Episcopal Migration Ministries holds conference in D.C.
Episcopal News Service -- Washington, D.C.. April 16, 2010 [041610-03]
Lynette Wilson
Nine months after arriving in Seattle, Washington, from Jordan, where she spent the last six years of her life after fleeing her home in war-torn Baghdad, Iraq, in 2004, Nada Abood called on three members of Congress in their offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., asking that they support refugees and act to reform the nation's refugee resettlement program.
An electrical engineer by training, Abood, 36, is now a part-time case worker for the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia's Refugee Resettlement Office, helping others make the transition into American life. (She also works a full time security job.)
Abood was one of more than 110 people attending the annual Episcopal Migration Ministries Conference April 13-16 at the Washington Plaza Hotel. EMM oversees the arrival of about six percent of all refugees entering the United States, organizing the refugees' case before they arrive and assigning them to one of its 31 resettlement partner agencies in some 27 dioceses.
The U.S. Department of State works with and funds 10 volunteer agencies -- five of them faith-based, including EMM -- and the State of Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services to resettle refugees in the United States. Each year, Congress and the president determine the number of refugees permitted to resettle in the U.S.; for 2010 they set the ceiling at 80,000.
Throughout the four-day conference, EMM offered training for its frontline staff, including job development in today's economy and church co-sponsorship, and in areas specific to its partners, the Department of State and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric P. Schwartz gave the conference's keynote address April 14 and praised EMM and its affiliates for their work.
"Your ministries and your network are important partners in refugee protection,” he said. “In the last fiscal year you resettled some 5,000 refugees through 31 affiliates in 21 states, which is a marked increase from previous years, and you are managing your network responsibly through opening offices in new locations, all during a very difficult economic period," he said.
Schwartz also talked about the doubling of the reception and placement grant -- $900 to $1,800 -- passed by Congress for 2010. But, as important as the funding increase is in addressing refugees' immediate needs -- a roof, a clean bed and basic assistance -- more still needs to be done for refugees. To that end, Schwartz said, it's important for the State Department and resettlement partners to "stay the course."
"The White House is leading a comprehensive effort to review the resettlement program and we will remain deeply engaged in this enterprise," he said. "We will be working closely with the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services to secure additional job training, education, cash and medical assistance in the months that follow reception and placement."
Conference attendees thanked Schwartz for his role in persuading Congress to increase the grant, which helps provide services and meet refugees' needs in the first three months after their arrival.
"Doubling it this year has been life-saving and we've heard it from our staff here at the conference," said Deborah Stein, director of EMM, in an interview after Schwartz’s presentation.
Nationwide, resettlement agencies faced tough challenges over the past year, in large part because of a crippled economy and high unemployment rates. As a result a couple of EMM-affiliated resettlement offices closed, but two more were added: one in Columbus, Ohio, and one in Wilmington, North Carolina, Stein said.
Refugees are men, women and children who have fled their country to escape violence and persecution often related to their race, religion, politics or social groups. The U.S. is the largest resettlement country in the world, resettling some 2.6 million refugees since 1975.
March 17, 2010 marked the 30th anniversary of the Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980. On that day, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori released a statement commemorating the anniversary and the historic work the Episcopal Church has done on behalf of serving refugees, and also urging Congress to pass legislation that would enact much-needed reform of the refugee resettlement program, Stein said.
"The program hasn't changed much in substance in the 30 years since it was enacted,” she said. At that time, she explained, it was “a program designed to meet the needs of a pretty homogenous population that was in those days mostly Vietnamese or refugees from the former Soviet Union.
"The program now serves refugees from 70-plus countries that have various health and mental health needs, skills sets and education levels, language levels -- it's a very uniform program and you can't meet the needs of individual refugees that way."
Holding the national conference in Washington also allowed conference attendees to take part in an advocacy day April 15, meeting with their state's elected officials on behalf of refugees and domestic refugee resettlement reform.
"While it's wonderful that the reception and placement grant was increased, our other partner in this, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, hasn't seen a substantial increase in their budget in several years and its their budget that funds the states to do the ongoing case management for refugees up to five years … without having the funding on the other side for the state, the safety net has holes," Stein said.
Ana White, international and immigration policy analyst in the Episcopal Church's Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations, and chair of the Refugee Council USA Advocacy Committee, briefed conference attendees before they boarded buses to take them to Capitol Hill.
White explained that in time for the 30th anniversary, Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy introduced the Refugee Protection Act of 2010, which seeks to strengthen protection of refugees abroad. So far no legislation has been introduced to address domestic reform, but Michigan Democratic Representative Gary C. Peters, in a March 14 letter addressed to his colleagues, said he "will soon be introducing legislation to reform the current refugee resettlement program to make it more successful in its mission to help refugees achieve self-sufficiency."
White told conference attendees to ask their congressmen to support Peters' legislation once it's introduced. She also urged them to tell their own stories, to ask for support specifically where they need it and to follow up with their legislators' offices after the visit.
Nada Abood and Diocese of Olympia Refugee Resettlement Office Director Greg Hope first met with Leo Gallagher, a legislative aide in Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell's office. Gallagher expressed support of their work and encouraged them to keep Cantwell's office informed of their needs, they said.
They also met with Jessica Rogers, a legislative assistant in Democratic Representative Jim McDermott's office. During that meeting, Hope expressed the need to expedite refugees’ green card applications, saying it would make their stay here feel more permanent and help them in securing jobs; and he talked about the success of the resettlement office's Jump Start Fund, which supplies microenterprise loans to small business owners.
Abood and Hope left folders filled with information about their work and about refugees, including a letter Olympia Bishop Greg H. Rickel wrote to Democratic Senator Patricia "Patty" Murray Feb. 12 asking her to support an increase in funding for the domestic refugee resettlement program.
Hope and Abood also were scheduled to meet with Murray's office April 15.