Archive for March, 2011
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 30, 2011
2002 Chevrolet 3500 extended
There’s been yet another tragic van roll-over accident involving refugees killed and severely injured — this time in Georgia, on I-75 between Atlanta and Macon. The deadly single-vehicle crash occurred on March 22 in Monroe county; two Bhutanese refugee men were killed and 13 other Nepali-Bhutanese and African refugees were injured. One of the men killed was also ejected from the vehicle. Several of the injured victims remain in the hospital in critical condition. This crash seems to involve the same (or similar) cause as a van roll-over crash in Arizona near Tuscon in June 2009 — failure of one of the van’s tires (may have been due to over-inflation, under-inflation, or road debris, etc.). The Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA), a joint affiliate of Church World Service (CWS) and Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), resettled the refugees in Atlanta. An article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains what happened.
A tight-knit community of refugees from Bhutan is reeling from a van crash that claimed the lives of two men and injured another 13 people as they traveled from Atlanta to their jobs at a chicken plant in Perry.
Some of the injured remained in critical condition in a Macon hospital Tuesday, according to people who know them. And some of the victims were parents whose children were left with no breadwinner…
…The crash occurred around 9 p.m. on March 22 in Monroe County. The Chevrolet 3500 van they were riding in went off the road, hit a guardrail and overturned, according to the website of the The Herald-Gazette newspaper in Barnesville. The crash blocked traffic on southbound I-75 for nearly three hours.
Two men, both from Decatur, died: Tula R. Chamlagai, 44, and Kharka B. Chhetri, 49…
…The van passengers were on their regular nightly commute to a Perdue chicken-processing plant two hours south of Atlanta. They had been making the trek five times a week, Kafley said.
Two of the victims were African nationals and the rest were refugees from Bhutan. They knew each other because they’d been brought to DeKalb County by the same resettlement agency, the Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta, Kafley said. Read more here
An article in The Telegraph in Macon gives more information:
…At least one of the passengers, either Chamlagai or Chhetri, was ejected from the van. It’s unknown whether any of the passengers were wearing seat belts, said Allison Selman-Willis, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
By the time we got there, people were everywhere,” she said.
It was unclear Wednesday whether members of the group were paying for the ride to Perry or if they were a carpooling group.
Thirteen of the vehicle’s occupants originally hailed from Asia. Two are from Ghana, Selman-Willis said.
The driver of the van, 29-year-old Bhim B. Bista of Atlanta, also owned the van. He was not tested for alcohol, she said.
“We don’t expect any charges for him,” Selman-Willis said.
Bista has been released from The Medical Center of Central Georgia. Three of his passengers underwent surgery Wednesday. The other surviving passengers were kept at the hospital Wednesday for observation, she said… Read more here
That article and an article in The Herald-Gazette newspaper in Barnesville indicates that the crash resulted from the failure of one of the van’s tires. I’m wondering if this was similarly due to tire over-inflation, as in the June 2009 Arizona (Texas Canyon) passenger van crash. In that tragedy six Burundian refugees resettled by IRC died; 11 others sustained injuries. The IRC was working with a company called Eurofresh that employed the refugees. In that case, the van was overloaded with passengers, the driver sped up to an estimated 80 mph to pass another vehicle, and a overinflated tire blew-out and the van hit a guide rail, resulting in a rollover.
How many of these tragedies must we have before we start doing something differently? It may just be a matter of regularly observing and checking tire inflation. On the other hand if any new, tiny leak or picking up a nail, or a blowout from an over-pressured tire, means that these top-heavy vehicles will lose control and roll, why do people continue to fully load these vans with refugee client passengers? Are resettlement agencies advising these refugees to keep tire pressure at correct levels and to not fully load them with passengers? If not, these tragedies will continue unabated.
**UPDATE** — Five injured victims discharged from hospital, two still critical, two have a hand amputated (Bhutan News Service). A commenter writes that [Sheriff's Office?] claims that it seems that none of the passengers was wearing seat belt.
Posted in Atlanta, Burundian, Georgia, meatpacking industry, Nepali Bhutanese, passenger van roll-over, Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA), Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA), safety, transportation | Tagged: Atlanta, bhutanese, Burundian refugees, Chamlagai, Chevrolet 3500, Chhetri, chicken processing, Church World Service, CWS, Decatur, EMM, Episcopal Migration Ministries, georgia, I-75, International Rescue Committee, IRC, Ken Briggs, Kharka B. Chhetri, Kharka Chhetri, meatpacking, Nepalese refugees, Nepali-Bhutanese, passenger van crash, Perdue, Perry, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta, RRISA, Texas Canyon, Tucson, Tula Chamlagai, Tula R. Chamlagai | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 28, 2011
According to an article in the Northwest Indiana Times Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago is reporting that they have had to fill some vacuum in refugee services due to “government budget cuts” — even though there haven’t been any budget cuts. Are they referring to the MRA account budget cut proposal passed by the US House but not yet by the US Senate?
CHICAGO| Whether they are young or old, hungry or addicted, homeless or friendless, Roman Catholic or not, Catholic Charities said it sees the face of God in those seeking refuge.
As one of the organization’s many services, the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago helps resettle refugees, while aiding them in empowerment and self-sufficiency.
With federal budget cuts affecting refugee assistance here and overseas, the government’s ability to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced people has been reduced significantly.
Nonprofit groups such as Catholic Charities and other nongovernmental organizations are feeling pressure to take up the slack.
Since 1975, more than 133,000 refugees have resettled in the Chicago area. In 2009 Chicago resettled 2,412 refugees and an estimated 2,800 refugees in 2010, federal statistics show… Read more here
Kristin Ortman, spokeswoman at Chicago’s Catholic Charities, also claims that “funding from the government only lasts 90 days.” Its as if the Matching Grant Program with its 4-6 months of assistance doesn’t exist, or that the 8 months refugee cash assistance and Medicaid is a figment of our imagination.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Chicago, funding | Tagged: Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, government funding, human rights, Kristin Ortman, MRA account, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement agency, refugee resettlement program, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 22, 2011
U.S. House of Representatives’ Congressman Gary C. Peters’ (D-Mich.) proposed (discussion draft) refugee bill is now out and awaiting possible cosponsors. This bill is named The Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011.
First thing I note is that Peters frames the proposal to analyze the ORR’s refugee services program with the idea that all current “unmet needs” (of refugees) are a government responsibility (p.5 line 24, p.6 lines 1-3). Yet, what about private contributions to current unmet needs? After all, the refugee resettlement program supposedly is a public/private partnership. The problem here is that Peters is apparently taking all his information and cues from a private refugee resettlement contractor – Church World Service (CWS).
Secondly, the discussion draft proposes that the ORR gather all sorts of extra data on refugees, such as mental health assessments and needs (p.10 lines 13-25, p.11 lines 1-5), secondary migration numbers (p.9 lines 3-19), etc., and proposes that an HHS Assistant Secretary report these findings to Congress each year. Yet, the ORR does not meet current reporting requirements to Congress, for laws already on the book (they have refused to release to Congress annual reports for fy2008, fy2009 and fy2010, as required by the Refugee Act of 1980). Shouldn’t Congress try to fix that problem first before adding any more reporting requirements?
Thirdly, Peters (CWS?) proposes to make the ORR independent within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and to make the ORR director an independent Assistant Secretary within HHS, yet he gives no real reasons for this other than that it would create “transparency” (really? how?), and would allow the ORR “broader authority and ability to make structural changes and direct resources effectively.” Okay CWS and ORR – what structural changes are you proposing? What redirection of resources are you proposing?
Aren’t these issues deserving of an open and public discussion?
Posted in Detroit area, HHS, legislation, legislation, Michigan, ORR, reform | Tagged: Domestic Refugee Reform & Modernization Act of 2011, Gary C. Peters, Gary Peters, Health and Human Services, HHS, human rights, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, proposed bill, reform, refugee bill, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugess, US Department of Health and Human Services | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 21, 2011
I’ve noticed a lot of news stories this winter about refugees displaced from their apartment buildings or rented homes due to fires, most recently in Worcester, MA, as detailed in an article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The article doesn’t indicate how the fire started, other than that it started near a refugee family’s apartment, but it seems that sometimes these fires begin in aging wiring systems, in old or poorly maintained water heaters and other systems, sometimes other residents start fires, and sometimes refugees start fires while cooking or using space heaters.
For 18 Iraqi refugees who recently arrived in Worcester, fleeing a home, sadly, is a familiar experience.
Last month, a fire in a three-decker at 20 Charlton St. forced all 18 refugees to once again leave their homes and search for a new place to live. But compared to kidnappings, murders and bombings they have experienced in their homeland, an apartment fire is a small setback… Read more here
These stories are a continuing reminder to resettlement agencies about the importance of doing home safety orientation for refugees, and I don’t think a quick 5-10 minute orientation for refugees upon arrival, when they are weary and bleary-eyed from long overseas flights, is enough. We all learn through repetition. Plus, many refugee clients are not familiar with our technologies and mechanisms and need reminders. This is what a Nashville, TN district fire chief had to say to the Tennessean about a recent fire:
…This winter has seen its share of fires caused by space heaters and electrical problems, said District Fire Chief Manuel Fonseca. He said apartment complex fires had hit immigrants.Fonseca, who is in charge of community risk reduction, goes to apartment complexes to talk about safety. He said many of the newcomers, refugees, are not accustomed to some of the everyday electrical appliances that may cause a fire.“Some of these refugees have never been exposed to blow dryers, stoves, things we take for granted,” Fonseca said. “Some don’t know how to operate these things. We teach them to understand what they need to do.”… Read more here
Finally, there is the issue of housing that refugees can afford — which can mean older buildings, not the best construction, and slumlords. There is often a good reason that an apartment complex has a lot of vacancies – seemingly perfect for a new batch of refugee arrivals. They don’t keep up their buildings and nobody wants to live there. Resettlement agencies really need to do some screenings of these landlords and property management companies. The same type of screening and research that they would do for any housing they were considering living in.
Posted in apartment house fires, housing, Iraqi, Massachusetts, Worcester | Tagged: apartment house fires, Iraqi refugees, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, Worcester | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 18, 2011
A Zimbabwean refugee woman’s children are the first refugees to be resettled by the new USCRI field office in Des Moines, IA, according to an article in the Des Moines Register. The office will start with resettling 100 refugees this year.
…NEW OFFICE OPENS: Also this year, a national refugee resettlement organization, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, opened a field office in Des Moines. Rumbi Chinhamhora’s children are two of the first refugees the office has resettled. The group expects to resettle no more than 100 refugees by the end of fiscal year 2011, but next year projects 350… Read more here
The State Department’s [Refugee] Office of Admissions should never have allowed the USCRI to fill the vacuum in Iowa left when the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services and Lutheran Services in Iowa shuttered their refugee resettlement programs last year. The USCRI has a deplorable track record in the care of their refugee clients.
We’ll have to closely monitor this new office to see if it brings USCRI’s typical care of refugees to Iowa.
Posted in State Department, USCRI, neglect, Iowa, Des Moines USCRI (field office), Des Moines, Office of Admissions, Zimbabwean | Tagged: USCRI, State Department, refugees, resettlement, refugee resettlement program, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, human rights, Des Moines, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Office of Admissions, Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services, Lutheran Services in Iowa | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 16, 2011
It looks as if the Catholic Diocese of Arlington switched from one type of disorganization to another from 2008 to 2010. A new State Department inspection report from 2008 indicates that the agency was placing refugee clients in Fredericksburg in housing with roach infestations, leaking windows and ceilings, and even demanded that a refugee sign an apartment lease without explaining it to her. She refused to sign it. A Burundian refugee father said that he appealed to the agency for six months to help him find a job but only worked about three days cleaning up shops.
Yet, two years later in 2010 local churches and volunteers were observing some very different forms of refugee neglect. Now, the agency was placing refugees in apartments without food or furniture and not giving refugees help with transportation. What is the rhyme and reason to these fluctuations?
If we assume that the State Department inspections — usually as rare as once in ten years — are at all effective, then what does it mean if noting one set of problems, and hopefully addressing them, simply leads to a sprouting of different problems?
One thing I know is that the State Department has no penalties for resettlement agencies’ failure to abide by even the minimum requirements of the government contracts. Could it be that the resettlement agency personnel sulk and pout over any criticism, and then temporarily fix the problems and then slack off on other minimum requirements? The reigning philosophy at many resettlement agencies seems to be that all problems are caused by 1) insufficient government funding (don’t raise the issue of the private funding they are supposed to raise to augment the public funding), 2) they don’t like having to do documentation of the services they claim to give refugees (who does like doing intensive paperwork?), 3) refugees are just so needy, and 4) hey, we just set up a new satellite office, so things won’t run well for a few years (what? refugees won’t even get food and a few used furnishings? why not?).
Whatever is happening, this case shows the limited effectiveness of current oversight in which 1) there are no penalties for failure to abide by contract obligations, 2) inspections are pre-announced, and 3) inspections are so rare that new problems can emerge in as a little as a few months or a year or two and the government inspectors won’t know until they come back ten years later.
It looks like we’re sorely overdue for a revamping of these inspections.
Posted in State Department, Burundian, faith-based, volunteers, employment services, Catholic, fredericksburg, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, churches, food, beds, transportation, community/cultural orientation, housing, substandard, fractious relationships with volunteers, furnishings, lack of, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Iranian, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, rats and roaches | Tagged: Burundian refugees, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, fredericksburg, inspection, Iranian refugees, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, State Department, U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops, USCCB | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 15, 2011
A mysterious bill called “The Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011″ is being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Gary C. Peters (D-Mich). Church World Service just sent out the following news release, although Congressman Peters’ website doesn’t yet have any information.
Washington — March 15, 2011 – Global humanitarian organization Church World Service applauds Congressman Gary C. Peters (D-Mich.) for introducing the Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act…
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…The Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011 would elevate the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services, thereby giving the office broader authority to make structural changes and to direct resources more effectively, while increasing transparency and inter-agency communication.
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The bill also would improve the process by which refugee resettlement funds are allocated to states by including in the formula a projection of refugee arrivals during the coming fiscal year in addition to figures for the past three years of arrivals. It also calls for increased data collection on secondary migration, health and mental health issues, housing needs, and long-term employment outcomes, as well as
a Government Accountability Office report on the resettlement program overall… Read more here
We’ll have to wait and see if this legislation would do anything to actually help refugees. No doubt it will definitely include perks for the refugee resettlement agencies and their friends in government. I’d like to see how the bill would “increase transparency” in light of the current situation in which we have to wait months or years for FOIA’s to go through, basic information cannot be found anywhere on the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) website about things such as how much private funding resettlement agencies actually bring to the refugee program, how often the ORR actually inspects the resettlement agencies that receive ORR funds, and why privatization (the Wilson-Fish Program) of state resettlement programs — away from public oversight – continues to accelerate.
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The part about “increased data collection” also raises my curiousity, although the ORR seems to already collect an awfully large amount of data yet problems remain in effect for years if not decades. For example, refugees are still not learning English for years since few instructors who speak their languages teach the ESL classes. Then there is the ongoing problem of refugee Medcaid-funded medical services that are done without interpreters. Also, years after refugees arrive they continue to lack basic information such as knowing about their Constitutional rights, about personal finances, etc.
Posted in HHS, ORR, CWS, health, mental health, reform, funding, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, community/cultural orientation, Michigan, employment/jobs for refugees, openess and transparency in government, secondary migration, refugee, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Detroit area, housing, employment abuses, Wilson-Fish Program, legislation | Tagged: ORR, refugees, resettlement, HHS, Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugee resettlement program, refugee resettlement, ESL, refugee resettlement agencies, gao, Department of Health and Human Services, transparency, CWS, Church World Service, FOIA, Freedom of Information Act, secondary migration, Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011, Domestic Refugee Reform & Modernization Act of 2011, Congressman Gary Peters, Gary Peters, data collection, Government Accountability Office, Wilson-Fish | 4 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 14, 2011
Somehow the census count for Lexington, Nebraska – site of a large influx of refugee secondary migrants seeking jobs in the meatpacking plants – has somehow managed to avoid counting many of those refugees. An article in the Lexington Clipper-Herald doesn’t give any probable reasons for this miscount besides noting that many of the census forms at one building ended up in the garbage.
…LEXINGTON – City officials aren’t confident that 2010 Census figures reflect the town’s actual population and fear the newest residents, refugees from Africa, may have been undercounted.
According to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week, Lexington grew by only 219 people during the past 10 years, a 2.2 percent increase.
“It’s much lower than what I expected,” Assistant City Manager Dennis Burnside said of the official 2010 Census population count of 10,230.
…Mayor John Fagot agreed that something appears amiss in the count. “I question the number,” he said. “They say the return rate (by mail) was 72 percent, and that reflects it. I think we have a number of people who weren’t able to be reached, for one reason or another, and weren’t counted.”
Lexington landlord Deanna White remembered census difficulties last spring. “A lot of people didn’t fill out their forms. We know that for sure. We found forms all over, on the ground, in hallways, Dumpsters – they were everywhere,” she said.
This was despite efforts to educate residents on the census and offers to help them fill out their form. A census worker followed up and obtained the information from 81 people residing in the apartments on April 1, White said.
Burnside said Somali leaders in Lexington report their
group’s population at 2,000, but the census figures don’t support that. Fagot said as the African refugee population increased he didn’t notice a corresponding exodus of others from Lexington…
…While 3,039 people in Lexington, or 30 percent, were considered some other race, that figure is 42 people less than the 3,081 in 2000 and doesn’t satisfactorily guarantee that all the African refugees were counted.
J.J. White, the newly selected chairman of the Somali Community Center and a landlord in Lexington, said based on the people he sees in town and the traffic
coming through the Somali Community Center, he thinks there are more people than the census captured.
“They tell me there’s close to 2,000 in town,” he said referring specifically to Somalians while noting there are additional people from Sudan, Liberia and other African countries. “I’m going on what I get fed by other people. I definitely think it’s low.”… Read more here
I thought that census workers automatically went to apartment buildings that seem to have an under-count and knocked on doors. Isn’t it just assumed that people with English-as-a-second language might not fill out the forms? Why did the census workers only go back to one apartment building?
Plus, wouldn’t you think that the ORR would have given the U.S. Census Bureau a heads-up on the need to count this population of refugees in Lexington since this is a site of one of their secondary-migration impact studies?
Posted in language, Lexington, meatpacking industry, ORR, secondary migration, refugee, Somali, US census | Tagged: ORR, NE, refugees, resettlement, Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugee resettlement program, refugee resettlement, immigrants, human rights, Nebraska, Somali refugees, census, lexington | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 10, 2011
Greg Wangerin, Executive Director of RefugeeONE (fka IRIM)
The Gapers Block -- a Chicago-centric web publication – has an article reporting about refugee clients of the refugee resettlement agency RefugeeONE (formerly known as Interfaith Refugee and
Immigration Ministries, and InterChurch Refugee and Immigration Ministries), an affiliate of CWS, EMM and LIRS. An audio interview details the abuses the couple suffered in Sierra Leone. When the US government resettled them to Chicago the woman shoveled snow into garbage bags and put them into the dumpster because she didn’t know what else to do with it. An elderly Somali man arrived and told her, “just push it to the side.”
But what about this resettlement agency? It turns out that they recently rebranded themselves as RefugeeONE, after long being known as Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries (IRIM). Why the name change? Sometimes I worry that these agencies think they can rid themselves of past errors and weaknesses (wrongdoings?) by essentially becoming a completely different agency, in the public’s mind at least, via a name change.
So what is in the agency’s past? It turns out we have an old State Department monitoring report of IRIM, when the agency was under the directorship of someone named May Campbell. This is the most recent available inspection report (which tells me that they are just about ready for another once-in-ten-years inspection, or the Admissions Office has been illegally holding back reports from our FOIA’s. It’s either one or the other.)
Let’s see — 1) Placed a refugee in an apartment with a leaking bathroom ceiling and a broken door lock, and another in an apartment with a “water problem” (normal for Chicago low-income apartments after all), 2) left a refugee family, including an elderly woman, to sleep on the floor of their apartment for almost five months (until the day before the pre-announced monitoring visit – funny how that works). It turned out that the eleventh-hour delivery of beds (two single beds for four people) was the only home visit the case worker did (supposed to be done within 30 days, not at 4.5 months), 3) apparently didn’t bother to give another refugee family any chairs or couch, lamp, or a bed for their one-year-old child — just a dresser, three tables, and a double-bed (???), 4) no table or lamp for another family. [Check out so-called "minimum-requirements" in Operational Guidance to see why this is cheating the refugees and the taxpayers], 5) staff were not meeting with refugee families to make sure that they were giving them basic services and meeting their essential needs.
The refugee family that was sleeping on the floor of their apartment also reported that their employer was taking advantage of them by requiring them to make up bathroom break times at the end of the day. Apparently IRIM (now RefugeeONE) did nothing to help these refugees with this blatantly unfair treatment. No doubt the excuse would be that the agency ”didn’t know about it” (yet aren’t these contractors paid to know what’s happening to their refugee clients? If the only people watching over these refugees in their first several months don’t know what’s going on then who would? No one.) Apparently the refugee clients also reported that the agency had not told them what to do — via required community/cultural orientation – in the event that they experienced unfair, exploitive or illegal labor practices. By the way when I made a trip back to Chicago in 2001 some Lost Boys of Sudan” refugee clients of the Heartland Alliance agency told me that coworkers at an O’hare airport baggage handling company where they worked where screaming at them and physically threatening them. They said they told their Heartland Alliance case workers but nothing happened. Things just seem to keep happening when government monitors are away — for 10 years at a time.
On a last note, in 2009 journalists at the Chicago Tribune quote RefugeeONE’s current director, Greg Wangerin, saying,”I’m ashamed. I feel like I’m selling a lie”, in reference to all the problems in refugee resettlement during the recession. Here’s my question: Do these private refugee resettlement agencies ever look to themselves when pointing the finger of responsibility?
Posted in State Department, CWS, Operational Guidance, Sierra Leonean, faith-based, Christian, beds, community/cultural orientation, Chicago, housing, substandard, furnishings, lack of, housing, Episcopal, Lutheran, Baptist, home visits, employment abuses, RefugeeONE (formerly, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries), RefugeeONE (formerly, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries), RefugeeONE (formerly, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries) | Tagged: Chicago, Church World Service, Church World Services, CWS, EMM, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Greg Wangerin, heartland alliance, human rights, Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, IRSA, LIRS, Lutheran immigration and refugee services, Lutheran Immigration and Refugees Service, May Campbell, refugee neglect, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, RefugeeOne, refugees, resettlement, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 8, 2011
The last time this blog commented on refugees in Boston, a year ago, the issue was the exceedingly high rents, which the refugees said that they could not afford. Nothing seems to have changed. Refugees are again reporting, this time to Boston’s WCVB ABC TV NewsCenter 5, about being resettled to a city that they cannot afford to live in. Why then does the U.S. government and its refugee resettlement agency private contractors continue to place refugees there? The reason given is that “refugees find more affordable housing elsewhere in [Massachusetts].” Shouldn’t these refugees therefore first be placed elsewhere in the state too?
…Ahmed Almusarawy and his 4-year-old daughter head to a Chelsea relief agency for clothes and English classes. He’s trying to rebuild a life for his wife and four children after being shot while working as a state department driver in Iraq.
With the help of a translator, Almusarawy describes his injuries.
“Twelve bullets in his stomach and his leg,” she said.
Almusarawy has struggled since he arrived here nearly a year ago, and can no longer afford his $1,100 Chelsea rent.
“They told us ‘you will have a house, a job,’” said Almusarawy.
Other Iraqi refugees tell similar stories. The government subsidies don’t cover high rent on Boston area homes, which they are placed in by resettlement agencies. Jobs are hard to find…
…Hameed Nasif, who brought his five children here in September. Through a translator, he talked about promises by the U.S.
“To help you and assist you to find a job, to learn you the language, to assist you with anything,” said Nasif.
With no job, Nasif can no longer afford their $1,600 a month Everett apartment.
Nasif’s family as well as Almusarawy’s are both due in court Thursday facing eviction hearings.
“It’s scary. They are scared for the future,” said Nasif.
“There is no answer. No answer. You must do something for these families.” said Albadri.
The Massachusetts office for Refugees and Immigrants acknowledged there are challenges. But in a phone call to NewsCenter 5, Director Richard Chacon called
Massachusetts a “national model for other states.” He said
while housing is expensive in the Boston area, wages tend to be
higher, and that refugees often find more affordable housing
elsewhere in the state…
…The local resettlement agencies responsible for temporarily funding, then assisting the refugees once they arrive did not return calls from NewsCenter 5. Read more here
Posted in Boston, Catholic Charities of Greater Boston, International Institute of NE, Iraqi, Jewish Family & Children's Service (Boston), Massachusetts, Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (Boston) | Tagged: Boston, Catholic Charities of Greater Boston, Jewish Family & Children's Service, low-income housing, Massachusetts, Massachusetts office for Refugees and Immigrants, Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, RIAC | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
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