Archive for the ‘countries’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 11, 2013
Five suspects are wanted in the stabbing deaths of two ethnic Karenni men in an argument at a Phoenix, Arizona apartment complex on April 27th. The safety of refugees in many communities in the U.S. where our program resettled them has been a concern of ours for over ten years now. My question is this: if the Language Line is a known tool for communicating in hundreds of languages on short notice, and police today walk with cell phones, why isn’t that method being used in these incidents? Of course refugee resettlement agencies should also issue all refugee cases with a card that lists phone numbers to call in emergencies – including interpreters. Unfortunately many agencies don’t even bother to make sure that their caseworkers give refugees their business cards. An article at The Republiccovers the incident:
Police are still searching for five suspects after two people who gathered to help a family mourn the loss of a loved one were stabbed to death at a Phoenix apartment complex Sunday morning, authorities said Monday.
Phoenix police received a 911 call just after midnight of someone being stabbed at an apartment at 2828 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sgt. Steve Martos said. Arriving officers found two men with stab wounds. Both died at the scene.
Witnesses said the people at the apartment were attending a “Nar Ye Nyi Hmut,” which is a Burmese gathering held before a funeral during which relatives and friends stay overnight and offer grief support to a family who recently lost a loved one.
Police suspect that three teenagers on their way to attend the gathering had an altercation with four male teenagers and one female teenager, police said. The teenagers going to the funeral were able to make it to the apartment and explained what happened. The other teens followed.
Two men at the funeral went outside to try to calm down the teenagers who followed the other teens home, police said. The teenagers stabbed the men to death.
Police consulted with translators to determine what happened because of the Burmese language barrier between police and the approximately 40 to 50 people who were inside the apartment, Martos said.
Police have not identified the victims yet.
The apartment complex largely is populated by people from various Asian countries, including Burma, Nepal and Iraq… Read more here
Additional information about the victims and the suspects is found in a Channel 3 report:
…Police have identified the victims as Ker Reh, 54 and Kay Reh, 24…
…With the assistance of translators, investigators learned that three teenagers between 15 and 16 years old were walking to the apartment complex to join friends and family to mourn the loss of a community member when they were confronted by five teenagers who engaged them in an altercation. Martos said the suspects were four Hispanic males and one Hispanic female.
The three teenagers ran to the apartment where 40 to 50 people were gathered and told two men what had occurred and that they were being chased by the suspects.
Martos said the two men stepped outside of the apartment to try to calm the suspects and prevent further altercation. The suspects then began to stab both men.
All five suspects fled the scene on foot.
Witnesses described the weapon as some type of long metal crowbar-like rod. Police have not confirmed the weapon.
Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating the suspects. Anyone with information related to this crime is encouraged to call the Phoenix Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit at 602-262-6141 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS to remain anonymous. Read more here
Posted in Karenni, Phoenix, police, dangerous neighborhoods, housing, safety, teenagers, language, men, crime | Tagged: refugees, karenni, resettlement, Burma, Myanmar, Phoenix, Burmese, stabbing, Camelback Road, Ker Reh, Kay Reh | 2 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 9, 2013
Refugees from Myanmar who moved to Columbus Junction for jobs with Tyson Foods are the subject of an article in The Jamestown Sun. The small town has made efforts to accommodate the new immigrants, although some problems remain. A shortage of rental apartments has meant that some extended families cram into small, unclean apartments and live a “barracks-style lifestyle.” Two refugees have committed suicide and a third was found drowned in a river near the Tyson plant.
...All told, about 400 refugees have descended on [Columbus Junction], and more are arriving by the week to reunite with friends and relatives and work grueling jobs for Tyson. Like other waves of immigrants, they were drawn to this poor, sparsely populated region of southeastern Iowa by the promise of jobs, good schools and welcoming people…
…Tyson and other meatpacking companies have increasingly recruited non-Latino workers in recent years, including Burmese, Sudanese and others, said Mark Grey, director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration at University of Northern Iowa. Since a 2008 raid of a Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse, where 389 immigrants were arrested, companies have become more careful to avoid hiring employees who may have entered the country illegally, he said….
…Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson denied the company was favoring refugees over others, saying the industry has long attracted immigrants for entry-level jobs that do not require experience or English skills. The makeup of its workforce shifts as new immigrant groups come to the U.S., he said…
…At a recent conference at the University of Iowa, Rick Rustad, a workplace chaplain at the Tyson plant in Waterloo, about 100 miles away, recalled serving as the plant’s “mobile recruit” for Burmese refugees. He drove a passenger bus to meet with Burmese who had settled in different parts of Illinois, where he offered jobs and brought 30 back to Iowa at a time…
…In Columbus Junction, Mickelson said, the first five Burmese workers were hired as part of a recruitment effort in Illinois and later encouraged friends and relatives to apply. Burmese started arriving from Indiana, Texas, Florida and other states where they say jobs were harder to come by…
…Two refugees have committed suicide and a third was found drowned in a river near the Tyson plant, said police Chief Donnie Orr. A shortage of mental health and substance abuse treatment is a problem, Ortiz said.
But refugees and city leaders agree the biggest challenge now is finding housing for the newcomers. City officials say there are hardly any available rental apartments, which go for about $450 a month for three bedrooms.
Some extended families cram into small, unclean apartments and live a “barracks-style lifestyle,” said city attorney Tim Wink, who owns three downtown buildings and rents apartments to two Chin families. The city is worried about safety and sanitation issues, including fire risks, and is drawing up its first-ever rental housing code… Read more here
Posted in Chin, Columbus Junction, housing, meatpacking industry, poultry production, schools, secondary migration, refugee, suicide | Tagged: Burma, Columbus Junction, employment, Iowa, Myanmar, refugees, resettlement, secondary migration, suicide, Tyson | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 26, 2013
A volunteer who assists refugees in Knoxville contacted us to tell us what is happening in that city. He claims that refugees are being injured at work in alarming numbers and that Bridge Refugee Services has not taken sufficient action to protect them. He claims that agency even sided with the temporary employment agency that placed the refugees, and is more concerned about keeping up their employment placements than they are with the refugees’ welfare.
In his letter to us he said he helps New Americans in Knoxville who have been here for a few years but that lately he has received many complaints from the new refugees. The refugees he helps are those who were resettled by Bridge Refugee Services and in the last three years the refugees who have arrived in Knoxville have encountered low quality services, especially employment assistance. He said that the refugees are employed with companies that do not provide full-time benefits after 90 days of employment, and more importantly, do not provide a safe working environment. He claims that when refugees are injured at work that Bridge Refugee Services has not been advocating for them. An Ethiopian refugee broke his hand pushing a heavy cart at work and claimed the resettlement agency was not helpful. The writer said that in the last eight months four refugees have been injured at work and none of them received any compensation. When the refugees talk to Bridge staff they say that the agency sides with the employment agency that contracts with employers who want low wage workers. He says believes that Bridge is doing this because the agency wants to keep good relations with employers so that they may place more new refugees in jobs to show the State Department high employment figures. He said he tried to talk to Bridge staff but he feels that the employment manager has no respect for anyone. He believes that she is forcing refugees into work they can’t do or into work that is not safe for them.
If anyone knows more about this situation please contact us
These are some older post on this resettlement contractor – here and here).
Posted in Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, Ethiopian, Knoxsville, safety, volunteers | Tagged: Bridge Refugee Services, employment, injuries, injury, Knoxville, resettlement, rtefugees, workplace | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 23, 2013
An apartment complex in Columbus where refugee resettlement agencies placed refugees because of low rental rates is riddled with 63 code violations. A Nepali-Bhutanese refugee who lives in a unit with his family says his unit was plagued with bedbugs last year and said he was worried about his family’s safety. Another Nepali-Bhutanese refugee said the staircases are broken and lights don’t work. Community Refugee and Immigration Services and World Relief Columbus stopped placing refugees in the complex after last year’s fire publicity, but have not evacuated the other refugees to better housing despite the extensive code violations. The units are poorly maintained, have bedbugs and roaches, leaky and defective plumbing and electrical problems, according to an inspection report. I think this case case shows the wisdom of placing refugees only according to rental unit prices while ignoring basic safety, repair and habitability issues which, by the way, are violations of the State Department refugee contracts. Will the State Department be taking any action against its refugee contractors in Columbus? I’ll believe it when I see it. An article in The Columbus Dispatch has the details of this story:
Columbus prosecutors say that a North Side apartment complex that rents to scores of refugees is riddled with code violations that owners have ignored for months.
Prosecutors filed a complaint yesterday with Franklin County Environmental Court against Summit Park Apartments. The complaint says a code-enforcement inspector has found 63 violations since September.
The inspection report said multiple units were poorly maintained, had bedbugs and roaches, leaky and defective plumbing and electrical problems…
In three inspections since November, building inspectors found wooden balconies that had deteriorated to the point that they were unsafe. The inspections also determined that concrete and steel balconies there must be evaluated and repaired…
… In August, families from Bhutan, Somalia and other countries were displaced after fire ravaged one of the buildings, at 4349 Walford St. The fire started in a fenced-in storage area that had been filled with furniture.
Fire investigators said it was arson. At least two refugee agencies, , have not placed anyone at the complex since then.
“They still had code violations that hadn’t got taken care of that got worse after the fire,” said Kay Lipovsky, office manager for World Relief Columbus.
Agencies place refugees at complexes such as Summit Park because rents are inexpensive, she said.
One resident, Yam Subba, a Bhutanese Nepali refugee who lives in a unit with his wife, their 2-year-old daughter and his mother, said his unit was plagued with bedbugs last year. Subba, 28, said he was worried about his family’s safety.
Another Bhutanese Nepali refugee, Moti Rai, who lives in a unit with his father, said the staircases are broken and lights don’t work. Still, Rai, 27, said he lived in a small hut in a refugee camp in Bhutan. “I think this is better than that.”… Read more here
Posted in apartment building fires, bed bugs, Columbus, Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), housing, housing, substandard, Nepali Bhutanese, safety, World Relief | Tagged: bedbugs, bhutanese, code violations, Columbus, Community Refugee and Immigration Services, nepalese, roaches, slum lord, Summit Park Apartments, World Relief | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 17, 2013
Residents of the Boynton Terrace public housing site in Chattanooga report ongoing problems that refugees are having adapting to life in their new country. This is the same site where a woman from Burundi was raped by a neighbor in 2009 and it took five days to arrest the suspect because no translator was available to ask the victim what happened. Bridge Refugee Services helped resettle 80 of the Burundian refugees to Chattanooga in 2008. Residents now are pointing to the problem of refugee residents who have not been able to learn English since they resettled, and have been unable to adequately adapt to the new culture and community. An article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press explains the situation.
Evariste Simbananiye lives in a fully furnished apartment in Boynton Terrace but prefers squatting, as he did in his native Burundi, to sitting in a chair.
Simbananiye, 64, is among a handful of refugees from at least three countries who live in or near the public housing facility. They’ve been there since 2007, but Boynton residents say some refugees still don’t have the support they need to adjust to a new culture and language.
Another Burundi refugee has had so many apartment fires that some residents say he shouldn’t use the stove. Instead of using a pot or pan to hold his cooking food, he holds it directly over the electric burner, much as he would have done with a fire in his homeland.
Before coming to the United States under a federal resettlement program, these refugees may only have known life in a refugee camp. Once here, they often cling to their old way of life because they can’t communicate well enough to understand and adapt to cultural differences.
“They were brought here and just dumped off,” said Bennie Haynes, president of the Boynton Terrace Resident Council.
The result can be friction with neighbors, and even public safety or health problems.
One of the things Boynton Terrace residents say needs to be communicated is not to use the bathroom in public places like the elevator.
And they’re asking the Chattanooga Housing Authority or some other agency to supply a full-time language interpreter on site to help.
CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright said she wasn’t aware of the request…
…The need for better access to an interpreter isn’t new. In 2009 a woman from Burundi was raped by a neighbor. It took five days to arrest the suspect because no translator was available to ask the victim what happened, according to news reports…
…Between 2005 and 2008, Bridge brought about 80 of the Burundian refugees to Chattanooga.
Most have since relocated to other areas…Read more here
That fact, that most have moved away (know as “”secondary migration”), should not be ignored. It may mean that the refugees were not happy with this area as a resettlement site, for any number of reasons. Maybe they could not become economically self-sufficient here, felt neglected by the agency, or some other reason. We need to ask the State Department why they continue to resettle refugees to this site if there is this apparently heavy out-migration figure.
Posted in alienation-isolation, apartment building fires, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Burundian, Chattanooga, community/cultural orientation, cultural adjustment, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, elderly refugees, housing, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of, secondary migration, refugee | Tagged: Boynton Terrace, Bridge Refugee Services, Burundi, CHA, Chattanooga, Chattanooga Housing Authority, interpreter, refugees, rsettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 16, 2013
Larry Bartlett, director of refugee admissions for the U.S. State Department will visit Fort Wayne on Thursday. He will also visit local refugee resettlement efforts in Indianapolis and Detroit next week. As usual, the State Department will only meet with “stakeholders” – resettlement agencies, service providers, advocates, Mayor Tom Henry and refugees themselves. The only refugees that State visits are those chosen by the refugee resettlement contractor(s). Although “advocates” are newly listed as stakeholders, as a refugee advocate myself I can tell you that State has never, that I know of, responded to independent advocates with dissenting views or invited them to attend these meetings. Accepting criticism were due is not a skill modeled or practiced by the federal refugee resettlement oversight agencies or their contractors. An article in the Journal-Gazette has more:
FORT WAYNE – Officials for the U.S. State Department and the United Nations will visit Fort Wayne this week to learn more about refugee resettlement efforts.
Larry Bartlett, director of refugee admissions for State, and Shelly Pitterman, regional director of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, plan to meet Thursday with those described by Bartlett as “stakeholders” – resettlement agencies, service providers, advocates, Mayor Tom Henry and refugees themselves.
“We try to go to communities on a regular basis to really try to understand where the nuances are, how communities are coping and how we might, if we can, adjust some of the programs,” Bartlett said from his Washington, D.C., office in a telephone interview last week.
The last time a State Department official came to Fort Wayne to evaluate refugee resettlement services was in 2009. Bartlett also will visit refugee communities in Indianapolis and Detroit next week.
“Part of the responsibility we have is not just to see how our programs are faring but to see how the community is supporting refugees, to see where there are issues, challenges, weaknesses in the programs that we can be helpful with,” Bartlett said.
“We really do see this as a partnership with the community,” he said…
…Eric Schwartz, then an assistant secretary of the State Department, discovered what he called “heartening and dismaying” conditions for newly arriving refugees of various nationalities when he visited Fort Wayne…in 2009…
…Schwartz ended his dispatch by saying the State Department would increase its resettlement grants from $900 to $1,800 for each new refugee, an amount that has since grown to $1,875. Roughly half the money goes for administrative costs of resettlement agencies, Bartlett said, and half pays for rent, food and other necessities for the refugee…
…The State Department has a nationwide ceiling of 18,000 refugee arrivals from East Asia in fiscal 2013, which ends Sept. 30. It expects 17,500 of them to be ethnic minority Burmese who have been living in refugee camps in Malaysia and Thailand.
The department has approved Catholic Charities for 170 refugee resettlements in fiscal 2013. Read more here
We read that the State Department per head refugee resettlement grant had increased, from $1,800 in 2010 to the current $1,875 as it turns out, but this is the first mention I’ve seen in the media. The grant only covers initial resettlement efforts in the U.S. – the first 30-90 days – which the State Department claims they intend as “seed money” for the private resettlement contractors to use for resettlement, with significant private resources supposedly added in. I suppose allowing the contractors to use 50 percent of it for overhead though somewhat defeats the purpose of the “see money” policy, although it may be necessary in instances where they are unable to find private resources to add. Otherwise, wouldn’t you expect that they would use the private funding for overhead and transferring the $1,875 directly to the refugees in goods and services?
The article somewhat confuses the issue of who Burmese are by referring to “ethnic minority Burmese”. The Burmese are actually the ethnic majority group in Myanmar, with minority ethnic groups being the Arakan (aka Rakhine), Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Rohingyas, Shan, Zomi and others. At this blog we now refer to refugees from the country as Myanmar refugees. The Burmese were the group allied with the Japanese in World War II, while the U.S., the U.K. and others allied with the ethnic minority groups.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, democracy, Detroit area, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Office of Admissions, openess and transparency in government, State Department, UN (United Nations) | Tagged: advocates, catholic charities, Detroit, fort wayne, Indianapolis, Larry Bartlett, refugees, resettlement, stakeholders, State Department, UNHCR | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 14, 2013
At least 25 Bhutanese refugees have committed suicide in the U.S. since the group began to resettle here in 2008. This blog reported on the problem when a few reports began to show up in the media and covered the stories as they occurred (see cases in Pittsburgh, Nashville, Buffalo and Phoenix). Refugee resettlement agencies have been for the most part silent about the phenomena. Risk factors include depression, not being the family’s provider, feelings of limited social support, having family conflict after resettlement, and having been resettled here less than a year ago. An article in The Atlantic magazine now shines a brighter light on this issue:
…Mitra Mishra killed himself. Subedi, a case manager for Bhutanese refugees at Interfaith Works Center for New Americans in Syracuse, NY, was with the 20-year-old Mishra at Schiller Park the evening of July 3, 2010.
“We played soccer just the previous day until 6 p.m. and he was totally fine,” Subedi said of Mishra, who was not a client of the center. “He played with me and I drove him back to his home. There wasn’t any indication. Nothing was wrong.”
On Independence Day, early morning walkers found Mishra’s body hanging from a tree at the soccer field.
…Mishra’s death is part of a troubling pattern among Bhutanese refugees resettled in the U.S. In August of 2010, about a month after Mishra’s death, Dan Maya Gurung committed suicide in Buffalo, according to the Bhutan News Service. Gurung was in her late 30s and had been in the country just two weeks. The next month, Nirmala Niroula, 35, also living in Buffalo, hung herself in her apartment. Niroula had moved to the U.S. three months earlier. That December, 20-year-old Menuka Poudel was found dead in her Phoenix apartment, hanging from a noose fashioned from the shawl Bhutanese women wear with their traditional clothing. She had been in the States just two months.
The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) began to notice a pattern. Ultimately, 16 suicides were confirmed among U.S. resident Bhutanese refugees as of February 2012…
…The rate of depression among the Bhutanese surveyed was 21 percent, nearly three times that of the general U.S. population (6.7 percent). In addition to depression, risk factors for suicide included not being the family’s provider, feelings of limited social support, and having family conflict after resettlement. Most of the suicides were within a year of resettlement to the U.S. and, in all cases, the victims hanged themselves…
…the problem is not over just because the study period has ended. Nine more suicides have been reported to ORR since. The numbers may actually be higher, says Som Nath Subedi, the Portland caseworker. He says the community is reluctant to discuss suicides out of fear of how the news might affect resettlement, which continues today… Read more here
Posted in alienation-isolation, CDC, Hindu, mental health, Nepali Bhutanese, ORR, suicide | Tagged: bhutanese, Dan Maya Gurun, Menuka Poudel, Mitra Mishra, Nirmala Niroula, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, refugees, resettlement, suicide | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 13, 2013
The death of two refugee children in a recent hit and run accident in Denver stresses the importance of resettlement workers orienting newly arrived refugees to the layout and rules of our communities. In this case the parent was crossing the road with the children where there was not a crosswalk. The family was clients of the ECDC African Community Center. Although many American neighborhoods are still not designed or managed for pedestrian friendliness it remains important that people do the extra walking that may be necessary to cross roads, especially busy ones, only where there are crosswalks. Some refugee clients who have been advised of this are also are not heeding instructions. By the way, this stresses the need for repetition in teaching. People need to hear information several times at least before that information settles into the mind. One time is usually not enough. CBS Denver has the story:
Two children killed in a hit and run crash in Denver last week were laid to rest … The search for the driver in the deadly crash continues.
The SUV struck Zamar Bee and her children, Zamay Kahn, 8, his brother Arzat, 6, near the intersection of 14th and Yosemite. The family was not using the crosswalk when they were struck.
Bee continues to recover from her serious injuries at Denver Health Medical Center.
“As you can imagine she’s not doing well. This is probably the most devastating thing that could happen to a mother,” said ECDC/African Community Center spokeswoman Jennifer Gueddiche…
Police said they’re still looking for the stroller that may have become wedged beneath the SUV. Parts of a stroller were found in the area of 14th and Yosemite but police have not confirmed if those are connected.
The ECDC/African Community Center has created a fund to help Bee with medical expenses and support…
Donations can be made at any Key Bank location under the Zamar Bee support fund. Read more here
Posted in ECDC, Burma/Myanmar, Denver, dangerous neighborhoods, safety, children, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, African Community Center (Denver) | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, children, ECDC, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Denver, African Community Center, hit and run, hit & run, crosswalk | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 9, 2013
Last year the US State Department agreed to cut the number of refugees sent to Georgia for resettlement by 20 percent after the Republican-led state government asked for a 50 percent reduction. In a further discussion of that action an article claims some of the reasoning behind it is state and local budget concerns involving Medicaid, education and social services, including a rise in the number of refugee families requiring intervention by child welfare services. Also mentioned is a murdered Burmese student who and reports of robbery and refugee gang violence. An article in Governing the States and Localities looks at the issue:
…How refugees end up in certain states can be a complex process, and at least one state wants the federal government to slow down the pipeline…
…States Share Costs
The federal government pays for the relief programs created for refugees, but refugees and their families are also eligible for many safety net programs, including Medicaid and welfare, which states administer and help pay for. Their children also attend public school, which states help fund…
…At least one state, Georgia, says it has reached its capacity.
Last August, the state asked the federal government to reduce the number of refugees resettled in Georgia, particularly in the DeKalb County area, which includes part of Atlanta, citing state and local budget concerns involving Medicaid, education and social services.
“The DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services has seen a rise in the number of refugee families requiring the intervention of child welfare services thus further straining our State’s budget,” Michael B. Singleton, Georgia state refugee coordinator, wrote in a letter to the Department of State last August.
The state, which in the past five years has accepted 12,703 refugees, also raised security issues in the city of Clarkston as another reason for wanting few new refugees. “In the past year, a Burmese student has been murdered and there have been reports of robbery and refugee gang violence,” Singleton wrote… Read more here
Although if we cut refugees off from states where someone is murdered who is in, or was once in, the refugee program we would have quite a few states who would no longer be shouldering their fair share of the program. The youth in gangs issue is what results when youth don’t feel that they belong anywhere, which is a problem across the board with disadvantaged youth in America. I think a big part of the solution is people in the community working one on one with these youth to guide them, teach them and show them people care about them. I do that myself with some refugee youth (I’ll devote a post on it sometime). We need more people volunteering.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, capacity, child protective services, crime, gangs, Georgia, Hawaii, Medicaid, Montana, safety, schools, State Department, volunteers | Tagged: child welfare, gangs, georgia, Medicaid, reduction, refugees, resettlement, restriction, Social Services, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 28, 2013
Someone wrote to us recently to tell us about an Iraqi refugee who was not received at the airport by the local refugee resettlement agency in Knoxville, Tennessee – apparently Bridge Refugee Services. The refugee spent six hours alone, fearful and hungry until the airport police held him for questioning. The person reports that the police gave him a hard time due, apparently, to his limited English and inability to effectively explain his case. He then remembered to show them his refugee papers and police contacted Bridge Refugee Services who placed the Iraqi refugee in a cheap and dangerous motel for the weekend, claiming that they would arrange for his housing. They gave him a few microwaveable meals and a bottle of soda – not even a restaurant meal, which would have been proper had the agency actually been surprised by his arrival (a prepared, ready-to-eat meal is the minimum requirement in the refugee program). It was such a negative experience that he felt no trust toward Bridge Refugee Services and decided to move to Ohio to be near a friend.
Posted in Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Iraqi, Knoxsville, meeting refugees at the airport | Tagged: airport, arrival, Bridge Refugee Services, Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Iraqi, Knoxsville, meal, refugees, resettlement | 3 Comments »
Christopher Coen
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