Ali Noorani [00:00:12] This week, we hear the stories of displaced people in the United States and how their realities could change under the Biden Administration.
Edafe Okporo [00:00:21] I use that positive African mentality to describe how that fight must wait, but looking back, four years today, I came out of a detention center. That was the most difficult time of my life.
Ali Noorani [00:00:35] From the National Immigration Forum. I’m Ali Noorani and this is Only in America.
Ali Noorani [00:00:50] On Monday, May 3rd, President Biden announced he was raising the refugee ceiling to sixty two thousand five hundred for this fiscal year. This increase came after a broad range of voices, immigrant advocates, evangelical leaders, police chiefs and national security experts, urged the administration to reconsider their initial decision to keep the ceiling at the historic low of fifteen thousand set by President Trump. Just before the announcement, I spoke to Jenny Yang, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Now World Relief is just one of a handful of organizations authorized by the US government to resettle refugees here in the States. Jenny helped me understand just how detrimental the past four years have been for refugees and refugee resettlement efforts across the country.
Jenny Yang [00:01:40] It’s been a time of incredible insecurity and instability. We at World Relief, over the past four years, let go of about a third of our US staff, and a lot of it was because we were closing offices. We closed about seven offices, I believe, and in that time period, and some of those offices have been in that community for over 20 years, resettling refugees and serving immigrants. And so it was really a blow to our staff because they didn’t know if they were going to be let go. They didn’t know if their office was going to close down. And we made it through the years, but it was really kind of hand-wringing throughout those years because, not only for our staff and the fact that many of them lost their jobs, even though they love working with refugees, but because we know refugee families who were waiting years, who’ve had flights canceled, who have just been, you know, praying for their family members overseas, waiting for them to come to the US and find safety here. So all of that was kind of on the line, and we’re in this place right now where we’re still waiting effectively. We’re still trying to see what the changes really are going to be for refugees on the ground. And the pandemic made everything worse. And it really exacerbated the waiting time, I think, for a lot of refugee families that still have family here. I mean, obviously, the conditions overseas and in camps or, wherever refugees are,are very challenging. So all of that really meant that it was a very difficult several years for many refugees around the world.
Ali Noorani [00:03:13] These changes underscore just how important President Biden’s determination on the refugee ceiling is.
Jenny Yang [00:03:19] They knew that it was decimated. They knew that the processes needed to be in place. And I think to think that the lack of a program is a reason for them not setting what is ultimately a political aspirational goal is it should really be the other way around. Once you set the goal and the aspiration, then you build around that goal and that vision, right? And so, the president, by signing a refugee ceiling of what he had promised of sixty two thousand five hundred, will then release the resources within the State Department to then go overseas to rebuild capacities, to go to the refugee resettlement networks, to build up our staff and offices here so that we can receive refugees. But that doesn’t happen until that goal is set by the president himself.
Ali Noorani [00:04:03] But the need for strong infrastructure and greater capacity goes beyond the US refugee program. What about those who arrive at U.S. airports or border crossings to claim asylum?
Edafe Okporo [00:04:13] I left my family when I was 18 to go to college, and when I graduated from college, I tried to return back home, but it was very difficult for me because my family wanted me to get married to a woman, and I openly identify as gay. And that pressure was just too much for me to handle. So I moved to Abuja and from there I suffered some horrific situations that made me flee to America. And I will tell you the truth. I came to the United States in 2016, a few days before the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Trump. I came exactly eight days to the election. And when I flew from Nigeria to Cairo, from Cairo to New York, and when I go to New York, I asked for asylum at the border and from the border, I was put in handcuffs and taken by bus to New Jersey. I was detained in New Jersey. I had to seek asylum for five months and for ten days. I was an asylum seeker.
Ali Noorani [00:05:23] That’s Edafe Okporo, a global gay rights activists and the executive director of the RDJ Refugee Shelter in Harlem, New York. He’s also the author of the forthcoming book: Asylum. After spending more than five months in detention, Edafe was granted asylum and allowed to enter the US, but in a situation familiar to countless other refugees and asylees, Edafe learned that beginning a new life in the US does not equal an end to the difficulties of being displaced.
Edafe Okporo [00:05:52] I didn’t know the consequences of all the struggles I was going through inside the detention center until I came out. I was working in the detention center for a dollar a day. I didn’t know that a dollar was nothing because I came with two hundred dollars in my pocket. I had to work thirty one days in the detention center kitchen to make thirty one dollars. I thought I was making some money. When I was released from the detention center, I discovered that a dollar is like cannot even get you chewing gum. And that was what I was being paid, so to be able to place a phone call to my family and friends and the isolation in that place, the standard of living, the food, poor quality of it just made it difficult for me to realize that that is America or this is the America I was so much dreaming about when I thought I was coming to this country for freedom. That was the most difficult time of my life. You know, it compounded my mental health that during this period I have constant anxiety. I’m fidgeting because it reminds me of the trauma of finding a home. I’m grateful I was able to go through that process and get asylum because I got help from a nonprofit organization, like Immigration Equality, who represented me with like legal help and First Friends of New Jersey and New York. When I was released from the detention center, I called them. The center volunteer that took me to the shelter I stayed to. Looking back retrospectively, those are the most difficult times of my life, my entire thrity one years of being on this planet.
Ali Noorani [00:07:42] Jenny explained how critical local community support is for those seeking safety in the US.
Jenny Yang [00:07:46] I think it’s important for people to realize that when we resettle refugees, there are programmatic obligations, in which we have to match what the government gives us with private funding and resources. So, there are certain programs like the match grant program that is available for highly employable refugees, in which they get case management, and then we have to bring in volunteer hours and donations to match government funding for that program, so that refugees can be employed as quickly as possible. And that’s been a highly successful program where refugees are employed very quickly once they arrive to the United States. And what our aim at World Relief, and I know a lot of other organizations, is to make sure that whenever a refugee lands at an airport, they are welcomed by local community members who are either there saying hello or with signs saying, welcome to America, we have to have a hot meal for every refugee once they arrive to the United States. And a lot of times local families and faith communities will cook that meal for these refugees. Sometimes refugees will go into temporary housing or will actually be housed by a local family in a community that wants to house them while they’re getting their feet adjusted to help them with paperwork. And so it really is amazing to see the outpouring of support that many families have shown to these refugees that are really newcomers to this country. And again, it goes to show you that there are so many cities across the United States in which they want to see more refugees coming in because they feel like it’s an expression of their common humanity, an expression of their faith, to be able to welcome the stranger among them. And so so we’ve been really encouraged, even during the pandemic, with how many people have been volunteering and even virtually trying to help refugees online and and other just incredible stories of volunteers that are welcoming refugees into their local communities.
Ali Noorani [00:09:43] This kind of welcome is what ultimately inspired Edafe to become an activist for displaced people in his community.
Edafe Okporo [00:09:49] So when I came out of the detention center, I was taken by First Friends to the YMCA, but it only paid for a certain amount of days. So when those few days ended, I was staying at the train station, the Newark Penn Station in New Jersey, and I was using the Newark Public Library. I was eating from Saint Luke, a Catholic Church. They have breakfast, like coffee and things like that. I got my first job as a kitchen operation manager for Eat Offbeat. Eat Offbeat employs refugees, who prepare homemade meals to New Yorkers. So, while I was doing that, I discovered I don’t have a passion for that job. Although I have a degree in food science and technology and a master’s in nutrition, but that wasn’t really juicing me. I wanted to do something that would influence the lives of other asylum seekers and refugees because there are so many people who are getting released from the detention center like I was, and they don’t have any place to go to. Since then, I’ve dedicated my energy and focus towards building a safe space for asylum seekers and refugees. And you won’t believe, when I started it was like a rat infested basement. It was just me. I don’t have an office space to show that was my space. But, you know, I really, really did not want any of this stuff I suffered, like being released in the YMCA, staying in Newark Penn Station, to be the same story for other asylum seekers. So that was a passion and what was driving me to provide something similar to what I would need when I came to New York.
Ali Noorani [00:11:37] At a time when record numbers of people around the world are displaced from their homes, work like Edafe’s is more critical than ever, especially amid the pandemic.
Jenny Yang [00:11:46] Well, the need has been there, and it in fact is increasing for resettlement, because when you look at what’s happening around the world with conflicts happening in Syria now, it’s entering its 10th year of war. What’s happening in Venezuela, which many are estimating to be one of the worst refugee crises in the world, right in our own hemisphere. Or when you look at what’s happening in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are so many conflicts, in which they’re prolonged and political solutions are not close by. And so these refugees that are fleeing their homes and really having nowhere else to go really have nowhere else to go. They cannot return home. They cannot locally integrate. And being able to be resettled to the United States is really their only- their last resort. They’re the last durable solution that they really need, and so when that option is effectively closed off, it forces many of these refugees to feel like they’ve been abandoned effectively.
Ali Noorani [00:12:44] So where do we go from here? What could a more welcoming, safe approach to displaced people look like?
Jenny Yang [00:12:50] I think for the president to be able to lead with a values-based message around the value of welcoming those who are persecuted, I think that’s highly resonant with the American people. And I think there’s a way you can speak to it that reaffirms what we’ve always done well, which is welcome in the communities that we’ve worked with.
Edafe Okporo [00:13:10] The major headline I would see that would really gratify the efforts that I have put is that, at the federal level, a New Deal and a New Deal would be announced by the president and say United States of America is announcing a new deal on resettlement of refugees around the world. And the New Deal is not that we are bringing refugees to America, but we’re creating opportunities in the countries they find themselves so they can be able to resettle, reducing the burden on the United States of America. Two milestones before that New Deal is won: I want to see a change, systemic change, in the asylum policy in America that would comprehensively cover our people, enter into the system and our people exit from social services, because most times the pain points are not things that are visible to people who are not refugees and asylum seekers.
Ali Noorani [00:14:16] Jenny and Edafe both stressed that a better approach to asylees and refugees will require separating these efforts from the politics surrounding them.
Jenny Yang [00:14:23] You have the refugee resettlement program that’s operated by the State Department really to fulfill foreign policy goals that we have, and it really has a totally separate funding stream. Again, it’s supported by local communities, and we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can totally run the refugee resettlement program and help those who are coming to our border. The main thing I would really say to the president is we need your leadership to inspire the American people to understand the values around why we welcome those who are persecuted. And it really has to come from you speaking about the value of this program and emphasizing and telling the story of refugees yourself.
Edafe Okporo [00:15:01] Most policies that are passed about asylum and refugees or displaced people in America is based on political reasons and not logical on the experiences of people seeking asylum.
Jenny Yang [00:15:13] Well I think it’s important to recognize that the program has always had very strong bipartisan support. When the Refugee Act of 1980 passed in Congress, it was passed unanimously, which is almost unheard of these days. But it was because both members of both parties recognize that the US again has this moral obligation to help those who are fleeing persecution and has to be done in support of the general public in the United States. And so it really instituted this very strong public-private partnership, in which when refugees come, they are welcomed by local communities. They are supported with case managers and others that are really helping them integrate. And so, I think when we think about our congressional champions, they’ve been both Democrats and Republicans last year, both Senator Coons, who’s a Democrat from Delaware, and Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, coauthored and led a bipartisan letter in support of the refugee resettlement program. The House Refugee Caucus is bipartisan as well. It’s led by two Democrats and two Republicans, who are championing refugee issues. And so we want to make sure that, as we talk about this very strong tradition of welcoming those who are persecuted, that it always is supported by members of both parties. And I think we’ve been really encouraged that a lot of the support we’ve been seeing publicly has been from members of both parties right now.
Ali Noorani [00:16:36] Ultimately, we’re one of the most powerful nations in the world. We have a long history of resettling those seeking safety and a strong network of communities across the country willing to welcome them. We can and we should do better.
Jenny Yang [00:16:51] Our job for those of us who live in the United States is to make sure that we keep that door open, that we keep opportunities for those who are fleeing persecution to be able to find refuge in the United States. Because we know we can. We have the capability. We have the resources. We have community support for every single area in which refugees come into the United States. There is that network of support.
Edafe Okporo [00:17:13] Public awareness and education, because the major problem as regards to displaced people is that most people do not know about our lived experiences. And most of times we’re preaching to the choir because most people who know about our lived experiences, already know where to donate to or where to support. I think the major goal is like carrying a message that can appeal to the broader public on why we should support refugees and asylum seekers.
Jenny Yang [00:17:44] The role and responsibility of the president right now is to tell us and lead us as a country in being able to set a ceiling that really is what will ultimately fulfill our humanitarian obligations to refugees around the world, especially knowing that we did not fulfill that role over the past four years.
Ali Noorani [00:18:07] Jenny Yang is Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, and Edafe Okporo is Executive Director of the RDJ Refugee Shelter in Harlem and the author of the forthcoming book: Asylum. You can learn more about Jenny and Edafe at our website: ImmigrationForum.org/podcast. And if you like what you hear, please subscribe to Only in America, wherever you are listening to this episode. Only in America is produced and edited by Katie Lutz, Joanna Taylor and Becka Wall. Our artwork and graphics are designed by Karla Leyja. I’m Ali Noorani, and I will talk to you next week.
Underwriting [00:18:44] Support for the National Immigration Forum comes from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and strengthening international peace and security, and from Humanity United. When humanity is united, we can bring a powerful force for human dignity.