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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Open Thread: Good News for Afghan Refugees (and Americans, Too)

Open Thread: Good News for Afghan Refugees (and Americans, Too)

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… The move marks the biggest change to the resettlement program since 1980, when the modern-day infrastructure for admitting refugees was put in place.

The resettlement challenge has dogged the administration since the frenzied evacuation from Afghanistan in August: resettling tens of thousands of people — many of whom worked with or on behalf of the US — within only weeks or months. The abrupt arrival of evacuees strained already-overwhelmed refugee resettlement agencies and left both the administration and organizations scrambling to find permanent homes in a housing crunch.

Now, to increase options to evacuees, the Biden administration is launching a program that would allow veterans with ties to Afghans, as well as others, the opportunity to bring them to their cities and serve as a support network as they get their lives started in the US, former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell told CNN.

“This is just an amazing opportunity to, frankly, do what our veterans have been asking us to do, which is provide a safe and dignified welcome to Afghans who served by our side in Afghanistan, and who now want to build their own lives here,” said Markell, a Democrat and the temporary point person overseeing the Afghan evacuee resettlement effort for the administration.

Veterans, who have worked closely with Afghans who fled Afghanistan fearing reprisals from the Taliban for their work with the US, underscored the significance of pairing evacuees with people with shared lived experiences…

Refugee agencies have previously discussed the idea of private sponsorship. The way the system currently works is an agency usually must have a local office — or a network of community groups — that will acquaint refugees with their new surroundings and help them get set up with housing and a job, among other services.

But after four years of historic low arrivals under the Trump administration, agencies had to close some of their offices around the country, limiting where refugees can be relocated — a significant hurdle at a time when housing options are already hard to come by.

“We just didn’t have the capacity after the beating we took under the Trump administration,” said Mark Hetfield, the president and CEO of HIAS, a refugee resettlement agency. “Necessity is the mother of invention. This is the outcome of that.”

A sponsorship-like system is intended to allow greater flexibility and open more locations for refugees to go. But it’s dependent on people signing up and having the resources to support Afghans and their families…

“It’s providing this opportunity for communities that said they want to stand up, to stand up. That’s the point. It’s to maximize this outpouring of desire to welcome,” said Danielle Grigsby, co-founder and director of external affairs at Community Sponsorship Hub. The hub will be largely responsible for the process, but other organizations will also assist including Airbnb.org, the International Rescue Committee, Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, RefugePoint and Welcome.US…

Much more information at the link.

Many of those ‘faith-based groups’ have indeed done great service, not least to the gospel of their God — but giving more local, and more secular, communities a chance to step up is a net good, IMO.

Lots of people are going to have the chance to back up their social-media statements IRL, and surely there will be those who do!

Reader Interactions

30Comments

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    Sure would be nice if the Biden administration put some effort into clearing the enormous backlog of family reunification applications that have been in the pipeline for *years.

  3. 3.

    Nelle

    I’ve begun volunteering for a refugee agency (secular) in Des Moines.  Newly arriving refugees are to be assessed and, hopefully, enrolled in English language classes within ten days of arriving in the communities where they are being resettled.  At this point, I’m merely driving them to their English assessment, then helping them install Zoom on their phones for their Zoom classes.  A side effort,  though, is a small coat drive as temps are dropping.  So far, the majority of refugees are from Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan, all about to get a taste of an Iowa winter.  The ones from Afghanistan, arriving soon, know cold weather but, leaving in August, were unlikely to have left with coats.

    So, an easy thing to do is contact a local refugee agency (often Lutheran Social Service or Catholic Charity) and donate new or used but clean and decent coats.

  4. 4.

    sab

    We are scheduled to get about 100, the largest number in Ohio even though we are only the fifth largest city. I am hopeful and excited. Our refugee charity has its storeroom packed to the rafters with donations. Our thrift shops have their rafters packed with donations.

    Housing will be a big problem. Nobody has built anything but high end housing for 50 years. Bless you St Ronald. May you roast wherever.

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Nelle:

    One thing I’ve always wondered about recently arriving refugees and immigrants: are they aware of the political situation facing the US? About things like the Proud Boys and the GOP attempting to rig elections?

  7. 7.

    sab

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Their concerns are a lot more basic: food, housing , jobs, kids learning English. No one will care about politics at all until they get citizenship. Meanwhile it is all about basic survival. And we are not a helpful country to immigrate to.

  8. 8.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): As Sab said, I think our newcomers will have a lot of immediate concerns. But once they are settled and have acquired enough English, I don’t think they will be at all surprised by our Right-wing.

    They come from places, how should I put this? That aren’t governed well. They are not naive. Maybe they will be disappointed but they will not be surprised by our extremists.

  10. 10.

    Nelle

    I’m volunteering with US Commitee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) but i will be taking them to the Lutheran Services for English assessment.  The agencies have a lot of cooperation, i think.  If you want your money to stay close to your community, you might google refugee assistance agencies.  They contract with the government and the big ones are Lutheran and Catholic.

    One of my surprises in moving to Iowa was a strong tradition of welcoming refugees, begun post Vietnam war by Republican governor, Robert Ray.  My middle class neighborhood is very defined…one way in or out…and about 100 houses.  At least 12 Bosnian households (one described to me his father being taken to be massacred at Serbenica), 2 Vietnamese households, 1 Kenyan, 1 Palestinian,  1 Indian, 1 Chinese.  The current Republican regime is not as supportive but there is already a strong infrastructure of support.

    That being said, many agencies lost all or most volunteers during the pandemic and the low numbers of refugees allowed during the orange clown administration and are trying to build their volunteer supply back up.

  13. 13.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Nelle:

    You can reach out here, give us some contacts and links.

    Nothing Juicers like better than  giving to worthy causes that help fellow humans.

  18. 18.

    Almost Retired

    @Nelle:  I am so glad you posted this.  1970’s era Iowa Governor Robert Ray was a completely different sort of Republican.  In 1979, I was a High School-age Page in the Iowa House of Representatives, and I vividly remember Governor Ray’s efforts on behalf refugees of the Tai Dam people of Southeast Asia.  He had a couple courtesy meetings (photo ops) with the Pages (“Look – young people love me”), and I remember him talking about these refugees.  I don’t remember why this population captured his imagination (it was probably because the people he was sponsoring were a very small minority of fervent anti-Communists in that community).  But whatever his motives, he took these refugees under his wing and expended some political capital on their behalf.  I am sure they have since scattered to the winds, but I see via semi-reliable sources (Wikipedia) that Iowa still has the largest population of Tai Dam outside of Asia.  My Mom has a big picture of me and Robert Ray in her study, with zits and braces (me not Governor Ray).  He had his faults, but it’s hard to explain to my Los Angeles-born children that there were once reasonable Republicans like that.  Making a donation to your organization, and urging my progressive Iowa Facebook friends (both of them), to do the same.

  21. 21.

    Yutsano

    My grandparents sponsored a Vietnamese family who ran from the Communists in 1974. I  haven’t heard of a relocation here in Eastern WA but I have a small amount of hope that if so my parents might be able to help out. And that there might be good Afghan foods here soon too.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    Welcoming refugees is important, and it’s our obligation under international law.

    In other news…

    EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff https://t.co/HfpcnB1TwN

    — Hunter Walker (@hunterw) October 25, 2021

    Unsurprising. We have to follow all the leads wherever they go. But beware the Twitter sound bites. (I haven’t read it yet.)

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    @Chetan Murthy: +1

    Moving to a different neighborhood is disruptive and can be traumatic.  Anyone who believes that fleeing their country, especially for one where one doesn’t speak the language, is somehow easy, well they should actually think about it.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  27. 27.

    sab

    @Nelle: One of the neighborhoods in my city is called North Hill, and it likes to refer to itself as Akron’s “international neighborhood.” It is where most of the Npali Bhutanese settled. The high school finally organized a soccer team a few years back, and it is now winning championships. Out of 25 team members only two are native born Americans. Everyone else is an immigrant. I would have thought that they would mostly be from Bhutan or former Yugoslavia, but it turns out almost half are from Democratic Republic of Congo. We are expecting over 100 Afghans.

  28. 28.

    Basilisc

    Incidentally, HIAS is short for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. It was founded by American Jews in 1881 to help Jews fleeing Czarist Russia. Next time you hear a right-winger blathering about “Judeo-Christian values”, keep in mind that the “Judeo” part, at least, includes compassion, aid and support for refugees (along with many other values of which the blatherer is no doubt ignorant) . 

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Nelle: If you – or someone else who is helping with the Afghan refugees – would like to do a guest post related to that, I would be happy to post it.

    Might be nice if a few volunteer opportunities could be included, or maybe information about how people can let someone know they would like to help.

    Just a thought, but if anyone is interested, let me know.

Comments are closed.