Archive for the ‘Jewish’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 19, 2012
The president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Gideon Aronoff, has announced that effective May 31 he is resigning. An article at JTA has the details:
…Gideon Aronoff of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society…announced Wednesday in a letter to friends that he will be stepping down effective May 31; Mark Hetfield, senior vice president for policy and programs at HIAS, will be the interim president and CEO…
…Aronoff’s tenure at HIAS was not without controversy. As president and CEO, he was an unapologetic proponent of HIAS’ advocacy and support for non-Jewish immigration to America — something some Jewish critics saw as outside the scope of HIAS’ raison d’etre.
Aronoff never saw it that way…
…There’s also a pragmatic reason for pursuing a more universalist mission, Aronoff said: If HIAS simply were to be dormant except in times of great Jewish need, it wouldn’t have the capacity or ability to respond when the Jewish world suddenly needs it.
“It would be both irresponsible and unethical to not help others where we can and to not preserve and build capacity for future Jewish emergencies,” he said. “You can’t run a resettlement network for a few hundred Jewish refugees nationally. It’s not possible to not have a resettlement network when, 10 years from now, you need it. So from a pragmatic basis, the work with non-Jewish refugees is essential.”
When I asked him where those Jewish emergencies might emerge, he cited instability in a number of Latin American countries with Jewish populations, mentioned the political problems in Hungary, and said that French Jews were really shaken by the shooting attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse in March that left four dead… Read more here
Posted in HIAS, Jewish | Tagged: Gideon Aronoff, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS, Mark Hetfield, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 1, 2012
Israel’s ruling government has decided that African refugees fleeing persecution are persona non grata, and will not be allowed to work in Israel – even though Israel is in desperate need of low-wage labor. Israeli police are now attempting to lure the refugees, who are hungry and have no place to stay, into stealing from supposed drunks with loads of cash hanging out of their pockets. An article at Haaretz tells us about a new police operation:
Undercover Tel Aviv police, posing as drunks and prostitutes, have begun arresting refugees and asylum seekers by luring them to steal wallets and other items.
Dozens of undercover police officers operated last weekend around the central bus station, where many of the refugees who entered the country illegally live. In a joint operation of the Tel Aviv Region police and the Border Police’s Barak unit, policewomen disguised as prostitutes stood on street corners and arrested everyone who tried to attack them. Others pretended to be drunk women looking for a cab home…
…These illegal refugees, who are not entitled to work, are brought daily to the Magistrate’s Court in Tel Aviv to be remanded, usually after they were caught stealing property worth a few hundred shekels at most. They steal mobile phones and sell them for NIS 150 in stores in the area. Sometimes they work in groups of two or three who steal together to buy food and pay rent… Read more here
Posted in Islamic, Jewish, police | Tagged: african, human rights, israel, refugees | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 24, 2012
Over the past several weeks has came news that Israel will deport southern Sudanese refugees to South Sudan, claiming that their safety is now ensured by the South’s declaration of independence last summer — even though the fledgling country is far from safe or stable for these refugees (see Haaretz article). What sense this makes escapes me since the southern Sudanese are natural allies of Israel, having experienced large-scale murderous attacks by the Islamist government of Sudan. At the same time, Israel is also ramping up hatred of other African refugees feeling persecution. (Israel has re-branded these refugees as “infiltrators” and “a threat to the fabric of Jewish society” — refusing to accept 1500 people per month, mostly African Muslims, while importing workers for cheap labor from East Asia – primarily the Philippines and Thailand.) When will we hear US refugee agencies speak out against these human rights violations? An article in Aljazeera explains the situation:
…The notion of a “Jewish and democratic state”, never a feasible reality, continues to unravel as its inherent racism is revealed in a new way. Any political discussion of refugees that are of the wrong ethnicity inevitably refers to African migration to Israel as an “existential threat”. Labelling these refugees as “threats” allows the state to criminalise and imprison them…
…State officials estimate that around 2,000 asylum seekers enter the country every month. Most of the men end up in Levinsky Park in southern Tel Aviv. At any time during the day or night, one can find young black African men sitting on the park’s benches, swings and concrete walls. In late January, a man who lived in the park died from exposure during the night.
The majority of the men who live in Levinsky Park are from Eritrea and Darfur…
…While community members and organisations have responded to the refugee-related crises developing in the country’s founding city by setting up an emergency shelter and serving warm dinners to a hungry crowd, these generous gestures are the exception in a state that fosters growing hostility to outsiders…
…”This is how the public becomes racist,” Yohannes Bayu, the director of African Refugee Development Centre (ARDC), tells me, explaining the government’s campaign against African asylum seekers, who are labelled as “labour infiltrators”…
…the media and the government has ramped up this hatred,” explains Bayu.
But Bayu adds that overt racism in Israeli society has become common, “People are attacked on the streets. People are not allowed to rent houses to African refugees.”…
…The desperate men – and some women – who leave their families and homelands behind in Africa escape torture, forced military conscription and murder. As confirmed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Eritrea and Sudan have been two of the top producers of refugees over the past two years. These states’ betrayals of their own citizens have rendered tens of thousands stateless.
Conventions and detentions
Israeli politicians’ claims that only a “drizzle” of the African immigrants are rightfully refugees is quickly belied by the fact that almost none of the men are deported. Of the approximately 17,000 asylum seekers who reached Israel in 2011 via Egypt, only 270 have been returned to Egypt. Israel is a party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees…
However, allowing asylum seekers to remain in the country without rights hardly fulfills the directions of the Convention, which was composed in 1951 after the world saw and acknowledged the dangers posed to stateless human beings.
Before reaching Israel’s borders, asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan must survive a harrowing journey across the Sinai. They routinely experience rape and enslavement, and are reportedly the targets of organ traffickers.
Whether jumping the fence or walking across the border into Israel, asylum seekers are immediately picked up by border police and taken to a detention centre where they are held for weeks or months. …immigration authorities will begin holding these men to the extent of [a] new law – three years – once [a] new detention centre is built…
…for now the scenario for these men follows a predictable pattern: They are released in less than three months and given a three to six-month visa and then bussed up to Levinsky Park in Tel Aviv, where they are left to fend for themselves… Read more here
Posted in abuse, Eritrean, Jewish, left-wing, NGO's (Non-governmental organizations), safety, Sudanese, UN (United Nations), xenophobia/nationalism/isolationism | Tagged: 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Darfur, Eritrean, human rights, israel, Levinsky Park, racism, refugees, resettlement, sudanese | 5 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 11, 2012
A volunteer helping Karen refugees in Kansas City added a comment to a December post about Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City (JVS).
My wife and I have been working with the Karen refugees in KCMO for two years. Nothing has changed with JVS they still put refugees in terrible housing conditions, they do not explain the lease arrangements with them. We have several families that face legal action now because they did not understand that they could not just break a lease and move. Also they take all Karen refugees to Bank of America to open bank accounts, without explaining anything about checking accounts, balancing a check book, etc. (my wife and I have done this). Most Karen refugees especially adults are left to take care of themselves too soon, very short or no English classes at all. Lack of helping to find jobs, do not explain WIC program with lots of families having months of expired unused WIC coupons due to lack of no knowing what to do or to do it. JVS is a waste of time for the Karen refugees, we have close to 40 families that we work with, taking to medical appointment, helping with WIC, TANF, Food stamps, Medicaid and any other needs to include transportation to appointments, even lighting their furnaces in the winter. We do this for free and do not work for any group…it is out of compassion and love for the Karen refugees…something that should be a requirement for anyone working with refugees no matter where they come from…. See December post
Posted in housing, insufficient assistance with daily tasks, Jewish, Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City, Karen, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of | Tagged: Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City, jvs, Karen, refugees, resettlement, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 5, 2011
Almost two years now after the Kansas City Star – and the Pitch a year earlier – published accounts about Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City (JVS) placing refugees in substandard housing (here and here), comes word that three former employees of the agency are suing, claiming they were blamed for their supervisor’s bad decisions. The three are suing for discrimination due to their race, skin color and national origin, claiming that their supervisor, Deborah Fiene, who was in charge of housing, scapegoated them for her own poor decisions in placing refugees in extremely substandard and unsanitary housing. The three claim that JVS fired them due to “unsatisfactory job performance” yet they all had received positive evaluations and each promoted less than a year earlier. They claim in their suit papers that Feine was never punished despite evidence of impropriety on her job performance. They also claim that the agency rifled through their desks and stole personal documents, including citizenship papers, while later arguing in court papers that the agency was exempt from the lawsuit because it was a religious organisation. A Kenyen newspaper (one of the accusers originates from Kenya), The Standard, has the story:
A Kenyan US based journalist and two other African immigrants have gone to court and sued a Jewish organisation in the US for racial discrimination.
Peter Makori, a resident of Kansas City who originally hails from Kisii in Kenya and Abdi Murasaal and Bakar Abdalla from Somalia have sued Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) of Kansas City for damages claiming they were dismissed from their employment because their boss, of Caucasian origin (white) discriminated against them due to their race, skin colour and national origins.
The three, through their lawyer, Brian Barjenbruch complained in their suit papers filed in the circuit court of Kansas City Missouri, that a white female employee who was herself not punished committed the mistakes that led to their dismissal from work…
…Makori and Abdallah worked as refugee resettlement case managers at the JVS, while Mursaal was their general manager at the organisation’s Centre for New Americans.
They are seeking…compensation for unfairly losing their jobs and other inconveniences. They claim in their suit papers the fact that their colleague who is white was never punished despite evidence of impropriety on her job performance showed that they were victims of racial discrimination.
The centre works with the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) – a body that is contracted by the US State Department for Homeland Security – to bring refugees to America from turbulent regions around the world….
…The former JVS employees have claimed that their colleague, Deborah Fiene, who was in charge of housing, had allegedly placed refugees in dirty and sub-standard housing, which contravened the regulations of the State Department and USCRI. Despite this, she was not punished but the boss used the three as her scapegoat and summarily sacked them.
They claimed that their complaints against Fiene to the organisation’s executive director, who is also white, that the housing coordinator was putting refugees in poor housing, were dismissed…
…Makori…claimed in his suit papers that a few days preceding his dismissal, his desk at work was ransacked and numerous documents taken away…
…Bakar claimed in his suit papers that his desk was ransacked and several documents, including his citizen’s certificate, which was in his drawers lost. Abdi claimed that the management had ransacked his desk and several documents taken away.
They pointed out their employer had accused them in their dismissal letters that they were sacked because of “unsatisfactory job performance” yet they all had received positive evaluation and each promoted less than a year earlier… Read more here
The case involved more than JVS simply placing refugees in wretched housing. Newspaper accounts reported that refugees were left on their own for medical appointments, and that JVS failed to give a refugee family all sorts of minimum-required household items, while documenting that it had done so.
Posted in faith-based, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, substandard, Jewish, Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City, Kenyen, medical care, Somali, Sudanese, USCRI | Tagged: Deborah Fiene, discrimination, Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City, Joy Foster, jvs, refugees, resettlement, scapegoat, substandard housing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 1, 2011
The Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment of 1989 and the issue of whether Congress should renew it is up before us again (the last temporary extension of the measure expired on May 31, 2011). San Antonio’s Express-News reports that US Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee with oversight over immigration policy, is holding up the renewal of the Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment:
In 1989, Congress passed legislation authored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., codifying the U.S. interest in assisting [people to] escape persecution...
…Congress has routinely renewed the refugee measure for 22 years. This year, as in the past, Lautenberg attached the legislation as an amendment to the foreign operations budget. But Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee with oversight over immigration policy, has stopped the Lautenberg Amendment dead in its tracks.
Smith raises two categories of objections. The first have to do with fairness. Smith contends that the 2,000 or so refugees who enter the United States annually under the Lautenberg Amendment receive preferential treatment in comparison with the other 73,000 refugees the United States takes in.
But that’s precisely the point of the amendment — to recognize special situations of persecution and open a relief valve to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
Smith’s second area of concern is that the amendment has never been subjected to oversight. Is the refugee program being run wisely and efficiently? Are people entering the United States under false pretenses?
Oversight hearings are entirely appropriate. We are confident that after hearing the facts about the refugee program, Smith will agree that the Lautenberg Amendment is a judicious and compassionate policy for legal immigration... Read more here
To understand this amendment we must first understand the meaning of the word “refugee” as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act – the basic body of immigration law:
Refugee – any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. here
The Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment then added more language in trying to help people experiencing persecution within their country of nationality, and in circumstances that are not easy to prove. A member of a category group:
“…may establish a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion…by asserting a credible basis for concern about the possibility of such persecution.”
The category groups were Jews and certain Christians from the former Soviet Union (FSA), as well as certain refugees in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. A 2003 update to the law made the category also available to refugees from Iran – mostly Christians, but also Jews, Bahais, Zoroastrians and other persecuted minorities. Presently the US allows in only about two thousand people annually this category.
The problem with the Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment was that powerful US political groups, e.g. Jews and evangelical Christians, abused it to help people they favored emigrate to the US. It allowed people to enter the US as political refugees from the FSA even after glasnost (openness) and perestroĭka (restructuring) often made moot any claim to persecution. Preferential treatment was indeed given to these people, which left some people with a bad feeling about the amendment. The Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment, however, remains the only option for legitimately persecuted groups who stay trapped inside their countries of nationality in circumstances of persecution not easy to prove. I would agree that Congress needs to inspect the oversight of the refugee program to check the many shortcomings that we explore on this blog, but not in the context of the Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment. I also question why the category is only open to persecuted groups from a select handful of countries.
Posted in Bahá'i, Cambodian, evangelical, former Soviet republics, HIAS, Iranian, Jewish, Laos, legislation, Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment, Vietnamese | Tagged: evangelicals, Iran, jews, Lamar Smith, Lautenberg Amendment, Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment, oversight, persecution, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 6, 2011
In an Op-ed in The Buffalo News the local refugee resettlement agencies in Buffalo, NY get the numbers wrong on the US House’ proposed public funding cuts.
…The proposed cuts would impact humanitarian assistance programs in three funding areas. Up to 45 percent of funding to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Migration and Refugee Assistance and International Disaster Assistance would be gone… Read more here
Yet, of the 4-5 refugee-related US government accounts that US House Republicans have voted to reduce:
- Migration and Refugee Assistance Account (MRA) 45% cut (global food relief – 41% cut)
- Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) 10% cut
- International Disaster Assistance (IDA) 67% cut
- Citizen and Integation Assistance Program, within the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCRI) ( _ )% cut
…the 45% proposed cut only applies to the MRA account, while the ORR account would only get a 10% cut (see our analysis), and the IDA account would get a 67% cut. The domestic refugee resettlement program derives only from the MRA and ORR accounts. Even if the MRA was cut by 45% that does not necessarily mean that the domestic resettlement program would also be cut by 45%, as resettlement countries such as the US take less than 1% of the world’s refugees each year (close to half of 1%). Our domestic resettlement program is considered the cherry on the cake of our efforts to help the world’s refugees. If the cake were cut by 45% the cherry could also be cut by 45% or it could be left intact. That would be US government agencies’ decision to make.
Strangely however, all of this is fairly much a moot point as the US Senate has just voted not to make any cuts in these four accounts, according to the USCRI. In other words, the cuts aren’t going anywhere without the Senate’s approval, contrary to Catholic Charities in Chicago’s statements.
If there were a US government shutdown, and when it came to an end (during which, refugees would suffer from lack of assistance) any decision by the House and Senate on how they will compromise or not compromise on these funding matters would still have to be made in a conference committee. Therefore, we’re right back to the horse-trading again. But no, it’s not some simple 45% cut. That is a proposal by US House Republicans, and it only applies to the MRA account. The devil is always in the details.
Posted in Baptist, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Buffalo, Catholic, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Christian, Citizenship & Integration Program, funding, International Disaster Assistance (IDA), International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish, Migration & Refugee Assistance Account (MRA), ORR account | Tagged: Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Chicago, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Citizenship and Integration Program within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, conference committee, Dennis C. Walczyk, Dennis Walczyk, IDA, International Disaster Assistance, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo, Journey’s End, Marlene A. Schillinger, Marlene Schillinger, Migration and Refugee Assistance account, MRA, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, US government shutdown | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 20, 2011
Jewish Family Service of Seattle is conducting a lavish new expansion project while seeming to have little money for basic services for refugees. According to CHS Capitol Hill Seattle Blog the $3.6m project is actually a downsized version of what the organization originally planned for.
Following key approvals of permits by the city last week, East Madison is about to see the start of its third major active construction project. An important provider of social services throughout the region, Capitol Hill’s Jewish Family Service this month start work on a $3.6 million project to build a 19,000 square foot expansion on the parking lot adjacent to their current offices at 1601 16th Ave… Read more here
Yet, according to the most recently available State Department monitoring/inspection report for Jewish Family Service of Seattle the agency did not give refugees the minimum-required services required by a State Department contract. The agency did not bother to visit many of the refugee clients at home, even though they are only required to visit one time within 30 days of the refugees’ arrival. Monitors found one refugee man sleeping on the floor of a living room because the agency had not provided a bed. The agency claimed the refugee’s brother said he had an extra bed for the refugee, but since they had not visited the refugee they did not realize that this was not the case. The same refugee also said the agency never gave him an orientation and that they did not have anyone on staff who spoke his language, Farsi. He also said that he had a kidney stone but was not receiving adequate services, partly because each time he went to the hospital he saw someone different. Apparently Jewish Family Service of Seattle was not monitoring his case adequately.
Monitors also noticed that the agency had one of the lowest employment rates for refugees in the country. It also became clear during the monitoring review that more than half of the cases had not received a home visit, although many of the files contained a cursory home visit form that thay had completed only a week or two before the visit, despite the fact that many of the refugees had arrived four to five months earlier. Monitors later learned that they had completed these ”home visit” forms not during a home visit but during a phone conversation with the refugee.
Posted in beds, employment/jobs for refugees, faith-based, furnishings, lack of, home visits, Iranian, Jewish, Jewish Family Service of Seattle, language interpretation/translation, lack of, lavish new offices, Seattle, State Department | Tagged: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS, Jewish Family Service of Seattle, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 15, 2011
Today the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Allegany County has declared that a plant in Pittsburgh that employs refugees is essentially a “sweatshop”. The plant “partners” with Catholic Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh and Jewish Family & Children Services of Pittsburgh to employ refugees at wages lower than the industry standard. Local unions also claim that the plant is unsafe.
Allegheny County Council tonight declared a Rankin steel plant a sweatshop, the first time it’s taken such action.
W&K Steel LLC and its customers will not be able to work on any county projects. Council members voted to bar them from future bids after hearing from several labor groups who allege low pay and unsafe working conditions at the plant... Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic, Catholic Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, faith-based, Jewish, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Jewish Family and Children's Services | Tagged: Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh, Jewish Family & Children Services of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, sweatshop, underpaid, unsafe working conditions, W&K Steel | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 3, 2011
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society is celebrating its 130th anniversary, as outlined in a posting on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website. The article expounds on the agency’s virtues. But what do the State Department’s PRM monitoring reports from those once in 8-13 years pre-announced inspections show us about HIAS’ track record?
According to reports, government monitors found the HIAS affiliate Jewish Family Service of Seattle had not visited nearly half of their refugee clients at home, as is supposedly required. Government monitors found one refugee that had to sleep on the living-room floor, thus violating requirements that resettlement agencies give all refugees a bed to sleep on. The refugee also had a kidney stone and felt he was not receiving adequate medical care, as the agency had not always provided an interpreter and he was not able to understand whether he needed surgery.
At the HIAS affiliate in San Francisco government monitors found that management staff indicated in a questionnaire that each refugee received $275 from refugee funds upon arrival, when in fact each refugee had actually received only $250. In addition, the affiliate’s caseworkers were conducting home visits in only about 25% of cases. The monitors found a refugee family of five living in a cramped one-bedroom apartment.
The HIAS affiliate in Chicago only allowed Jewish refugees to enroll in a beneficial program that offeres early employment bonuses (Matching Grant). The affiliate’s resettlement coordinator was also unable to give early employment statistics for the non-Jewish refugee caseload, yet reported that Jewish refugee employment as 5% at 90 days, and 40% at 6 months — extremely poor rates. A refugee family’s aunt sponsored them and reported that she had to take a loan from the agency to pay for the services the family received, which was suddenly increased by $400 when the affiliate decided that costs were going to be higher than anticipated. Another refugee said his caseworker told him that the affiliate only assisted Jewish refugees with employment services.
The HIAS affiliate in New York City charged sponsoring refugee relatives $500 per refugee to aid with resettlement services. In addition, staff only conducted home visits to between 17-18% of refugees. One refugee couple said the affiliate had not offered them any furniture (basic items required by the contract), and another refugee family with 3 young children reported that their caseworker had never visited them at home. Although the family had arrived in the U.S. nearly eight months earlier the parents were still not working. A third refugee family reported that their caseworker had never visited them at home either, and that they had not received any furniture as well.
The HIAS affiliate in Rockville, Maryland has also charged sponsoring relatives inappropriately large charges for resettlement services provided to refugees — $2000 per “employable” refugee and $500 for each “unemployable” refugee.
Posted in beds, employment services, furnishings, lack of, HIAS, housing, overcrowding, Jewish, Jewish Family and Children's Services San Francisco, Jewish Family and Community Service Chicago, Jewish Family Service of Seattle, New York Association for New Americans (NYANA), over-charging refugee relative co-sponsors, UN (United Nations) | Tagged: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, UNHCR | 2 Comments »
Christopher Coen
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