Disciple: More Than a Status
Dispelling the myth of refugees reveals the gifts they offer
By Christine McTaggart
We read about refugees in history books, and we hear about the plight of thousands more in the news. Yet it is hard to imagine what life really looks like for those who have to flee homes with little more than what they can carry, often leaving everything they know behind, not knowing if they ever will return.
Fortunately, there are organizations dedicated to relieving the suffering of refugees around the world and helping them to rebuild shattered lives. Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) is one such organization, and its executive director, Deborah Stein, was kind enough to spend time with us sharing the truth behind the headlines.
Christine McTaggart: What is EMM?
Deborah Stein: EMM is the refugee resettlement ministry of The Episcopal Church. We’ve been around in our current form for a little more than 25 years, but the Episcopal Church has been formally resettling refugees for more than 75 years. It really started during World War II assisting people who were fleeing Nazi Germany.
For the last 25 years, EMM has functioned as one of nine national voluntary agencies that partner with the Department of State and other government agencies, federally and at the state and local levels, to welcome refugees to the United States through the U.S. refugee resettlement program.
CM: How many refugees are there in the world today?
DS: Including those who are traditional refugees – those who have to leave their home countries; internally displaced persons, who have to flee for the same reasons refugees do but have not left their country of origin yet cannot go home; those who are stateless, meaning they remain in their country of origin, but their government does not recognize them as citizens, leaving them with no legal standing or rights; and asylum seekers, that number is close to 60 million people. That’s a number we haven’t seen since WWII. Of those, about 20 million are refugees.
CM: What makes a person a refugee?
DS: A refugee is someone who is forced to flee his or her home because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality or political groups or opinions.
CM: So refugees are not those who may lose homes or
resources due to something such as a natural disaster.
DS: Precisely. We often hear the word “refugee” used colloquially to mean a lot of things, but “refugee” is a legal definition and status. It is a person recognized by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees as meeting the criteria and legal definition of a refugee.
To use the word “refugee” so interchangeably in a way undermines the severity of circumstance behind the designation. There are a lot of reasons why people might feel the need to seek safety or security or a better life elsewhere, but, for a lot of them, it’s a choice. For refugees, their choice is either leave or face imminent danger or death. That’s what really separates them from others migrating to other parts of the world. All refugees are immigrants, but not all immigrants are refugees.
CM: It’s hard to imagine what it would truly mean to walk away from everything you know, especially in the space of a few minutes.
DS: And there are a lot of factors and reasons why people might have to make that choice. People think of refugees as people who are just coming with the clothes on their back – that may be true in terms of actual possessions, but refugees bring so much more with them – their intelligence, perseverance, ingenuity, creativity, their dreams and hopes for the future – all the things that make them who they are as people. There are a lot of incredible people out there who were, at one time, refugees. The founders of Google, Albert Einstein, Madeleine Albright – these are inventors and contributors to the world, and everyone has benefitted from their gifts. [Photo by Wendy Johnson]
There’s a stereotype that all refugees come with no or low education or without skills, and, while there are certainly those who fit that profile, anyone can become a refugee. They come from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
We do refugees and ourselves a disservice if the only way we see them is as a burden or being terribly needy. Folks may need a little help at the start, but they really just want to get their lives restarted.
CM: What are some of the elements of resettling a refugee to the U.S.?
DS: EMM has 30 offices around the U.S. in 26 dioceses. We resettle around 5,000 of the roughly 75,000 refugees that come to the U.S. each year. Our professional case management staff works very closely with Episcopal churches in all of those locations to provide any number of services, including preparing the local receiving community to let them know who is coming in terms of demographic information, working with local school districts, health departments, law enforcement, and any other aspect of a community that might come into contact with the refugees. We work with local offices to make sure that community stakeholders are aware of what’s going on so that everyone can be prepared to welcome refugees as robustly as possible.
We work with landlords to secure housing and ensure that upon their arrival refugees have furnished apartments. We help get the kids enrolled in school and adults enrolled in English as Second Language (ESL) classes if they don’t already speak English. We help with employment services and employment readiness as well as working with employers in communities on job development. We also provide case management services. Often the folks who are coming in have been the victims of trauma or torture; the vast majority of arriving refugees are women and children, and they have their own special needs, and so we work with all of them to make sure they have access to the mainstream services in the community as well as resources that are both culturally and linguistically appropriate.
CM: How is it decided where [in the U.S.] a refugee will be resettled?
DS: A number of factors go into it. The sites currently in place are there because over time they have created an infrastructure and capacity to serve refugees, but also because, for some groups, the resettlement of a particular group could take several years. You may have family members who started the process at one point joined by other family members at a later point, which is sometimes years. Right now roughly 70 percent of the refugees arriving will be going to predetermined locations because they are joining family members already here.
If we look at new communities, we look at the cost of housing, available services and sustainability for those who may be starting out on entry-level employment. Even the most highly educated, professional refugees often can’t resume their professions when they reach the U.S. until they’re able – assuming they’re able – to clear whatever hurdles are in place to be again what they were in their former life. They’re likely to be doing entry-level jobs.
For EMM, we also look at the network and relationships between the Episcopal churches and dioceses in the area and whether there is a support system to help and work with our professional staff.
CM: The reasons why we should care about refugees are fairly obvious, but there are some who oppose supporting them, especially those from countries we might not consider friendly. How do you answer people who advocate not welcoming any stranger for fear of the one that might cause trouble?
DS: It’s natural to be concerned about safety. All of us are. And everyone involved with the refugee resettlement program wants to ensure the process is as safe and secure as it can be. And it is very secure.
There are millions of refugees in the world. The number of them that actually manage to be resettled anywhere in the world – forget about the U.S. – is less than one half of one percent. It’s much more common for refugees to remain in camps than it is to be relocated to a third country.* Of that one half of one percent, only half of that number will be resettled in the U.S. So it’s a remarkably small number of the overall refugee population that comes to this country.
The refugee resettlement program is a highly vetted program in terms of security measures. No other person entering the U.S. is as vetted as a refugee. People can come in under tourist visas, student visas or other kinds of visas and not be subjected to nearly the scrutiny that refugees are. Refugees go through a multistep process that involves multiple agencies, including the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security – the list goes on.
On average, it takes a refugee 18-24 months to complete the process and come to the U.S. – if everything goes smoothly. If at any point along the way – up to and including the point of departure – doubts or red flags are raised, the process stops, and they are out.
There are lots of dangers in the world. But since 9/11, almost 800,000 refugees have been resettled in the U.S., and not one of them has done harm. It’s also important to remember that, while we fear terrorism, many of the world’s refugees have already experienced it. Many of them are the very victims of the violence and terrorism we fear.
CM: What about those who don’t get to be among the lucky few who are resettled?
DS: We think of resettlement as one of three durable solutions. The first is repatriation, where people are able to go home; the second is that they are able to be integrated into their country of first asylum; and the third is resettlement. But because the third option applies to such a small number of people, the second solution is the most likely option for most refugees.
CM: What are some other misconceptions about refugees coming to the U.S.?
DS: One of the biggest is that refugees are a drain or a burden on communities. That has been proven time and time again to be incorrect. Plenty of economic studies have shown that, at worst, refugees have a net zero impact, and in many communities have actually had a positive economic impact. They become contributors to and leaders in their communities; they become business owners and sources of employment for others. Many refugees arrive with children, and they’re working hard to create a better life and future for those children. Resources might be needed on the front end when refugees arrive, but it’s been proven repeatedly that what refugees contribute is not just a net gain but abundance on a variety of levels.
CM: Is there anything else you want people to know about refugees?
DS: There’s so much to learn from our new neighbors. It’s not about what we give them because they have so much more to give us. Being a refugee is a legal status. It is not all a person is, and we are given many gifts when we remember the person behind the label and see the human being there.
*First country = country of origin; second country = immediate refuge; third country = resettlement location.
Christine McTaggart is the communications director for the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.
Tags: Immigration / North Carolina Disciple
