Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
An article in the Los Angeles Times details how the International Rescue Committee office in Boise has helped approximately 50 refugees from Bhutan, Myanmar Somalia, and Sudan to get jobs five hours away at Threemile Canyon Farms a dairy near Boardman, Oregon (Oregon’s largest factory farm, a sprawling 93,000-acre operation). An onion plant near Boardman has also started hiring refugees. The jobs are relatively well-paying and offer benefits, however the remote location and long hours means refugees go without basics such as English classes and refugee support services. Refugees are also packing into apartments since so few housing options exist in the Boardman area.
In Boise, Lana Whiteford, a 27-year-old employment specialist with the International Rescue Committee, was struggling to find work for refugees. Over her year in the position, she had watched as the office went from placing six or seven refugees in service and factory jobs each week to placing none for weeks at a time.
“I had this major gnawing guilt,” she said. “We had people receive eviction letters.”
Whiteford, who grew up in Anaheim, had never heard of Boardman, Ore. Then an e-mail from Threemile Canyon Farms landed in her inbox. “I Googled it,” she said.
She learned that the farm was a five-hour drive from Boise. Agencies like the International Rescue Committee, contracted by the government to help resettle refugees, look for jobs that are closer to their offices, so they can assist with housing, education and other needs. But these were extraordinary times.
…The refugees were told that the farm is unionized, salaries start at $9.45 an hour, and health insurance is provided. In Boise, they could expect to earn about $7.50 an hour with no benefits, and most jobs are part-time, Whiteford said.
…Since last year, the farm has hired about 50 refugees, all new to commercial farming and from countries as varied as Iraq, Myanmar and Sudan.
Rose Corral, the farm’s human resources director, says most have proved to be dedicated workers. The main challenge is communication. About 80% of the 300-strong workforce is Spanish-speaking. Few of the refugees speak much English, either.
The farm offers free English lessons, but most refugees find they are too tired to study after working 9 1/2-hour and longer days. After a few months, some say they speak better Spanish.
…The only problem has been finding housing for the refugees. Most Boardman workers commute from larger cities. But that can be difficult in winter, when extreme weather closes many roads.
So the refugees pack into shared apartments at [an apartment] complex…
Regardless of whether they stay, this quiet agrarian community offers them something many refugees can’t find elsewhere: the chance to become self-sufficient. here
Of course the refugee resettlement program supposedly requires that refugees be resettled to permanent housing that is safe, sanitary and in good repair. Refugees should not have to be “packed” into housing. In addition, the difficulty of attending English classes may pose problems for the refugees’ long-term self-sufficiency. The article also mentions a deadly car crash, which was blamed on a refugee who had tried to overtake another vehicle on a hill.
Many workers have tried to help the newcomers, offering to share food and rides. They collected nearly $3,000 for the widow and children of a Somali man, who was killed shortly after he was hired last year when the car he was riding in crashed into two other vehicles.
Is this the same accident in which refugees in Boardman were traveling back to Boise to visit family members?
Refugees…face long drives to see their families back in Boise. One car-load of refugees this year had a head-on collision, killing one. here
The fact that these refugees are so isolated from any support services gives me pause for concern. Refugee resettlement agencies all over the country are helping refugees to move to distant and remote locations for meatpacking jobs. Even more refugees are simply picking up and moving on their own to these jobs. Burmese refugees in Houston had a bad experience after relocating to a chicken-processing plant in Alabama (here). Refugees in Greensboro have also been relocated to a poultry plant processing plant in Moorefield, W.Va., a six-hour drive away (here). A problem with this is that these locations often do not have needed support services for refugees (English language classes, schools set up to teach refugee children, immigration services for green cards, torture survivors services, etc.), and local entities, e.g. emergency police and medical services, are rarely ready to deal with people who can’t yet speak English.
