Texas experienced an 85 percent increase in refugee resettlement this past year, according to an article in the Utne Reader. Apparently resettlement agencies that would normally have sent Iraqi refugees to Michigan were instead directing them to Texas while Michigan had its (now ended) moratorium on free-case refugees. The moratorium in Michigan was due to overwhelming numbers of new Iraqi refugees paired with the state’s dire economy.
…In the past year, Texas saw an 85 percent increase in official refugee arrivals. “We’re still reeling from it all,” says Caitriona Lyons, the Texas State Refugee Resettlement Program coordinator. National voluntary agencies have redirected to Texas refugees who otherwise might have gone to Michigan, a popular destination, or other economically troubled states. Between 2006 and 2009, 2,822 Iraqis officially resettled in Texas. Thousands more are on the way…Read more here
Caitriona Lyons is the state refugee coordinator who was disinterested (and unhelpful) earlier this year when gay Iraqi refugees were being mistreated by Catholic Charities in Houston.
The article goes on to describe experiences by Iraqi refugees in Dallas. Muhammad Haji, his wife Payman, and the couple’s three kids moved to Dallas after first being resettled in Milwaukee. Refugee Services of Texas said it would help the family find an apartment within 3 days, but then left the family on their own for 25 days. Finally, the agency placed them in an apartment – in a complex where drug deals were going down.
…In January 2008 the family resettled in Milwaukee, but the Hajis felt isolated—and cold. They came to Dallas looking for a larger Iraqi community and warmer climes. They assumed refugee assistance would follow them, but they were no longer eligible for the Department of State resettlement funds they had received in Milwaukee. When the family reached Dallas, Haji says, Refugee Services of Texas, a nonprofit agency, said it would find them an apartment within three days. The Hajis stayed with another Iraqi family. Three days passed, then 10, then 18. Their hosts called Refugee Services and said it wasn’t their job to take care of the Hajis.
For a week longer, the Hajis moved from house to house, but they finally wore out all welcomes. The family found themselves on the street, sitting at a gas station with nowhere to go. Haji called Refugee Services from the pay phone: “Help us, or I will call the police,” he said. The group finally found them an apartment—albeit in a complex with, the Hajis say, drug deals going down next door. Carol Roxburgh, the executive director of Refugee Services of Texas, says the Hajis were not officially transferred from their agency in Milwaukee to Dallas, so they “broke their contract” and were not eligible for housing. Given the circumstances, Roxburgh says, “We went above and beyond to help them the best we could without any funding.”…
Amira Matsuda, president of the Iraqi American Association of North Texas and head of the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation, has helped dole out more than $80,000 in private funds to help Iraqi refugees in Dallas-Fort Worth. Her group does not have outside funding, but instead its members reach into their own pockets to help the refugees. She says that refugee organizations have been less than helpful.
…“On a personal level,” Matsuda says, “we take [Iraqi refugees] shopping to cover their basic needs, pay some of their utility bills, rent, collect donated furniture from our community, and distribute it to those who need it.” Matsuda also provides legal advice, translations, and help finding employment.
She is helping at least 150 Iraqi households and receives calls, she says, “at all hours.”…
…Matsuda has heard stories like the Hajis’ scores of times. “Many organizations were very unacceptable in how they treated Iraqi families here,” Matsuda says. But blame for the plight of families like the Hajis cannot be placed solely on the backs of local or state agencies. The policies, the source of the problem, are made in Washington…
Another recent Iraqi refugee arrival named Salah al Bagdadi reports that it took four months just to receive his social security card, during which time he could not look for work.
…At Zituna World Food Market in Richardson, Salah wears a baker’s toque. He was a reform activist during Saddam’s regime, and when his life was threatened, he left Iraq and lived in Yemen and Jordan. When his permit ran out in Jordan, he was imprisoned. In 2008 he was offered resettlement to the United States…
Salah had little choice but to come. For four months, he didn’t get his Social Security card and could not look for work. That bad patch is over, but things are hardly comfortable…His wife, Haifa, is working as a hairdresser, and his daughter is a cashier in the salon. With three wage earners, the family is able to scrape by…
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
