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Posted by Christopher Coen on May 14, 2012
Some refugee population groups entering the US come from a long tradition of farming and may wish to continue farming as a way to earn a living. Refugees from Myanmar and Hmong refugees, mainly from Cambodia, are two groups that come to mind. The National Immigrant Farming Initiative is helping immigrants and refugees with a penchant for farming to apply those skills in the US by teaching them about our growing season, crops, prices, regulations, where and how to sell, how to connect with markets and government farm support programs. This is apparently not only a way for refugees to help them keep up their agrarian practices, but is also a way of avoiding the poverty trap for those with little English and a lack of American workplace skills. An article in Twin Cities Daily Planet has more:
He was born in mountainous Cambodia and dreamed of owning a farm. She was born to the far-reaching plains of the Midwest and flourished in an urban setting of coffee shops and poetry readings.
Now, immigrant Proeun and Amy Doeun are married, have four children, a herd of goats and 85 chickens as well as their own 40-acre farm in Rush City. That’s thanks in large part to the Minnesota Food Association, a farm entrepreneurship program she calls “our alma mater.’’
That program is but one of many to be highlighted at an upcoming national conference with a title as long and as self-explanatory as many a non-fiction book.
“Grassroots and Groundwork: Working Together to Reduce Poverty and Build Prosperity”…
…The need for such agricultural training appeared as Minnesota experienced a “huge and steady influx of immigrants from other countries, many of them from agrarian societies and they would like to know how can I farm in Minnesota,’’ Hill explains. The program teaches about the growing season here, crops, prices, regulations, where and how to sell, how to connect with markets and government farm support programs, he says.
The state group is a member of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., supporting immigrants who don’t have the capital or knowhow or don’t understand the American agricultural system or have limited English, explains the group’s Executive Director Rigoberto Delgado. He will also speak at the conference.
Delgado says immigrants are replacing the disappearing American family farmer, pointing out that the number of Latino farmers in the United States grew 14 percent between 2002 and 2007.
“They come with the American dream and a penchant for farming. We are like the doorway for immigrants and refugees to find their way,’’ says Delgado… Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, community farms, Hmong, Minnesota | Tagged: Burma, community farms, family farmer, Hmong, Minnesota Food Association, Myanmar, National Immigrant Farming Initiative, refugees, resettlement, Small farms | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 13, 2012
The first refugee family has moved into a vacant, foreclosed house in Cleveland as part of a program to rehab empty housing stock in the city. The project is a collaboration between the Cuyahoga County land bank and International Services Center. It turns out that the $40,000 expended to rehab the house is less than what it would have cost to demolish it. An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer explains:
LAKEWOOD, Ohio — A pilot program operated by two nonprofit groups to place refugees in vacant, foreclosed homes has settled its first family into a renovated house in Lakewood.
Bhutanese natives Ruk and Leela Rai, along with their 3-year-old son, Anish, moved into an updated century home on Hopkins Avenue last week.
Two years ago, the International Services Center resettled the Rais in Cleveland from a refugee camp in Nepal,where Ruk and Leela had lived for 20 years. Their son was born in the camp.
Through the center’s programs, they learned life skills and found jobs. And now they are the first recipients of the new housing program created bythe center and the Cuyahoga County land bank.
About a year ago, the land bank, which has acquired a number of empty foreclosed homes, teamed with the center to split the costs of renovating the vacant Lakewood home and renting it to a refugee family.
So far, the partnership has worked well. And there’s a good chance it will continue, as the center needs housing for its stream of refugees, and the land bank, which razes many empty foreclosed homes, needs occupants.
It cost $40,000 to rehab the Lakewood house, which is cheaper than demolishing an empty foreclosed property… Read more here
Posted in Cleveland, housing, International Services Center, Nepali Bhutanese | Tagged: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County land bank, housing, International Services Center, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 10, 2012
An Iraqi refugee family now living in Idaho says that they were told, on the day before travel to the US for resettlement, that they should come in to “sign” for tickets. At the signing they claim they were then told to sign for a $4,500 travel loan. I wrote to the State Department about my concerns about the refugee Travel Loan Program program in 2005, but the agency’s refugee office did not make any major changes until now. In March the State Department announced that it was planning significant changes to the refugee program beginning in October (the beginning of the next fiscal year). A State Department spokeswoman says monthly loan payments will be capped according to income, loan agreements will be translated into nearly a dozen languages, and there will be a new informational website explaining the travel loan program. An article at StateImpact explains:
…[Qusay Alani] says he left Iraq after he was jailed for refusing to join Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. In Jordan, he says, he lived like a fugitive. As more and more Iraqis fled there, they were less and less welcome. Alani began the process of applying for refugee status. He didn’t aim to come to the U.S. He and his family simply needed to go somewhere. “Any country, I go to,” he says. “The only thing is just to protect my family. Because, you know, if I go back to Iraq I might get killed, you know. So – do my family.”
In 2009, after years of waiting, Alani and his family learned they were bound for the United States. This is where the travel loan comes in.
“They gave us like a month prior,” Alani explains. “They told us – in a month ahead, you’re going to travel. Then a day before, they told us to come and sign for your tickets.”
Alani says that’s when he found out he would have to sign a loan for more than $4,500…
…there is an effort underway to make changes, says Deborah Sisbarro, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
“We are, in fact, in the process of making improvements in the way the travel loan program works, yes,” she says.
Sisbarro says there will be a new informational website explaining the travel loan program. She says monthly loan payments will be capped according to income, and loan agreements will be translated into nearly a dozen languages. She says the changes should be in place by next year…
…In reporting this story, StateImpact requested interviews with current and former State Department officials and the official who oversees the travel loan program. None was available for an interview… Read more here
In the article the IRC’s Jim Carey complains about the travel loan program, yet his organization offers no private partner solution to the problem. Couldn’t the nine national resettlement agencies offer to set up a private endowment to help the refugees with part of the cost of travel?
Posted in Idaho, Iraqi, Travel Loan Program | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, State Department, Travel Loan, US Department of State | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 8, 2012
The Minnesota Council of Churches, an affiliate of EMM and CWS, is opening its first outstate (outside the Twin Cities) office in Mankato. Mankato is a small city and site of Minnesota State University and a Mayo Clinic facility. The top four employers are Immanuel St. Joseph’s – Mayo Health System, Minnesota State University, the public school district and MRCI Industrial Operation, a temporary employment services provider. An article in the Mankato Free Press explains:
MANKATO — When the Minnesota Council of Churches was deciding where to build its first outstate office for refugee assistance, Mankato stood out.
That wasn’t because refugees were coming here directly from their home countries. Mankato isn’t designated by the federal government as a first stop for refugees.
But refugees who landed in other American cities were making their way to Mankato and bringing relatives, said Rachele King, director of refugee services for the nonprofit.
She heard good things about Mankato, both as a place to live and one that helps refugees.
The Mankato office opened April 1, but is taking time to figure out what other nonprofits and governments are doing here to avoid competing with them… Read more here
Posted in Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), Minnesota, Minnesota Council of Churches, Minnesota Council of Churches | Tagged: Church World Service, CWS, EMM, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Mankato, Minnesota Council of Churches, refugees, resettlement, Twin Cities | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 6, 2012
Last summer three Eritrean refugees were arrested after they tried to board an airplane, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport going to Des Moines, with a carry-on bag that contained a broken cellphone taped to a tin of helva (a sesame-paste-based food flavored with vanilla). The charges? Having a “hoax device” and “conspiracy” to obtain a hoax device. The three tried to explain that they were just trying to take candy and the old phone to friends. Authorities claimed, however – via questionable reasoning – that the three were attempting to do a trial run to see if they could get a “real bomb” through security, since this was assuredly not a real bomb (helva is not explosive, nor were there any fake wires or a fake detonation device attached). The authorities also deemed suspicious the three traveling in the month of August, being so close to the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, you see – and besides, everyone knows that cell phones are used to detonate bombs. Surely the refugees must have carried aboard a broken cell phone during this “dry run” to fool authorities into thinking that it could not be used to trigger a detonator. But what about that tin of helva, that was suspicious wasn’t it? Well, helva it turns out is an Eritrean ethnic food. Maybe they were trying to trick authorities into thinking the helva was not suspicious since Eritreans are known to eat helva. Plus, some might say it would be nitpicking to point out that federal agents, in first contacts with the Eritrean refugees, used an interpreter that did not speak their Kunama language, thus leading to faulty linguistic interpretations.
Now the three are trying to overcome the false “terrorist” label affixed to them in public opinion. This smear is now an obstacle to employment, nine months later, and months after all charges were suddenly dropped. An article in The Arizona Republic looks at the aftermath of the false charges:
Civil war drove Shullu Gorado from his home in Eritrea, a small country on the Horn of Africa, and landed him — like most Kunama — in a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia.
Ethiopia was no kinder to the refugees than their war-torn homeland, but the United States welcomed the Kunama people, promising safety and the opportunity for a new life to the former farmers and shepherds. In four years,Gorado rose steadily through the ranks at a local supermarket, stashing away savings and taking general-education and English-language classes as he worked toward a new future in a new country.
But after being arrested on suspicion of plotting to sneak a hoax explosive device through airport security, serving two months in a federal detention facility, then having the charges against him dropped in December, Gorado and Asa Shani are branded as terrorists in the eyes of many. Among those viewing them with suspicion, they say, are prospective employers who need only perform a perfunctory Internet search to find coverage of their arrests… Read more here
Posted in Eritrean, FBI, Phoenix, police, security/terrorism | Tagged: bomb, Eritrean, false charges, FBI, helva, Phoenix, refugees, resettlement, terrorism | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 6, 2012
There has now been a second series of firebombings in the Shapira neighborhood in south Tel-Aviv. Last week there was a series of three Molotov-cocktail firebombings of African migrants in the same neighborhood. In recent months the conservative led Israeli government has attempted to incite fear and hostility toward the African migrants. An article in Haaretz has more:
Two firebombs were hurled on Saturday night at a house in south Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported, but police are investigating whether the incident is connected to a similar attack a week and a half ago that targeted African residents…
…Tension between the long-standing Israeli residents of south Tel Aviv and the foreign refugees, asylum seekers and labor migrants now living alongside them, is not new. According to the Interior Ministry’s population registry, in 2011 more than 17,000 unauthorized foreign nationals – mostly from Sudan and Eritrea – sneaked into Israel through the border with Egypt. After their identities are checked at Ketziot Detention Center, most are bused to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station area, in the south of the city.
City officials estimate that around 40,000 labor migrants and more than 20,000 asylum seekers live in south Tel Aviv. Most live in the disadvantaged Shapira, Hatikva, Neve Sha’anan and Kiryat Shalom neighborhoods, as well as the area surrounding the bus station. Read more here
Posted in asylees, xenophobia/nationalism/isolationism | Tagged: Africans, asylees, firebombing, israel, migrants, Molotov cocktail, refugees, resettlement, Shapira, Tel Aviv | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 5, 2012
The mayor of Lynn, MA is putting out alerts about the fiscal pressure experienced by schools in her city, apparently due to refugee secondary migration. Secondary migration is refugees leaving the city they were initially settled in and, under their own volition, going elsewhere due to a whole number of reasons, e.g. to be near friends and relatives, to find a place that has more or higher paying jobs, to seek a less alien climate, to move to a place with a larger community of people from their ethnic group and/or group of national of origin, etc. The main problem here I think is that federal funds are insufficient to help schools impacted by refugee arrivals – the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s grant, known as the Refugee School Impact Program, doesn’t come close to meeting needs.
An article in The Daily News explains some basic details of the problem in Lynn, although it also shows that the mayor is taking a winding and confused course through government channels, even going to the UNHCR, and gets facts wrong about several of the federal agencies:
…[Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy's Chief of Staff, Jamie Cerulli] said after getting bounced from office to office she finally spoke to Barbara Day with the state department’s office of Refugee Resettlement Administration for Children and Families.
“She said for Fiscal Year 2011 they approved 25 refugees to come to the Lynn area,” Cerulli said. “She also said in 2012 it looks like there is approval for 28 … but that’s such a small number. If they’re not coming from there then where are they coming from?”
Cerulli said Day noted that if immigrants already have family in the area they are more likely to gravitate to the same area. Day was not available Thursday for comment and calls to the U.S. State Department of Health and Human Services were not immediately returned.
Cerulli said she plans to keep digging at the federal and state level to try and determine if Lynn has been officially deemed a haven city while also trying to determine exactly what drives immigrants to Lynn.
Kennedy has always emphasized her administration has gone the extra step to celebrate the ethnic diversity and welcome immigrants to the city and she said she would never deny a child or its family services… Read more here
Posted in Boston, capacity, children, funding, language, Office of Admissions, ORR, school for refugee children, schools, secondary migration, refugee, UN (United Nations) | Tagged: Barbara Day, Judith Flanagan Kennedy, Lynn MA, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, Refugee School Impact Program, refugees, resettlement, schools, secondary migration | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 4, 2012
Young Cambodians, mainly men, who came to the United States as infants and refugees, and were resettled in some of America’s worst gang infested neighborhoods, are now being deported due to felonies for which they have already served their time. Those who have atoned for their past crimes and are living as productive members of American society have no right to show a judge evidence of this or appeal their deportations. A video at YouTube explains their story:
One of the untold stories of the current immigration hysteria sweeping America is the forced deportation of young Cambodians, mainly men, who came to the United States as infants and refugees after escaping the Khmer Rouge genocide, civil war and illegal US invasion and bombings of Cambodia. Their families, poor, uneducated farmers for the most part, were dumped in some of America’s worst gang infested neighborhoods. Even though they had ‘permanent resident’ status, felony convictions, some more than 10 years old, means under new immigration rules they are being sent back to a country they do not know, where they have no family and little hope of escaping poverty. Even after serving time and paying back their debt to society, over 1500 Cambodians, some as old as 70 years, are being punished a second time and thrown into ICE jails with no right to appeal.
Over 200 have already arrived in Cambodia, leaving behind families, wives and children in the US. The deportees have no right to appeal, no right to see a judge to show that they have atoned for their past crimes and are living as productive members of American society. Considering America’s role in the turmoil that swept through Cambodia in the 1970s, we are breaking the faith with these refugees. Watch video here
By the way, if any of these young men had pursued their right to apply for citizenship, and had attained it, then they would not have been subject to deportation. Parents and resettlement agencies should help with this.
Posted in Cambodian, dangerous neighborhoods, ICE, Los Angeles, Oakland | Tagged: cambodian, deportation, gangs, ICE, Lost Boys, Lost Boyz, refugees, resettlement | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 3, 2012
In late 2009 and early 2010 a volunteer assisting refugees at the Bowling Green International Center (previously known as Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association) found refugees from Myanmar (in this case Karenni) living in deplorable conditions, who reported receiving low-quality resettlement services from the resettlement agency. The volunteer documented extensively what she saw and heard, including taking photos and videos. Oddly, a State Department resettlement grant inspection report from earlier in 2009 failed to uncover any of these problems.
Now, here is a look at the ORR’s most recent inspection report of the International Center’s (IC’s) use of Matching Grant Program funds, from 2006. By the way, this is one of twelve inspection reports (8 were incomplete) that we recently received from a Freedom of Information Act request to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) covering a period from 2005 to 2011. (If HHS complied with the FOIA law, that would mean that the ORR did two inspections per year. This, in a program that in CY2006, for example, paid out $35,772,000 to the resettlement contractors, and served 24,753 refugees, Cuban/Haitian Entrants, asylees and victims of trafficking)
Here are highlights from the inspection:
- The IC’s national affiliate, the USCRI, supposedly monitored the IC in March of 2006 (these are the self-inspections that the State Dept. touts as being useful — I remain skeptical). “ORR requested a copy of this report for the record, but USCRI failed to comply.”
- Of the 67 refugees enrolled in the MG program in 2005, the ORR reviewed only eight refugee case files. Files contained document forms in other languages that did not have a corresponding English copy. Comprehensive employment services were in some cases not documented as required by MG Guidelines. In some cases there was no documentation of closeout, e.g. status of refugee at termination of services and referrals to later programs if needed. The ORR reviewer found that the full issues that had arisen in refugee cases — the resulting services and/or follow-up for some cases — were not noted, and were instead learned only by speaking with the refugees (visiting with only three of the 67 refugees) and resettlement agency staff.
- The IC referred the vast majority of refugees to only one factory that it had a long, established relationship with, disregarding the diversity of refugees’ employment histories and education. (One size does not fit all.)
- Instances where the IC did not pay the children’s part of the monthly cash payments – $40 per child. This is the cash that the ORR gives to resettlement agencies for refugee parents who are receiving employment services so that they are able to pay basic bills.
- Although resettlement agencies such as the IC are allowed to use $2 in MG funds for each $1 in donations they gather, the ORR review found “numerous instances in which copious amounts of inappropriate and unallowable donations were being recorded and counted as MG match. Examples include $1,639 for clothing donations to [match the MG funds] a family of three…and $3,319 for clothing donations for a family of six…unclear service donations of $192 (I suspect that should be four digits — a piece here is redacted)…and counting donations that are clearly required as part of the [State Department refugee grant] (Mattresses [for one refugee] and pillows, sheets, mattresses, etc. for [another refugee] as MG match. The reviewer…found that donated goods were not…consistently valued in a manner that assigns reasonable values to such donations.”
- The IC intermingled funds from separate grants, even from separate US federal agencies, which the ORR assessed as “grossly incompliant” (sic). For example, the reviewer found “numerous instances where [IC] was incorrectly charging federal funds for employee time. ORR Matching Grant, ORR Cash Assistance, ORR Medical Assistance, ORR…Social Services, and [State Department initial resettlement services grant money] charges were often mixed up.” This included double charging case management services to the MG program and to another grant though the refugee was only enrolled in the MG program, charging refugee health costs to MG, and charging MG past the allowable service period.
- Despite these deficiencies the ORR wrote that the International Center provides “effective services to refugees that are enrolled in the MG program” (???), and that the number of refugees enrolled in the MG program was projected to increase from 67 in 2005 to 175 in 2006. The ORR’s specific assessment of the IC’s use of MG program grant money also appears to give the agency credit for non-MG services. For example, the ORR gives the IC credit for services such as referring refugees in a timely manner to food stamps, medical assistance, health screenings and social security cards – all of which the State Department refugee resettlement grant covered. Read report here
Posted in Bowling Green, children, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, International Center in Bowling Green (Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association), Karenni, Matching Grant program, ORR, USCRI | Tagged: Bowling Green, government contractor, International Center, karenni, Matching grant, One size fits all, ORR, refugees, resettlement, Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 2, 2012
Reading through ORAM’s new guide on assisting LGBTI refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers I found a code of conduct to focus on when assisting these people. It seems that this list of principles would also be highly useful in assisting any person or group of refugees or asylees, and therefore worth posting here:.
◊ Demonstrate Kindness, Patience, and Sensitivity: Maintain a kind and patient attitude towards refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers. Remain sensitive to the fact that most of them are continuing to heal from psychological and physical scars left by traumatic experiences.
◊ Be Aware of Power Disparities: Do not assume an equal footing between you and the refugee, asylee, or asylum seeker. Act consciously to put yourself in the refugee’s situation before making a request of this individual.
◊ Understand Your Friendship from the Refugee’s Perspective: Remember that with scant resources in their new country, refugees are particularly vulnerable and may feel obligated to say or do things that they otherwise would not in order to secure your continued friendship and support.
◊ Avoid Conflicts of Interest: Avert situations pitting your interests (including financial ones) against those of the refugee.
◊ Respect Differing Cultures, Religions, and Beliefs: Demonstrate respect for differing cultural and religious backgrounds and practices. Do not proselytize or attempt to convert the refugee to your own religious, cultural, or political beliefs, even if you believe you are acting in the refugee’s best interest.
◊ Support Autonomy: Support the refugee’s ability to make independent decisions. Affirm that refugees bring much to [their new community and friends] and to their new country.
◊ Value Refugees’ Contributions: Remember that refugees are defined not by their needs, but by the contributions they do and will make to their new communities.
◊ Communicate Honestly: Always communicate honestly, even when doing so is difficult.
◊ Demonstrate Accountability: Fulfill all commitments once they are agreed to.
◊ Protect the Refugee from Discrimination: Identify discrimination against the refugee, whether based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, nationality, or any other grounds. Stand up for the refugee.
◊ Respect Interpersonal Boundaries: Respect the refugee’s right to personal privacy. Refrain from becoming physically or romantically intimate with the refugee…
◊ Safeguard Confidentiality: Keep [confidential] all potentially sensitive or private information about the refugee…unless otherwise instructed by the refugee being helped. Confidentiality extends to the personal history, medical status, financial arrangements, and other dimensions of the refugee’s life. Maintaining confidentiality is particularly important for asylum seekers and for refugees awaiting resettlement, as they have not yet secured or reached a place of safety. Read more here
Posted in best practices, LGBT refugees, ORAM | Tagged: asylees, asylum, code of conduct, lgbti, ORAM, personal boundaries, power disparities, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
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