality is that access and proximity to jobs is a huge barrier in many small towns.
Regarding the R&P contract, sure, it says that state and local officials will take some part in the placement of refugees, but there is no contract with the State Department and individual states with relation to R&P.
christophercoen said
Its a matter of shopping around for apartments. If you believe that only dilapidated apartments or ones in dangerous areas are available to refugees then that is all you will find.
Is St Louis really full up with jobs for refugees, or is it just that refugee resettlement is the International Institute’s bread and butter?
It amazes me that a resettlement organization could deliberately place refugees into apartments in an area known by locals to be so dangerous that they would not even go down the street there, yet someone like you finds a way to delink the agency from any responsibility. The family has been here three years so it doesn’t matter? They can move if they wish, so it doesn’t matter? What it demonstrates to me is that resettlement agencies are allergic to accountability.
After I proved that your statement that state refugee coordinators have “NOTHING” to do with the initial resettlement period is incorrect, now you say that, well, they don’t have a “contract” with the State Department. That’s irrelevant and its splitting hairs. You sound like a lawyer desperately trying to wiggle her client out from responsibility.
I met with Illinois’ state refugee coordinator Edwin Silverman in April 2002 and warned him, once again, that the Lost Boys were being regularly attacked in the Chicago neighborhood that their resettlement agency had placed them. He claimed that the neighborhoods were perfectly safe for these young refugees. Less than a month later the Latin Kings targeted the refugees in a vicious attack in which three Lost Boys were stabbed, two severely. There is no accountability.
FR said
You proved NOTHING, and sometimes the split hairs are the things that count. Refugees can be placed anywhere in any state that participates in the resettlement program whether or not the coordinator knows about it or condones it. See, the lack of contracted services does actually matter.
Technically, the only reason states even need to opt in is for refugees who do not have minor children; the guidelines about refugee immigration status state that they are eligible for all of the same public assistance benefits that citizens are entitled to so long as they qualify financially and familially (TANF, food stamps, medicaid). Refugee Cash Assistance and Medicaid are special programs that give them special benefits for 8 months if they do not otherwise qualify for any other benefit. So, if you are talking split hairs, NO, state coordinators really have nothing to do with the ultimate decisions, no authority to refuse refugees, though it is good form for them to be included in the process.
You say that you are amazed at the ability to “delink” the agency from responsibility. What amazes me is that someone like you has the ability to infantilize clients so much so that you seem to think resettlement agencies are responsible for everything forever. Furthermore, it is laughable that you even begin to mention money; no one gets into the profession of social services, ESPECIALLY not services for immigrants, thinking they are going to be wealthy.
These people are adults. Unless they have severe cognitive problems or mental health issues, eventually the hand-holding must end. They have choices and the ability to learn. After three years I cannot imagine any agency continuing to follow clients closely unless the contact is initiated by the client or falls into one of the aforementioned categories, and if the client wanted additional help or advice they could have gone to the agency to ask for it. Your perspective makes these people sound like their mental capacity is limited and they cannot help themselves; you eliminate their dignity by saying someone has to help them because they just cannot do it alone or with their communities. Crime happens everywhere, and most refugees, just like many poor American citizens, live in areas that do not fit with the white-picket-fence idealized American dream. When I was in college I did an internship in the crummiest neighborhood in St. Louis (I do not live there nor am I from there). Trust me, Hoidamont is nothing compared to the place I was in. I was told not to wear gang colors, not to walk alone. But people LIVED in this neighborhood and were trying to make it better. Why not work with refugees to build community organizations to revitalize these neighborhoods instead of squealing that they are helpless after three years living here? Give them the chance to empower themselves and control their own destiny? If the II should do anything, helping with a community organization campaign would be a great way to help the city, get clients involved with civic duties, AND have cheaper rents.
christophercoen said
I proved nothing about what? Again, it’s the State Department that claims they seriously take into consideration what state refugee coordinators say as to appropriate local refugee placement areas. Believe them or disbelieve them if you want. No, state refugee coordinators would not be off the hook because their advice is not part of some contract. You sound like a lawyer for government officials.
To state that state refugee coordinators have no “authority to refuse refugees”, when the State Department is actively seeking their advise makes little sense. The real reason they would never refuse refugees is that their jobs depend on refugee streams. Reduce or get rid of resettlement locally and you get rid of their positions, which is also known as a conflict-of-interest.
I don’t recognize your version of what I said when described “infantilizing” refugees. Refugees do not have the type of street-smarts we have for tough American neighborhoods. They are uniquely vulnerable for lack of knowledge about our society, lack of language skills, and fear of reporting crimes to authorities, whom they generally distrust due to their experiences in the situations they are fleeing. They should never be used as a means to “revitalize” our decayed urban neighborhoods.
This statement you make about resettlement workers not getting into the program for money is a straw argument which you then easily knock down. No one said they are trying to get rich. Since most of them are young, with bachelor-level social work education or less, what are their other options for work? So, no they aren’t all there just from the goodness of their hearts. In any event their chose to work there. The reports we make about problem agencies however is in no way done to detract from resettlement workers and agencies who provide quality contractual services. I would also suggest you look at the salaries of the management and the directors and see if they are personally profiting or not.
The 15-year-old refugee child shot to death by someone with an automatic weapon was indeed helpless. Who cares if he had been here three years? He was visiting his best friends in the apartment building where the International Institute chose to place these refugees. You go down and live in Hodiamont Avenue apartments if you want to revitalize the area. Don’t place refugee children in such a place.
FR said
I am no lawyer, but I am smart enough to read between the lines and wise enough to be able to see how things work. You, apparently, put way too much stock in agencies that have no real connection with the initial process.
Again, you are stating that refugees are like children–babies even. Eritrean refugees are coming from a war torn country and, arguably, the worst area of Africa. You’re telling me that someone who can run from machine gun fire and make it to another country is unable to figure out who the bad guys are in a neighborhood after THREE YEARS??? Wow. Such a low opinion of people. If the 15 year old’s parents were aware of the dangers of the neighborhood, why are they letting their kid go there? Furthermore, part of the orientation process is explaining authorities to clients. Agencies give clients the opportunity to learn, the tools to succeed. If a client chooses not to take the tools, it is their choice.
There are places all over the country that have benefited from refugees becoming involved in neighborhood improvement. As refugees gain confidence, they open shops, restaurants, they build community centers, etc. They CHOOSE to revitalize their own neighborhoods, and this could be another example of why refugees coming into the country is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with refugees helping their American neighbors out while the US Government helps them. And no, I’m not suggesting that refugees be imported simply for that. The US takes refugees on a humanitarian basis, but the reality of America is that it is not an easy place to live for anyone.
christophercoen said
So lets see, your theory is that state refugee coordinators have no real connection to refugee resettlement, and that the State Department is lying when they say they take into consideration feedback from these people about where to place refugees?
The 15-year-old refugee boy murdered here took two bullets in his head from a passing car, but your claim is that he should have been able to figure out who the bad guys were? Sounds like blaming the victim. You also claim that the 15 minutes of cultural orientation you give to refugees can quickly overcome decades in which refugees have learned to fear the authorities? So refugees should be expected to immediately live in dangerous neighborhoods and interact with police just like Americans do and have the same street-smarts we have as well?
Furthermore you claim that there is crime everywhere so there should be no consideration for where refugees are placed. So should we assume that people like you also do not consider the safety of an area before moving into it? I’m sorry but I’m doubtful of that. Even if it were true it would be your choice, whereas resettling refugees into high crime areas does not allow the refugees any real choice other than to move when their leases expire, if they can afford to do that.
Mrs.Robinson said
I Know that we have a big problem here in America and we as a people pointing the finger at one another has to stop. Gangs,Guns,and Poverty is our problem and we should be working together to find a solution.