Friends of Refugees

A U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Watchdog Group

Archive for the ‘Bowling Green’ Category

Bowling Green International Center – Matching Grant Program inspection

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: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Kentucky law allows driving permit oral test, yet none in Burmese or Karenni in Bowling Green

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: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Did State Dept’s Monitoring of Bowling Green International Center Overlook Problems?

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: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Republicans and President Obama Playing Hot Potato with Iraqi Refugees and SIVs?

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: , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

USCRI’s Bowling Green International Center claims they do a great job, refugees disagree

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

Colorado refugee contractors and government officials meet with PRM Assistant Secretary Eric Schwartz

Posted by Christopher Coen on March 20, 2010

Colorado refugee contractors and government officials met with PRM Assistant Secretary Eric Schwartz. Refugee resettlement agencies will resettle about 2,600 refugees in Colorado in 2010, which will be a sizable increase over recent years (here).

Strangely, the recurring theme of complaints about not enough federal funding for refugee resettlement came up again, even though the State Department just doubled the per capita (per refugee) grant funding to resettlement agencies. The resettlement contractors don’t raise the issue of private funding, and why they aren’t raising enough private funds, and reporters don’t ask.

Colorado’s state refugee health coordinator Brenda Hummel said that refugees are arriving with medical problems and with no warning given to state officials, even though refugees supposedly get medical screening before arriving here.

“Hummel..said it’s particularly frustrating not to know when someone coming to Colorado needs medical attention.

Refugees are supposed to be medically evaluated before they get here. But, she said, those evaluations commonly miss serious problems. That leaves the state health department scrambling to find them care, she said.

Individuals are hurt, and the whole resettlement program suffers when workers don’t have accurate information about the refugees arriving, [Colorado state refugee coordinator Paul Stein] said.”

Medical screening for refugees abroad is generally coordinated by the Intergovernmental Organization on Migration (IOM) in cooperation with voluntary agencies (see p. 10 here). There is a requirement that they screen for tuberculosis, HIV, and certain venereal diseases — although they would presumably notice at these screenings if refugees have other serious medical issues. So, why aren’t the IOM and voluntary agencies abroad notifying state officials about refugees’ medical problems before they arrive here? Notice that the state official just blames the US federal government.

The issue of secondary migration also came up at the meeting, with a county government official complaining that it has an impact on Colorado counties’ finances.

“A recurring theme of the downtown meeting was a lack of attention to what those who work with refugees call ‘secondary migration’ — groups of refugees who leave the areas where they first settle in search of jobs.

That happened in Greeley, said Judy Griego, director of Weld County’s human services department.

After immigration officials raided the Swift meatpacking plant in 2006, dozens of Somalis arrived, hoping to fill jobs vacated by the raid, Griego said.

‘It ends up being on the counties to take care of these individuals,’ she said.”

This is an interesting issue because we’ve documented groups of refugees moving to other states after being neglected by their resettlement agencies. About 10 Burmese Karenni refugees recently ran from USCRI affiliate International Center in Bowling Green, and moved to Minnesota after complaining that the International Center had placed them in filthy apartments without basic furnishings or food. They also complained of not being able to get to the doctor’s office (no rides) and not being able to enroll their children in school because they couldn’t get them vaccinated.

Now, we have refugee contractors and state refugee coordinators blaming the federal government　about lack of funding for secondary migration to other states, yet in the case of the Karenni refugees in Bowling Green we warned government officials about the problems hoping they would help the refugees. Instead, Kentucky’s state refugee coordinator Becky Jordan got our email and three weeks later still had not responded to us.

Becky Jordan, it turns out, works for another private refugee contractor in Kentucky, Catholic Charities (she actually has her office there and receives a paycheck from them, while supposedly acting as their oversight agent!), and told us she was accountable to them and not to us. She also said that she wasn’t going to communicate with us because we asked her if she was concerned about the refugees! (This would almost be a joke if refugees weren’t being so abused by such a broken system, and with such incompetent people at the helm.)

So obviously one of the best ways to solve the problem of secondary migration is to make sure refugee resettlement agencies are assisting the refugees they’re being paid to help, and not just throwing more money to the states and the resettlement agencies. Refugees will run to other states much less often if they find themselves in tolerable circumstances where they are. Isn’t that just obvious?

Posted in Assistant Secretary of the PRM, Bowling Green, Catholic Charities, Colorado, Eric P. Schwartz (former Asst Sec.), government, health, International Center in Bowling Green (Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association), IOM, Karenni, Kentucky, Minnesota, PRM, R&P, State Department, USCRI | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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