During Donald Trump's presidency,redhead in lingerie, standing anal sex videos refugee resettlement in the U.S. dropped drastically, nixing the country's former ranking as the world's top country for refugee admissions, according to analysis by Pew Research Center.
This comes at a historically perilous time: In 2019, the United Nations released data about global displacement, finding that there were 25.9 million refugees worldwide in 2018. Refugees make up a portion of the forcibly displaced people worldwide, which was at a record 70.8 million people in 2018. This was the highest level of global displacement numbers in the agency's nearly 70 year existence, according to the UN's refugee agency chief.
In the U.S., there may be more challenges to the status of refugees to come. For one thing, there's President Trump's executive order attempting to allow state and local governments to stop refugee resettlement in their communities. It was blocked by a Maryland judge, but still awaits further action. Additionally, the Trump administration has announced plans to lower the maximum amount of refugees allowed in the U.S., already at its lowest since the 1980 enactment of the refugee resettlement program. As such, supporting refugees here in the U.S. has an added urgency.
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One of the key things that refugees need is help with finding a welcoming resettlement in new countries, Kathryn Mahoney, senior communications officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), says. The trauma of fleeing one's home is compounded by the difficulties that come with readjusting to a new, unfamiliar country, says Ellen Beattie, senior director of programming quality and innovation at International Rescue Committee (IRC), a prominent refugee aid organization.
The IRC, with its many field offices, has a presence in a lot of cities. Of course, there are other organizations working to support refugees around the country. An IRC spokesperson recommends turning to Refugee Council USA's website to find volunteer listings from other vetted organizations.
Everyone can have a hand in creating a welcoming environment for refugees, wherever you are, according to Mahoney and Beattie. Mashable asked them for advice about how to support refugees in your own community. Their advice was backed up by Nasrin Rejali, a refugee from Iran who now works as a chef in New York. Here’s what they had to say.
At school
Supporting fellow students and classmates can happen throughout the school system. This is important for refugee educational access, Mahoney and Beattie point out, because refugees will likely need additional support transitioning to new school systems. (Around the world, only three percent of refugees enroll in college or university, according to the UNHCR.)
When it comes to learning a new language, for example, barriers to educational access for refugees can start early, Beattie says, since there might not be additional programs in place at your school to help with language acquisition. It’s important, then, to try to offer language support early on in the educational system. If your school doesn’t offer any kind of English tutoring classes, Mahoney suggests getting community members together to see what kind of help you could offer in school as volunteers.
For example, if possible, you might be able to set up a volunteering program for learning English, especially with the help of those who have expertise in the subject, like English teachers.
It’s important to be mindful of potential scheduling issues, though. Rejali, a single mother of three, was encouraged by her children to attend after-school English classes offered at their school, but she was unable to go due to her work schedule. (After first arriving in the U.S., Rejali worked from 6:30 a.m. to midnight for a time.) Rejali says offering a flexible schedule, or even take-home resources, might help counter this problem for others.
While starting programs at school might require jumping some bureaucratic hurdles, like getting approval from school administration, which can be difficult depending on your school, there are also other ways to ease the transition into a new school system that don't require as much expertise.
Mahoney points out, for instance, that you might start a refugee awareness raising club, highlighting the challenges faced by refugees both in the U.S. and elsewhere for people in your school community. For students, campus guidelines will typically explain the process for setting up a club. Additionally, she has some especially easy advice for helping the transition if there are any refugees attending your school: Ask them to hang out! Not only are you making new friends, you can also help fight the isolation many newly settled refugees feel, Mahoney notes.
Mahoney also notes that Columbia University recently launched a school-wide refugee scholarship, likely the first initiative of its kind at that scale, and she thinks that other schools would be wise to follow suit. To replicate something similar at your college or university, Mahoney suggests advocating for refugee-focused scholarships that might work given the specifics of your school. Going about that can look different from school to school, but if you're an educator or administrator, you might start by researching scholarships policies at your school, then setting up meetings with school administration to see how feasible this might be.
At work
In addition to educational barriers, finding work is often one of the first challenges facing refugees in new countries, Mahoney and Beattie point out.
When Rejali first needed to find work, she went to the IRC, through which she was eventually able to find her current job as a chef at Eat OffBeat, a catering service that employs refugees who are resettled in the New York City area.
Like Eat OffBeat, you might be able to set up programs that foster the hiring of refugees at your company in order to help those newly resettled find work. To go about this, Mahoney suggests just getting conversations started at your company, especially with supportive higher ups, to see how your company might be able to help. (IRC also has a handy guide for explaining how refugees can help your business.) To find resettled refugee applicants, Beattie notes that you can reach out to your local IRC field office.
You can also participate in corporate volunteer events. The IRC has ones in which you and your coworkers volunteer on special projects, like citizenship workshops, where volunteers, after some training, can help IRC clients complete paperwork needed for the citizenship application process. Learn more about corporate sponsorship here.
As Mahoney notes, you can also learn from companies that are well-known for their welcoming and inclusive environments for refugees, citing Chobani and the LEGO Foundation as examples. While you might not be able to get your work to adopt all of their policies by yourself, there are ways to take similar steps towards supporting refugees in the workplace, like setting up a company donation process that matches employee donations to refugee aid organizations, Mahoney points out.
And at both school and at work, Mahoney stresses that getting policies in place to ease the transition for refugees, like those that formally support the hiring of refugees or provide skills-based resources to refugees already with the company, is one of the most important things you can do to offer support.
“The biggest picture support that we can have for refugees is a world that has welcoming policies,” Mahoney said. “You just need to ask yourself, ‘Does university policy reflect that? Does company policy reflect that?’ [Because] we can influence those policies.”
In the financial sector
It’s also crucial to help refugees navigate the bureaucratic systems that don't make much sense without some previous experience, Beattie and Mahoney point out. Upon arriving in the U.S., Rejali quickly learned how important access to financial systems could be. She wanted to rent an apartment so that her kids could have a consistent place to stay but in order to do so, she needed to establish a credit score, which she didn’t have, being new to the country. Her experience, according to Beattie and Mahoney, is extremely common.
Working two jobs, one of which was at Eat OffBeat, Rejali says that she had to try over 100 landlords before eventually finding a landlord who would rent to her. Rejali’s employer at Eat OffBeat ultimately helped her navigate the paperwork and bills that came along with that.
Even if you don't personally know anyone like Rejali in need of financial mentorship, you can volunteer to help out: The IRC offers financial coaching workshops, which help those new to the U.S. banking system build financial literacy skills, and you may be able to volunteer at financial coaching opportunities, depending on availability. Look through its volunteer opportunities to find one in your area. Additionally, there are also specialized volunteer programs for providing tax assistance, including free tax preparation services for refugees, that qualified applicants can help with during tax season.
Through your own, personal skills
Beattie and Mahoney both suggest applying skills that you might have to other tailored volunteer efforts as well. So, if you have a background in analyzing legal documents, offering medical assistance, or experience with employment preparedness services, like resume reviews, you can look for specific volunteer efforts that deal with those areas. Beattie suggests checking IRC's volunteer listings for more specific programs.
If there isn't a listing that matches your given skillset you can still reach out to your local office to offer your assistance. IRC can then provide further guidance on how you might be able to help. You can also reach out the Refugee Council USA directly to see what kind of help local resettlement agencies need.
Additionally, Beattie encourages engaging with individual families on a personal level, especially when they first arrive in the U.S. She notes that there might be programs in your community where you can sponsor or mentor refugee families in need, which you could look for in local community resources. You can also look into the IRC's Housing Outreach Mentorship (H.O.M.E.) program, when available. The program allows teams of community members to assist newly resettled families with apartment and home set-up, finances, and other needed services during their first six months in the U.S.
Stable housing is hugely important, Beattie says. To help out, she points to a partnership between IRC, Airbnb, and other nonprofits. Through the Open Homes program, you can offer free, temporary housing for refugees or asylum-seekers, so long as you have a spare room, bed, basic amenities, and a minimum of two weeks available. Similar to a normal Airbnb posting, you create a listing with your profile and then the nonprofits that have partnered with Airbnb will make bookings on behalf of their clients, working with you to ensure that the match is a good fit.
SEE ALSO: Airbnb offers free emergency housing for people displaced by Australian bushfiresAdditionally, you can become a "family mentor" volunteer through IRC, Beattie notes. In this role, you can engage directly with families, whether by introducing families to friends in the neighborhood, exposing parents to some of the city’s infrastructure, like health clinics, or taking kids to the park, Beattie says. Again, she suggests checking with your local IRC field office to find out about opportunities to provide closer support and mentorship. You can also look into community sponsorship opportunities through Refugee Council USA, which allow you to work with local resettlement agencies to do things like greet newly arrived refugee families at the airport and introduce them to community happenings.
In spirit
Beattie notes that despite fairly widespread support for accepting refugees, in the U.S., refugees might not feel that welcome when reading the news.
"To have people coming out and expressing their support, it can be incredibly powerful on a psychological level.”
“When you have so much xenophobic rhetoric coming from the highest offices, it matters more than ever [to be supportive],” Beattie said. “It’s oppressive, and it’s hurtful. To have people coming out and expressing their support, it can be incredibly powerful on a psychological level.”
She suggests simple actions, like writing welcome cards to refugees at community centers, that make one message clear: You’re welcome here. These can be especially helpful if they go to refugees directly in your community.
Mahoney also notes that creating a welcoming environment for refugees can start online through sharing humanizing stories that counter some of the harmful rhetoric out there. This might mean sharing videos from refugee organizations that highlight the stories of individual refugees, or reposting stories from refugees who you directly follow or personally know.
And because there are so many reasons for an individual to seek refuge, she suggests finding a cross section with another issue that also matters to you. Doing so will allow you to connect other issues to the stories of refugees, Mahoney notes. (She suggests, for instance, learning a bit more about LGBTQ persecution, and growing conversations around explicitly protecting climate refugees.)
Another way to change public perceptions is through policy shifts, Mahoney says. You can check with Refugee Council USA in order to find national and local advocacy opportunities to support legislation that welcomes refugees, and to engage with elected leaders and local policy makers.
Ultimately, though, any effort that humanizes refugees is helpful, in Rejali’s opinion.
“Refugees are the same as all the people in the world,” Rejali said. “When you come here, you need people to help you. You need people to care about you. I know everyone has their own problems, and that life is already hard, but we need to be kind to each other."
Topics Social Good