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Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

In my day, never was longer.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

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Come on, man.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Mr. Rogers: Look for the Helpers Be the Helpers

Mr. Rogers: Look for the Helpers Be the Helpers

by | 95 Comments

This post is in: 

How about if we crowdsource some opportunities to help the refugees?

Mousebumples sent me this from the Wisconsin Department Children and Families: How Can I Help?

If you have any information, add it below.

Update: I have added a link to this thread in the sidebar under Do Something! – it’s called Helping Refugees.

Update 2: Information (just below) from PavlovsMan, who has been working with refugees for a few years.

PavlovsMan

The R&P program is funded by the State Dept, and administered by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). These folks have cooperative agreements with the 9 VOLAGs, which will get federal $,. Each VOLAG has affiliates in different parts of the country, and refugees are allocate to the VOLAGs by PRM. These affiliates handle the actual reception and placement of refugees, and are overseen by the VOLAG of which they’re an affiliate.

Refugees who are selected for resettlement in the US through U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and cases get allocated to a VOLAG’s affiliate by the VOLAG. Allocation is dependent on performance, and how easily the case can become self-sufficient. Obviously, places where folks who speak no English can easily get jobs are better… think meat-processing, low tech manufacturing, warehouses, etc

Each case consists of the Primary Applicant, and their family members, and will get $975 per person. That’s it. The program lasts for 90 days, during which the resettlement agency helps find an apartment in advance, furnishes and sets it up. They receive the refugee family, help them get social security cards, food stamps, state ID, etc. The local affiliates try and raise money from corporate donors, churches, etc, but there’s no guarantee. They also help get the refugee jobs.

After the 90 day period is over, the feds don’t really care. They refugees then get help and support from the local resettlement agency, which can get funding from the state, as part of Refugee Support Services, can lasts from day 91 through the end of the 5th year from date of arrival.

There is another additional program through HHS, which is called Matching Grant. Basically, the affiliate has to raise $1 for every $2 federal. The support is much better for this, but the case has to be self-sufficient within 6 months, or the affiliate gets slammed, jeopardizing their ability to enroll more MG cases. The documentation for this is brutally difficult, and some agencies are wary about it. (I administered this for the agency I was working in, for two years, in addition to finding the refugees jobs.)

SIVs, Special Immigrant Visas are a separate category. This is for folks who helped US force with interpreting, etc. They don’t come through UNHCR, but are essentially refugees in every other respect.

Hope this helps. (This is a very bare bones, minimalist description of the process, so…)

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  2. 2.

    H.E.Wolf

    For those in faith communities, your local house of worship* may be involved in resettlement and/or aid efforts.

    *church, synagogue, mosque, etc.

  3. 3.

    Mousebumples

    Thanks for front paging this. Not sure how much I can facilitate but I am in Wisconsin (*technically at work, shhh!) so I’ll check van to see if I can help out with questions in the comments.

  9. 9.

    Pavlov'sMan

    Contact your local resettlement agencies. Better yet, contact local volunteer groups or 501(c)(3)s in your city.

    Be careful though, as some have religious motives. (I speak with intimate knowledge of having worked in refugee resettlement for 3.5 years.)

    Here’s an informative site that introduces the process refugees go through, to become refugees. https://embracerefugees.hyperakt.com/

    If folks would like, I can write something up, that explains the process in more detail, as the above site does not offer too much info. For example, it says nothing about SIVs, which is how the Afghans who helped US forces will be allowed in, and they’re not technically refugees since they don’t go through UNHCR. Nor does it say how little money refugees get from the government. (Psssst -it’s only $975 per person.)

  10. 10.

    Redshift

    Rep. Andy Kim posted this a couple of days ago:

    HELPING HERE IN U.S.: Additionally, if you’re in the United States and wish to help people evacuating Afghanistan, here’s how you can help:
    If you want to volunteer for airport pickup, apartment setups, and/or meals for Afghans, go to https://t.co/bw2zeqFzQL
    5/10
    — Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) August 16, 2021

  14. 14.

    satby

    And to expand on what’s needed for refugees right now this page on the LIRS website notes the initial locations where the people will arrive to volunteer if you’re local, and a special plea for any lawyers with immigration experience at all. Also a donate button specifically for the Afghan program support.

    Edit, again beaten by Redshift this time.

  18. 18.

    mali muso

    I had seen the LIRS volunteer sign up previously and put my name down as I live in one of the target regions (VA/MD/DC, Seattle/Tacoma, Houston, Fort Worth).  Count me in as another interested in more details about how the process works from the inside.

  21. 21.

    Jeffro

    JD Vance is tweeting gibberish about “let’s get all Americans out FIRST before we talk about refugees” all while his primary opponent (Mandel?) is busy beating the shit out of him about his anti-trumpov comments in the past.  Good luck winning those MAGAts over, JD!

    There’s a pic of an anti-Vance mailer up and I’m thinking of blowing it up to poster size, for my living room.  I’m sure my kids will understand.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    I have added a link to this thread in the sidebar under Do Something! – it’s called Helping Refugees.

    That way if people keep adding to this, or if anyone has questions for others, you will have easy access to the information.

  25. 25.

    PavlovsMan

    The R&P program is funded by the State Dept, and administered by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). These folks have cooperative agreements with the 9 VOLAGs, which will get federal $,. Each VOLAG has affiliates in different parts of the country, and refugees are allocate to the VOLAGs by PRM. These affiliates handle the actual reception and placement of refugees, and are overseen by the VOLAG of which they’re an affiliate.

    Refugees who are selected for resettlement in the US through U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and cases get allocated to a VOLAG’s affiliate by the VOLAG. Allocation is dependent on performance, and how easily the case can become self-sufficient. Obviously, places where folks who speak no English can easily get jobs are better… think meat-processing, low tech manufacturing, warehouses, etc

    Each case consists of the Primary Applicant, and their family members, and will get $975 per person. That’s it. The program lasts for 90 days, during which the resettlement agency helps find an apartment in advance, furnishes and sets it up. They receive the refugee family, help them get social security cards, food stamps, state ID, etc. The local affiliates try and raise money from corporate donors, churches, etc, but there’s no guarantee. They also help get the refugee jobs.

    After the 90 day period is over, the feds don’t really care. They refugees then get help and support from the local resettlement agency, which can get funding from the state, as part of Refugee Support Services, can lasts from day 91 through the end of the 5th year from date of arrival.

    There is another additional program through HHS, which is called Matching Grant. Basically, the affiliate has to raise $1 for every $2 federal. The support is much better for this, but the case has to be self-sufficient within 6 months, or the affiliate gets slammed, jeopardizing their ability to enroll more MG cases. The documentation for this is brutally difficult, and some agencies are wary about it. (I administered this for the agency I was working in, for two years, in addition to finding the refugees jobs.)

    SIVs, Special Immigrant Visas are a separate category. This is for folks who helped US force with interpreting, etc. They don’t come through UNHCR, but are essentially refugees in every other respect.

    Hope this helps. (This is a very bare bones, minimalist description of the process, so…)

  27. 27.

    Redshift

    @Jeffro:

    JD Vance is tweeting gibberish about “let’s get all Americans out FIRST before we talk about refugees” 

    Really stupid, but I guess it’s a slightly less awful version of “America First”…

  28. 28.

    PavlovsMan

    @satby: If you’re going  local, check the website. I know of one in my neck of the woods that is explicit in it’s goal of converting refugees, The Gospel….

    I can’t recommend any VOLAG in particular. There have been some linked in the comments, and I don’t see any red flags.

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    @Redshift: exactly, but in trying to be trumpov-lite, he’s getting roundly mocked by Mandel (“trumpov-maximus”?)

    Rooting for injuries

  32. 32.

    sab

    Look it up. Lots of cities have refugee help organizations. Mine has one that is helping Nepalis now. It has been around since 1916, back then helping Lebanese and Greek immigrants fleeing the collapsing Ottoman Empire  whose families now are successful and friends of my grandchildren. These donations and support efforts don’t just help them. They help your own communities.

  33. 33.

    PavlovsMan

    @WaterGirl: They will be under the SIV category.

    Some Afghan families will also undoubtedly come under the R&P umbrella. I’m currently helping one such family that came 2.5 months ago, and spent almost ten years in a Turkish refugee camp.

    I’ve met some families who actually spent more than 20 years in a camp. The father in one case was 38, went into the camp as a mid-teen, and came here with his family, that included a son who was 19 when they arrived.

    I cannot imagine the kind of trauma they have gone through. And the culture shock. I came here as an immigrant to do research. I spoke English as well as I do today and was very well informed but the culture shock just slammed me.

    I know the organization I currently volunteer with will get inundated with requests once they come. New arrivals learn about us through their community members, places of worship etc, and then reach out to us.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Redshift:

    This seems to me to be a great example of an informal fallacy I see a lot: if you want to help any B before all of A are helped, it’s proof you care more about B than A.  If you want to rescue animals while there are still homeless people, it’s proof you care more about animals than people.  If you want to donate to the symphony instead of cancer research, it’s proof you don’t care about curing cancer.  Now they’re saying you have to rescue every American before helping Afghans or it’s proof you care more about Afghans than Americans.  It’s always BS.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    Thanks for all these suggestions. I’ll have to come back and pick one. I signed a letter for Scholars at Risk, but I thought they weren’t maybe the most urgent donation place.

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    @sab: 
    It’s fascinating how these refugee resettlement efforts create little clusters of their ethnic group in very specific places in the US, and how those initial groups become a focus for more people from the same area. Here in Southern California, for example, we’ve had successive waves of Armenian immigrants who have come here because there’s already a well established Armenian community. The same thing with Vietnamese and Cambodians in different parts of metro LA. Similarly, I assume Minneapolis is going to remain a destination for Somali immigrants and Seattle for Ethiopians.

  39. 39.

    namekarB

    Northern California and especially Sacramento has the highest concentration of Afghan immigrants. The International Rescue Committee Northern California is raising $150,000 toward an Afghan Soft Landing Fund. 100% of your donation will be disbursed to cover emergency temporary housing as well as rental & utility assistance to support evacuee families stabilizing.

  41. 41.

    PavlovsMan

    @Roger Moore:

    There are good reasons for this. Refugees already here agree to be the “US Tie” for folks who are approved to arrive. So, when the new family/case comes, there’s someone who knows them, and helps them settle down, etc. Once a case is approved and the travel date set, the arriving family’s local relative/friend comes to the settlement agency and asks that they be sent to the city in which the Tie family resides. Makes things much easier all around.

    It’s much more difficult for a family without any contacts/friends/relatives. If this is the case, I reach out to my contacts in the appropriate ethnic/national origin community and ask for help. Matter of fact, this Friday, I hope to take the Afghan man whose family we’re currently helping, to the nearest mosque. He’s looking forward to it as he’s not been for Friday prayers in a mosque for more than 10 weeks. Hopefully he’ll find someone in his community that’s closer to his home.

  42. 42.

    sab

    @Roger Moore: Yes. After the Lebanese and Greeks we got various Yugoslavs. They were still comimg here and not elsewhere after the war in the 1990s, because so many had family already here.

  43. 43.

    RaflW

    One of the NGOs I’m quite familiar with is based in Minneapolis-St Paul, and while it is a somewhat niche org within the universe of refugee and immigrant resettlement, unfortunately the need is considerable, given the many repressive regimes, as well as some of the blowback of empire.

    I make a significant gift every year to the Center for Victims of Torture. A core area of their work is asylum and refugee advocacy. A couple of years ago I visited several former Eastern Block countries (with a different human rights org) and saw first hand how critical asylum and refugee advocacy — and their NGOs — can be in a situation like we’re entering with Afghans needing/wanting to come here. I’ll add, emphatically, I’m also worried about Europeans doing again what they did with the Syrian wave).

    The anti-immigrant energy on the right in the US is palpable, and in this situation it feels even more immoral and vile, but it won’t stop. There’s political advantage to their base base. So, I will continue to support CVT, and encourage folks to check them out – and also look at the partner orgs they work with, there might be one operating near where you are.

  44. 44.

    PavlovsMan

    @sab:

    The last two sentences in your comment nailed it.

    Here are some stats that can be used to persuade naysayers.

    In 2015, refugees earned $77B, and paid $21B in taxes.

    In 2015, 13% of refugees were entrepreneurs, compared to 11.5% of non-refugee immigrants, and 9% of US-born population.

    After 25 years, their median income is $67,000. That’s $14,000 more than the median for US households overall.

    57% of all likely refugee households own homes, which is close to home-ownership rate among US residents overall.

    The National Bureau of Economic Research found that every refugee who entered as an adult paid on on average $21,000 more than the welfare the ever received.

  45. 45.

    raven

    @Roger Moore: I can’t find the title but 20 years ago I read a book about Hmong people in California. They have no written language so elders would have to take children to various functions to interpret for them.

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    But I must say that any charity that sends me an e-mail blaming Biden (looking at you, RAICES) will not get a penny from me.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    @sab:

    I would think most cities have Jewish Family Services groups that do a lot of work with immigrants and resettlements.

  53. 53.

    Dan B

    Rainbow Railroad helps get LGBTQ+ people out of countries where they are in danger.

    http://www.rainbowrailroad.org

    They operate with extreme discretion since any exposure can result in terrible consequences.  The Taliban 2.0 may be better for women but are likely to be ruthless with LGBTQ+ people.  And tribal chiefs will have political reasons to justify repression and honor killings.

     

    Rainbow Railroad gets very high marks for integrity.

  54. 54.

    Gin & Tonic

    In the meantime, regular family reunification visa applicants languish in purgatory for years.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    @Josie: @Wolvesvalley: @zhena gogolia:

    Wow.  RAICES is on my personal blacklist.  No money for them!

    News broke yesterday that U.S. military personnel found the remains of an Afghan refugee in the landing gear of a U.S. military plane.1 This tragic death and the worsening chaos at the Kabul airport could have been prevented.

    We’ve known about the plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan since February 2020, yet the Biden Administration hastily sped up operations without prioritizing the safety of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants who risked their lives to help our troops.

    This year, more than 95% of the refugees RAICES resettled are SIV recipients from Afghanistan, many of whom served as interpreters for the U.S. military.

    We cannot allow the Biden Administration and Congress to leave our Afghan allies behind or close our borders to Afghan people seeking safety.

    Tell the Biden Administration and Congress: Protect Afghan Refugees. Click here to send a tweet.

    This really pisses me off.

  58. 58.

    Dan B

    @Roger Moore: Here in South Seattle we are a few blocks from a Hmong Buddhist Monastery, a Vietnamese Temple, several small Mosques, the Phillipine Community Center, the Refugee Women’s  Alliance, One America – Pamela Jayapal’s organization, and many more.

    I hope we get an influx but property values and rents have gone through the roof so finding long term shelter may be difficult

    The Census showed Seattle metro area growing more diverse, more rapidly, than many other locales.  Keep it up!

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    @PavlovsMan:

    The point I would make is that this is true of immigrants in general, not just refugees. Moving to a new country is hard, and moving into a community of people from the old country makes it easier.  Less discussed, I think moving into an area with an established population is helpful because assimilation is a two way street.  It’s easier to move into a place where the non-immigrants are already used to people from your country and know something about your culture and language.

  61. 61.

    Lyrebird

    @Redshift: THANKS!

    Rep. Kim is salt of the earth folks. And I think LIRS has been taking the lead, among the big refugee orgs.

     

    There are some more links worth checking out on this HIAS page, including an AirBnB link, I don’t know if that’s how Cole is signing up to host displaced persons or not.

    May seem silly, but our household went out to be sure to patronize a local Afgh. restaurant.

  62. 62.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @PsiFighter37: Hope you have company! It was just too far for me to drive after a couple of beers…not Ubering these days. I would have enjoyed meeting you!

  65. 65.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    RAICES: “We’ve known about the plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan since February 2020, yet the Biden Administration hastily sped up operations without prioritizing the safety of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants who risked their lives to help our troops.”

    Here’s something RAICES might want to ponder regarding SIVs:

    Ned Price @StateDeptSpox said that when the Biden admin took office there had been no SIV (special immigration visa) interviews with Afghans in Kabul since March 2020. Said interviews were back up and running within 2 weeks of taking office.

    — Julian Borger (@julianborger) August 18, 2021

    But, yeah, it’s on Biden.

    I have donated to RAICES in the past and probably got this email, but I haven’t read it yet. I’ll be sending them a stern letter or something.

  68. 68.

    Richard Guhl

    Having actually led a resettlement effort for a refugee family from Kosovo in 2003, I can testify how much in the way of human resources and dollars this takes. I pulled together six churches to get enough volunteers to assist in this project. We had to make appointments for doctors, dentists, social services, ESL classes, find housing, collect clothing, provide transportation, find employment, provide childcare and do all the language and customs homework with the family. None spoke English and had bounced around several refugee camps before being admitted to the U.S.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Addendum:

    Ned Price @StateDeptSpox says the window for evacuating US and allied citizens from Kabul could be “a little longer” than the end of the month if needed.

    “We are going to do as much as we can for as many people as we can for as long as we can.”

    — Julian Borger (@julianborger) August 18, 2021

  73. 73.

    PavlovsMan

    Folks, I don’t visit here all that often, and today was fortuitous.

    If you have any questions about this that y’all think I could address, please contact WaterGirl and she’ll reach out to me by email.

    I’d be more than happy to answer any questions or elaborate more on any of this, if I can.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    @PsiFighter37:   Find some business in Richmond, VA and we will tour you around some of our many brewpubs.

    Sorry to hear, but it’s cool to be in Denver.  Enjoy!!

  75. 75.

    TriassicSands

    Neville Trumperlain: The self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Negotiator.”

    How to obtain an agreement? Just give the other side everything it wants and ask for nothing in return.

    Genius!

  77. 77.

    raven

    Rachel spent 25 minutes telling a tale about “Zac” an interpreter for Marines who went thought a harrowing experience getting himself, his wife and three kids out. Teary segment

     

    eta the Marine officer he worked with and who facilitated the escape is up next.

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    If you didn’t watch the first 30 minutes of tonight’s The Rachel Maddow Show, please try to catch it either on the 12 midnight EDT rerun, or on line tomorrow. It’s pertinent to this thread, and you won’t regret it.

    ETA: Oops, sorry raven @ #77! Hadn’t seen your comment. Don’t mind admitting I blubbered like a baby.

  85. 85.

    Mary G

    Oopsie:

    Apparently @Jeopardy's new host had a podcast in which he referred to a coworker as a "slut" and "ho," used the r-word, made disparaging comments about women's weights, referred to someone giving a dollar to a homeless woman as "the sound of America going down the toilet," etc. https://t.co/CcJpb78rrK— Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) August 18, 2021

    I posted a picture of Kamala and repeated her slogan: Dude gotta go. He’s the Dick Cheney of TV – put in charge of a search committee, picks himself.

  86. 86.

    RaflW

    @Roger Moore: My mother was a multilingual Swedish bombshell (and former UN worker) married to an American businessman (they met in Europe and spent the first 14 of their married years there, having me and my bro over there). We moved frequently, first around Europe and then moving a ton in the first decades in the US as a family.

    Every new city we moved to, within weeks it seemed, she’d be on the phone speaking in Swedish to someone local in that new city (even Tulsa, OK!). She’d also find random immigrants from other European countries — often married to Americans — and boom, within weeks she’d be hosting dinners with a host of new friends with variously accented English.

    And all this before any internet at all. The urge to network and root with people who feel like ‘home’ is strong. (Granted, class gave her and us access and resources that may have taken others on different trajectories.)

    At one point we lived in a far-flung, godforsakenly boring suburb of Houston, and yet her circle of closest friends were: Brazilian, Italian, German, Swiss, and at least a half a dozen fellow Swedes. Not that she didn’t have American friends, but that was her ‘posse’ if such a term could apply. :)

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, got it. I thought that, unlike the n-word, it was okay to use the word retarded, just not in that particular offensive context.

  92. 92.

    Mary G

    @Steeplejack: It’s one of those things that makes some people involuntarily flinch, even when used in an unrelated context, because it’s been hurled at someone you love over and over. Disability activists are well on the way to making it unacceptable, period. Like the n word.

    Ohio Mom could explain it better than I can. It’s used by Republicans to complain about “woke” or overly “PC” “language police.” “Doctors used to say it all the time,” etc. Somewhere back in the day, I’m sure Andrew Sullivan wrote about it saying the objections are hysterical.

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack

    @Mary G:

    The n-word doesn’t have any legitimate uses. The r-word does, as a verb whose past tense happens to be the same as the trigger-word adjective. I don’t think that’s enough to banish it completely.

  94. 94.

    Mary G

    @Steeplejack: YMMV, I find it hurtful and cruel, but I’ve lived with hearing someone have it yelled at them over and over, and one of my closest found family members taught special ed for 30 years and had a few of his students to Christmas dinner, so I’m sensitized. Use it or not, your choice.

     

    Gotta go, been way too online today and I don’t want to know what the latest seditious thing MTG brayed at Uncle Joe, so I’m  off for an edible, music, and hopefully sleep before 5 am.

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