Archive for the ‘Kentucky’ Category
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 April 16, 2012
Slum lords are notorious for failing to address maintenance issues. One result of this is the danger of fire (and here) due to failure of landlords to keep up the premises. A Nepali refugee family found this out the hard way last Wednesday in Louisville. A note at the Catholic Charities Louisville website identifies one of the families displaced by the fire as refugees:
Catholic Charities (Louisville, KY) – The Hari Subedi refugee family of six, resettled by Catholic Charities about a year and half ago, was one of the families displaced in the Buechel Bank Road Apartment fire today. While they and other residents lost everything, there were no injuries due to the fire.
The Subedi family did not need emergency shelter and are currently living with another Nepali refugee family… Read more here
A tenant in the apartment where the fire started said she awoke to a pop and found a socket beside her daughter’s bed on fire. She claims she began telling her landlord of faulty sockets when she moved into her apartment two years ago. The landlord allegedly placed tape over sockets in the apartment’s kitchen and told her an electrician would repair them, yet an electrician never came to the apartment to inspect the sockets. An article at the Louisville Courier-Journal has more:
Officials are investigating a fire that destroyed a building and displaced eight families Wednesday afternoon at an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Buechel Bank Road…
…Chrishawna Johnson, who was asleep in the apartment where the fire started, said she believes the fire was caused by an electrical short.
“I heard a pop and I jumped up,” Johnson said. “When I came out of my room, my daughter’s bedroom was on fire. The socket beside her bed was on fire.”
Johnson said she began telling her landlord — whom she could not identify — of faulty sockets when she moved into her apartment two years ago. The landlord placed tape over sockets in the apartment’s kitchen and told Johnson an electrician would repair them, Johnson said.
An electrician never came to the apartment to inspect the sockets, Johnson said.
A message left at Willowbrook’s leasing office was not immediately returned Wednesday.
No sprinklers were present in the building, and no fire hydrants are on the property… Read more here
Posted in apartment house fires, Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., housing, housing, substandard, Louisville, Nepali Bhutanese | Tagged: bhutanese, Catholic Charities Louisville, Louisville, Nepali, refugees, resettlement, slum lord, slumlord | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 7, 2012
Refugees in many parts of the country find that together with the language barrier obtaining driving licenses as one of the main barriers to economic self-sufficiency. Transportation to work is difficult to arrange in areas lacking mass transit. Myanmar refugees in Kentucky have found it difficult to get driving license permits, citing a poorly translated (into Burmese) version of the written test. Alternatively, Kentucky law allows residents to take the permit test orally. Yet, in an explanation that doesn’t make sense to me, the director of a local organization that assists refugees claims that translators (interpreters?) must be court certified, and supposedly there is no local certification process available in Burmese or Karenni. (Why not?) An article in the Bowling Green Daily News explains:
When Bu Reh came to Bowling Green from the jungle of Myanmar, he wanted a quality life for his family – a home, education, jobs and a car.
He didn’t know how difficult that would be…
…After failing his driver’s permit test multiple times because he couldn’t understand the badly translated questions, Bu Reh invested about $1,000 to take his test in Arizona, which has better Burmese translation.
He got his driver’s license in Arizona, giving authorities the address of relatives who live there. After returning to Bowling Green and using it for awhile, the license was suspended and taken away.
His story is one example of how language barriers hinder communication and cause problems for international residents. Because of a lack of good translation, many refugees are unaware that it’s against the law to provide a fake address to get a license in another state. It’s also difficult to understand driving rules and pass the written and driving tests. Many refugees walk and ride bicycles, and they often rely on others to shuttle them, they say…
…Several Burmese refugees – and refugees from other countries – claim the written permit tests are badly translated, making them faulty and nearly impossible to pass. Furthermore, a variety of languages are spoken in Myanmar and written tests are not offered in Karenni, one of the most popular languages spoken among Bowling Green residents, according to speakers at the forum.
The translation issue also prevents many refugees from accurately understanding the law, which is why so many think it’s all right to give fake addresses for driver’s licenses in other states, said Jennifer Bell, director of CEDARS, a local organization that assists refugees and other international residents…
…One man said through a translator that he’s very thankful to live in Bowling Green, but he has failed the permit test six times, which is frustrating. Another man said the only problem he has encountered since living in Bowling Green is the inability to get a driver’s license. He currently rides a bicycle…
…Still, there are problems within the government that church and CEDARS members are working to correct. Kentucky law allows residents to take the permit test orally, and they’re trying to find an appropriate translator for that task, Hohman said.
But those translators are required to be court certified, and Bell isn’t aware of a local certification process available in Burmese or Karenni, she said in an email.
…Hohman [is] working with police and legislators to get the written test re-translated into a better form of Burmese, he said.
He also spoke with Arizona police officers, who said they would consider releasing the driver’s license suspension for some refugees who are working to get a valid Kentucky license, he said…. Read more here
Posted in Bowling Green, Burma/Myanmar, driving instruction, economic self-sufficiency, Karenni, language | Tagged: Bowling Green, Burmese, driving license, karenni, permit, red tape, refugees, resettlement, translation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 28, 2012
If you follow this blog you might remember reading about the experience a volunteer helping refugees from Myanmar had with the Bowling Green International Center. Cindy Florez, who I spoke to and corresponded with in 2009 and 2010, met the refugees in a refugee camp when she was in Thailand and later drove to Bowling Green to welcome them when they arrived for resettlement. There, she found her friends living in filthy, rundown apartments, overrun with massive cockroach infestations – and commented about the problems on a website. Later, bringing the refugees a carload of donated items she was greeted by a hostile landlord (apparently a Burmese individual, and friend of the Institute?) who ordered her off the property, using the police to illegally remove her from the property (tenants may chose who their guests are, not landowners or police). A mystery person in the building also threw M-80 firecrackers at Florez and her female Karenni interpreter.
Now, two years after we placed a request with the State Department’s FOIA office for that public agency’s monitoring inspections reports of the private resettlement agencies for late 2008 and early 2009, the office has finally responded with a few reports. One of those reports is a March 31-April 1, 2009 inspection of the Bowling Green International Center. It turns out that the State Department monitors were able to conduct the rare once-in-5-or-10-year-inspection without discovering any of the problems that Florez documented in writing and on video (monitors did not find any infestation, even though two of the refugee cases they visited reported these). So, what went wrong?
That remains for the State Department monitors to explain, although their office has frequently repeated that they act only as a “partner” to their resettlement contractors. Even with that lack of authority in the oversight relationship I think it still remains for them to explain why they will not investigate any of the individual cases reported by members of the public and the community (instead, they selected only the usual small random sample, four refugee cases in this case, for home visits).
Part of what probably went wrong was an extensive clean-up before the monitors’ arrival, after the community member caught this resettlement contractor providing substandard services. No doubt other problems include the rarity of the monitorings and the great weight given to resettlement contractors’ own written records as “proof” of services they provided.
Finally, I notice that the report states that this refugee resettlement agency “reports a collaborative relationship with the state refugee coordinator” without mentioning that the “state” refugee coordinator is just another private refugee resettlement contractor – Catholic Charities of Louisville.
Posted in Bowling Green, Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., housing, substandard, International Center in Bowling Green (Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association), Karenni, missed immunizations for refugee students, Office of Admissions, public/private partnership, rats and roaches, State Department, transportation | Tagged: Bowling Green, Catholic Charities of Louisville, International Center, karenni, monitoring, refugees, resettlement, State Department, Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 7, 2012
Trudy Rubin writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer speculates about the failure of the US government to issue the visas it promised to Iraqis who risked their lives to help us. She thinks that the Obama administration – and the Republicans – have decided not to bring more Iraqis into this country in an election year. The supposed reason for the near halt in security clearances is the two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky accused of having terrorist connections. Yet, these two never worked for Americans and those who did, and who are now stuck, went through many security checks before getting their jobs.
Last week, I spoke on the PBS “NewsHour” about Iraqis who worked for our civilians and military before we left the country – and who now face death threats because we betrayed them…
…How can we get the U.S. government to issue the visas it promised to Iraqis who risked their lives to help us?
I’m ashamed to admit that the U.S. government has abandoned these people. No one seems eager to bring more Iraqis into this country in an election year.
President Obama has failed to keep his 2007 campaign pledge to rescue these Iraqis. A group of concerned senators, mostly Democrats, including Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, has made inquiries, but gotten no answers from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta or Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Nor has a peep been heard on behalf of the [Iraqi interpreters] from Republican senators who backed our war in Iraq.
State Department officials say they’re working hard to expedite the visa process. Yet the number of visas for Iraqis who helped us slowed to a trickle just when they were most urgently needed, as U.S. troops quit Iraq…
Official figures show that 39,000 Iraqis (including family members) are in the pipeline in the Direct Access program for Iraqis who worked with us. Only 153 of these visas were issued in December. There are about 15,000 (not including family) in the pipeline for the Special Immigrant Visa program. Only 50 SIVs were issued last month.
The supposed reason for the freeze is new security regulations imposed after two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky were accused of having terrorist connections. But these bad apples never worked for Americans. Those who did went through numerous security checks before getting their jobs… Read more here
Posted in Bowling Green, Dept of Homeland Security, Iraqi, Kentucky, Obama administration, security/terrorism, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, State Department | Tagged: 2012 election, Bob Casey, Iraqis, Obama, refugees, Republicans, resettlement, security, SIV, Special Immigrant Visa | 8 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 4, 2011
Freshman Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and co-founder of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, is blocking the bill that would extend funding for one year for about 5,600 elderly and disabled refugees. The bill seeks to extend social security benefits for these refugees, many of whom have been unable to pass the US citizenship test due to language barriers associated with frailties. These refugees lost these meager benefits — used to pay basic living expenses — as of September 30th. An article in POLITICO tells more:
Freshman Sen. Rand Paul is blocking a bill that Senate leaders tried to pass by a voice vote Monday, delaying $36 million in benefits for elderly and disabled refugees, POLITICO has learned.
The funding ran out at the end of the fiscal year on Friday.
Paul, a Kentucky Republican and co-founder of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, placed a hold on the bill after Democratic leaders reached an agreement with other Republicans to offset the funding with fee increases for immigrants seeking visas.
In a statement to POLITICO on Tuesday, Paul confirmed he was blocking the bill over concerns the money could be used to aid domestic terrorists. Two alleged terrorists, who came to the U.S. through a refugee program and were receiving welfare benefits, were arrested this year in Paul’s hometown of Bowling Green, Ky.
“This incident alone raises serious questions about the system through which they came to the United States, and I am insisting on a full investigation on our practice of providing welfare to refugees,” Paul said. “Legislation of this importance should not be passed without sufficient debate and a presentation of the information found from this investigation.”…
…Schumer and other Democratic sponsors worked out a deal Friday with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who had blocked the legislation over concerns about costs. Coburn agreed to lift his hold after Democrats proposed a new $30 fee for individuals applying to enter the country through a visa lottery program. That fee would more than pay for the refugee benefits, cutting the deficit by $24 million.
But Paul’s hold was a surprise to even Schumer, who announced on the floor Monday that the Senate would pass the bill that night by a voice vote… Read more here
When I read this article I was expecting to discover that the reason Paul Rand was opposing the bill was a principled stand against fee increases, as just another type of tax. Naive me. Instead he risks putting vulnerable people out onto the streets as some form of protest in response to the US Department of Homeland Security letting two alleged terrorists resettle to Tennessee, even though the agency had information that should have prevented it. So, punish Homeland Security by abandoning elderly and disabled people?
Posted in disabled refugees, elderly refugees, funding, Kentucky, right-wing, SSI | Tagged: disabled, elderly, Rand Paul, refugees, resettlement, social security disability, SSI, Tea Party, welfare | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 27, 2011
Many elderly and disabled refugees could lose Supplemental Security Income benefits without congressional action. Congress extended the deadline for refugees pursuing citizenship once in 2008, so that refugees could receive assistance for up to nine years before becoming citizens, but that extension expires Sept. 30. Many of the refugees who could lose their benefits next month are apparently unable to successfully take and pass citizenship tests in English because of their age or disabilities. It seems as if U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is sitting on his hands as the deadline approaches. An article in the Lexington Herald Leader explains the situation:
…up to 605 elderly and disabled refugees in [Kentucky] stand to lose their Supplemental Security Income benefits if Congress doesn’t act by Sept. 30, according to local advocates.
“It’s a pretty profound consequence,” said Rich Seckel, director of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center in Lexington.
SSI is a federal benefit program that provides a $674 base monthly income to people who can’t work because of their advanced age or disability or blindness, and because they don’t have other resources.
Though many people who aren’t citizens are not eligible for SSI, the federal government makes an exception for refugees. But to keep SSI, the refugees must seek citizenship within seven years of their arrival in the United States.
Many of the refugees who could lose their benefits next month are unable to successfully take and pass citizenship tests in English because of their disabilities, according to Rev. Patrick Delahanty, Executive Director of the Frankfort-based Catholic Conference of Kentucky.
According to the Social Security Administration, there are as many as 605 refugees in Kentucky who are at risk of losing benefits, said Ellen Sittenfeld Battistelli, a policy analyst for the National Immigration Law Center.
Advocates have asked for help from U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis — Republican members of Kentucky’s federal delegation and key players in any response by Congress to the problem…
…Seckel said people with disabilities can request waivers of the language requirements and civics test from the federal government but the process is complicated.
In Lexington, many people are turning to the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic for help, Seckel said, but Congress should act to fix the problem because “we should not turn every refugee with a disability into a new legal case.”
The advocates are asking Congress for legislation that would ease the citizenship requirement for the severely disabled and elderly or in the short term, allow an extension of the deadline for pursuing citizenship.
Congress extended the deadline once in 2008 so that refugees could receive assistance for up to nine years before becoming citizens. But that extension expires Sept. 30.
U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott, D-Washington, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., have introduced legislation that continues the nine-year policy.
Because McConnell is the Minority Leader of the Senate — the highest ranking Republican in the Senate — “his support can ensure that this population continues to be protected,” Battistelli said... Read more here
Posted in Congress, disabled refugees, elderly refugees, health, Kentucky, legislation, Social Security Administration, SSI | Tagged: Catholic Conference of Kentucky, citizenship test, disabled, elderly, Ellen Sittenfeld Battistelli, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Jim McDermott, Kentucky Equal Justice Center, Maxwell Street Legal Clinic, Mitch McConnell, National Immigration Law Center, Patrick Delahanty, refugees, resettlement, Rich Seckel, SSI, Supplemental Security Income | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 4, 2011
Another refugee has lost his life at a public housing complex – this time in Louisville. Burundian refugee Karenzo Audace was gunned down while trying to move his family away from a public housing complex because his wife said the suspect was sexually harassing her. The Louisville Courier-Journal has more:
A murder warrant has been issued for a Louisville man accused of shooting a Park Hill immigrant who was moving his family because his wife said the suspect was sexually harassing her.
Jason Majors was arrested Thursday on a disorderly conduct charge after Karenzo Audace’s wife called to complain that Majors had repeatedly made unwanted advances toward her.
“He wanted to have a relationship that she did not wish to have,” said Lt. Barry Wilkerson, commander of the Louisville Metro Police homicide unit. Wilkerson said he believes the pair only knew each other because they lived in the same area.
Audace was gunned down Monday as he tried to pack his family up and move them away from their apartment in the Parkway Place public housing complex to avoid further confrontations with Majors, Wilkerson said.
Audace, 36, died of multiple gunshot wounds, said Rita Taylor, a deputy Jefferson County coroner.
He was an African immigrant from Burundi who lived in Louisville with his wife and their two daughters, ages 8 and 5, and a 3-year-old son.
As police searched Tuesday for Majors, Audace’s friends and family remembered him as an outgoing, caring father and husband who was doing all he could to make the best of his new life in America.
“He’s just so vibrant and had so much energy,” said Lisa Cox, who taught Audace at Jefferson Community and Technical College. “He’s a good person, and I don’t understand why it had to be him.”
Though Wilkerson said he did not believe that Audace and Majors had exchanged words with each other before the shooting.
After he was arrested on the disorderly conduct charge and fleeing and evading police, Majors was released on his own recognizance, according to court records.
Majors has been arrested on several misdemeanors drug charges, most recently in 2009, plus a fourth-degree assault and disorderly conduct in 2003 and a felony second-degree attempting escape in 2002…
…Cox, who had Audace in two classes while he was going through the developmental English as a Second Language program at the community college, said Audace had a zest for learning. He always had questions in class and brought his homework in on time, she said.
In one of his essays, Cox said he had written about the horrors of his life in Africa, where he’d watched his two parents be slaughtered and then was left to get his younger siblings to safety… Read more here
This is now less than two months after an elderly Liberian refugee was hit my a stray bullet and killed at a public housing complex in Buffalo. A Southern Sudanese refugee I knew named James Kuch Mangui, age 24, was also gun downed and murdered in 2004 at an apartment complex in Louisville. In that case it involved mistaken identity and someone looking to avenge his car being scraped in a parking lot.
I think that resettlement agencies should always steer refugees away from public housing complexes known for extreme violence or murders. It’s not enough to just sign them up for public housing and hope for the best when some of these complexes are well-known as extremely dangerous. I know that resettlement agencies will say that they don’t have enough funding to find alternatives, but how true is that? Yes, we all know that there is an epidemic of violence at some public housing complexes, but the agencies could at least direct refugees to safer private market units that accept section 8. The US refugee resettlement program is not responsible for all victims of violence at these complexes, but they are responsible for the refugees they resettle.
Posted in Burundian, dangerous neighborhoods, housing, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Louisville, safety | Tagged: Burundi, Burundian refugee, James Kuch Mangui, Karenzo Audace, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Liz Kaznak, Louisville, public housing, refugee, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 24, 2010
This Thanksgiving holiday story in the Louisville Courier-Journal is about everything that is right in refugee resettlement – a helpful resettlement agency, generous volunteers, and ethnic community support. A Burundian refugee father of five succumbs to a parasite in his lungs but his 29-year-old nephew and his wife, as well as compassionate volunteers, step in to help.
Three years after leaving Africa’s violence and the refugee camp where his wife died from complications of childbirth, Sindayihebura Pierre’s dream for his family finally seemed to be taking root.
The Burundian father of five had worked hard to build a new life in Louisville. He’d landed a night factory job. He’d bought a Jeep. And he’d proudly watched his children thrive in public schools.
But in September, 44-year-old Pierre died suddenly from a parasite he’d been carrying since his days in the camps, leaving his children orphaned in a country they still barely knew…Read more here
Posted in Burundian, Catholic, Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., children, Louisville, volunteers | Tagged: Burundian refugees, Catholic Charities of Louisville, Louisville, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, Thanksgiving | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 3, 2010
An article in the Bowling Green Daily-News comments on local refugee resettlement and Senator Lugar’s recent refugee resettlement report. According to the article refugees make up about 10% of Bowling Green’s population. That seems difficult to believe.
The article also states that the local Health Department makes refugees pay for their own vaccinations at their first health screening. How is that possible? Does that mean that refugees who cannot afford vaccinations don’t get them?
The Warren County Health Department is where most refugees get their first medical treatment. They get vaccinations if needed, and are screened for tuberculosis.
“They have to pay out of pocket for those immunizations, which is tough for some,” said Rebecca Tyree, a registered nurse and center coordinator for the health department. here
This makes absolutely no sense, because the ORR reimburses local health departments for refugee medical screening costs. According to ORR’s website:
The Cash and Medical Assistance (CMA) Program is part of the Division of Refugee Assistance and provides reimbursement to States and alternative refugee assistance programs for 100 percent of …Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA)… CMA also reimburses States for medical screening costs through local public health clinics or physicians so that contagious diseases and medical conditions that may be a public health concern or a barrier to refugees’ economic self-sufficiency are identified and treated. here.
In the article, James Robinson, executive director of the USCRI affiliate, Bowling Green International Center (IC), describes the work his agency does as an “attempt” not to leave refugees high and dry. That would seem to instill somewhat less than total confidence in the quality of his agency’s services. But, of course last year and earlier this year we heard from a friend of the local Karenni refugees, Cindy Florez, who described the horribly filthy apartments where the IC had placed the refugees. She said the apartments looked like they have never been cleaned in years, and teemed with cockroaches and rodents. (See pictures of broken fire alarms, filthy walls, filthy counter tops, broken screens) She said that the furniture the International Center gave the refugees was stuff that Goodwill would have thrown out.
Refugees placed into apartments with filthy walls
Refugees tried to thread up apartment’s torn screens
Cindy Florez says her Halloween weekend visit to a new refugee family she has befriended in Bowling Green, Ky., was scary.
The family of four Karenni refugees from Myanmar had no bedsheets, and shared one small bath towel, one plate, two coffee mugs and two spoons, she said. The carpets and walls were grimy. She found mouse droppings and cockroaches.
After fumigating, “it took us well over an hour cleaning up roaches,” Florez said.
James Robinson, director of the agency that resettles refugees in Bowling Green, concedes some refugees have cockroaches — but he points out that families don’t always wrap garbage and keep food off counters. Landlords assure the agency that they spray for pests monthly, he added.
And, Robinson retorts, Florez’ allegations that families are left without basic household supplies are “totally untrue.”
The Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association, also known as the International Center, has resettled about 600 refugees from Myanmar in the past year. Caseworkers inspect and furnish apartments, then photograph each family with the initial food and household supplies they receive, Robinson said.
Refugees sometimes move all their beds into one room, placing box springs and mattresses directly on the floor, he said. They get rid of the bed frames, so they may throw or give away other supplies as well, he theorizes.
“They are free people,” Robinson said. “They can do what they want.” (here On the map click on Kentucky)
stained kitchen counters
It’s funny that Mr. Robinson came up with this type of defense about refugees throwing away bed-frames. In the photos that Cindy Florez took you can see that the mattresses are still propped up on bed-frames, here. He also talks about refugees leaving out food, except that these refugees had just recently arrived when Cindy found them. She said the apartments looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in years. I guess Mr. Robinson thinks its his job just to rationalize away his agency’s failures to fulfill its contractual responsibilities. See videos here, here and here. Cindy also said that refugee children missed vaccinations because the IC did not give rides to the medical clinic that they had promised. She also reported that the refugees’ landlord had her thrown off the apartment property by the police when she brought donations to the refugees. She said these landlords where working in close coordination with the International Center. IC caseworkers also showed up on a Sunday on a holiday weekend to watch (intimidate?) the refugees as they spoke to police who were bringing donated coats. Conditions were so bad that at least ten Karenni refugees quickly out-migrated to Minnesota, just to get away from the IC.
Kentucky’s state refugee coordinator Becky Jordan was most unhelpful when we brought these concerns to her attention earlier this year. She told us that she wasn’t going to communicate with us because we dared to ask her if she was concerned about the refugees. It turned out that she actually works for another refugee resettlement contractor in Kentucky, Catholic Charities. She has her office at Catholic Charities and receives a paycheck from them, while supposedly acting as their oversight agent (does that make any sense?). She even told us she was accountable to Catholic Charities and not to us.
That’s how the system works folks.
broken smoke alarm
another broken smoke alarm
filthy walls
Posted in Bowling Green, Burma/Myanmar, Catholic, Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., furnishings, lack of, health, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, substandard, International Center in Bowling Green (Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association), Karenni, Kentucky, secondary migration, refugee, transportation, USCRI | Tagged: Becky Jordan, Bowling Green, Bowling Green International Center, Burma/Myanmar, catholic charities, James Robinson, karenni, Kentucky, refugees, resettlement, state refugee coordinator, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI, Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association | 12 Comments »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
