Extraordinary People

While I have been researching different hot topics on refugees, reading different articles and seeing different pictures, I got in a pretty low mood after seeing all the hatred and negativity pointed towards an already exploided people group. The public dialogue concerning the refugee population never ceases to create a negative conotation behind the refugee people.  When the words “refugee crisis” and “terrorist” are used together, the conversation neglects to talk about the human rights’ infracting groups that create refugees, the media instead creates the idea that the refugees are the problem, almost like a menace to society. On the contrary, refugees are people who had well founded lives and professions, who only left those lives behind because they were in fear of their fate. Instead of the usual internet post describing refugees as a “sad” or “needy”  social group, or give attention to any negative ideas even furhter, here is a positive post to remind us that refugees are people too, and it’s our job to publicize and remember that, even if the media will not.

In 1948 Madeline Albright’s family fled an oppressive Czechoslovakia I fear for their lives during the  years of the USSR in Eastern Europe. Madeline Albright is the first female secratary of state, former US ambassador under Bill Clinton, but first she was a refugee. In an attempt to bring education towards refugees, Albright continues to fight oppressive forces over refugees, as her latest Facebook addresses Trumps comments tomoward refugees.

During the reign of Nazi occupied Germany, thousands of Jewish people left Euorope in fear of their lives due to the genocide of the Jewish population. Among those refugees were the wonderful minds of men like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. Einstein’s work in physhcics and the theory of relativity were Nobel award winning, which is more generally known than the fact that he was a refugee who got a position at Princeton to make his move. Freud is a well know Austrian neurologist  and discovered phenominal work in psychology and psychiatry, but due to his work in education he was personally threatened by the Nazi Regime on several occasions. Sigmumd and his daughter both left for the UK.

There are hundreds more refugees who influenced the world through their work, like Haitian rapper Wycleft Jean, Sudanese NBA All Star Luol Deng, and other popculture figures. It’s unfortunate that this infomation is not publicly known, almost as if the refugee crisis is suppressed in media and government works. These refugees are people just like everybody else, some who are more extraordinary than most of us, and that fact is not as publicly announced as it should. Makes refugees welcomed and known for their individuality and culture, not hated for it.

Israeli- Palestine conflict

The 1948 Israeli War of Independence, and the subsequent flight of refugees, became central formative events
that characterized both Israelis as well as Palestinians as well as define the current conflict. In 1947 The UN voted to partition 

The Palestinian Voiceless.

Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, which the Palestinians heavily opposed. This led to riots, from the blockade
of Jewish Jerusalem, to the ambush of buses and other public transports. There are currently about 4.6 million displaced 4.6 million displaced persons, as well as about 3.7 million refugees registered with the UNRWA, a drastic increase from the estimated 726,000 refugees directly following the war. Since 1949 the Palestinian refugee crisis has been at the heart of peace negotiations in the middle east, though refugees find camp conditions poverty stricken and overcrowded. The UN General Assembly Resolution 194 stated that the refugees that wished to return to their homes and live peacefully amongst their neighbors would be permitted to do so. However, this has not been informed, and though they have international legal claim to return home, many Palestinians have not been allowed to return home as these are part of the General Assembly and no binding in the international law.

Many Arab states are unwilling to accept refugees. with the exception of Jordan, they are largely unwilling to give refugees citizenship. There has been a proposition to allow for a Palestinian state, however many argue that the delegated land would be too small to properly house the refugees. The other issue is that Palestinians have a claim to the land they have been removed from, and they should be allowed to return to their homeland. The issue is vastly more complex and neither side is right nor wrong, and therefore finding a happy equal for both sides to negotiate will be near impossible.

http://www.mideastweb.org/refugees1.htm

Refugee mother and Child (Palestinian) 

https://www.thenational.ae/world/nakba-day-un-documents-palestinian-exodus-1.246294

Palestinian refugees http://www.thejournal.ie/palestinian-refugees-how-statehood-bid-at-un-affects-us-234647-Sep2011/

Reflection on the Realities of Refugee Resettlement and the Future of Refugee Resettlement and Asylum in the U.S.

Last week, Katie Willocks of Bridge Refugee Services in Knoxville came and spoke to our class. She explained her job as a case manager and walked us through from start to finish the process of resettling refugees in Knoxville. It was astounding to hear just how quickly refugees must adapt to life in the United States, and that “self-sufficient” really just means financially independent to the point that you are able to feed yourself and your family, and pay your bills. Despite all of the help and guidance Bridge provides to newly arrived refugees, this support cannot last forever due to limited resources, and is gone after a refugee’s first year in Knoxville. Even with more support, acclimating to a new country and a new culture where you don’t know the language, have to find a job, and a place to live is an overwhelming experience at best. Newly arrived refugees are provided a place to live, basic necessities, and cultural orientation and language classes, but actually learning the language and finding a job is, in the end, up to them.

As hard and scary as this process sounds, it is important to recognize that most refugees never make it to this point. Less than 1% of all refugees in UNHCR camps are resettled annually (www.migrationpolicy.org 2017). Of those that are resettled, even less are resettled to the United States, and before that can happen refugees must endure many layers of screening to ensure that they are who they say they are, and do not pose a threat to the United States. However, no matter how far into the screening process they are, refugees can still be denied at any point in the screening process (www.state.gov).

            Despite the low acceptance rate of refugees into the United States, President Trump wants restrict resettlement and make it more difficult for asylum seekers to claim asylum on U.S. soil. In Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) the United States resettled 84,994 refugees (www.migrationpolicy.org 2017). This may seem like a lot, but that is 84,994 out of 65.6 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, with 22.5 million of those having received the legal and administrative label of “Refugee” (www.unhcr.org). For FY2017 President Trump wants to lower the admission ceiling from 110,000 refugees to 50,000 (www.migrationpolicy.org 2017). That does not mean that the U.S. will resettle 50,000 refugees, it means we can settle up to 50,000 refugees if we chose too (www.migrationpolicy.org 2017)

In addition to lowering the refugee resettlement ceiling, President Trump wants to make it more difficult for people to claim asylum in the United States. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has proposed revoking the policy that allows asylum seekers to have a hearing so that they can argue their asylum claim in order to free up the backlog of cases awaiting to be heard in immigration court. Trump’s proposed policy changes would also roll back the Obama administration’s protections for unaccompanied minors who cross the U.S./Mexico border allowing border patrol to apprehend them and immediately deport them back to Mexico (www.nytimes.com; theintercept.com). It is already very difficult to be granted asylum in the U.S. There must be no inconsistencies in your story, you cannot be affiliated with terror or guerrilla groups, you cannot have participated in the violation of human rights, and you must convince an asylum case officer that you have a credible fear of persecution if you are returned to your home country. It is an incredibly subjective process leaving most of the discretion to the asylum case officer (Bohmer and Shuman 2008). Even without Trump’s proposed changes to the asylum system, changes are already evident as more and more people without criminal records are held in detention centers while they await their hearing, and border patrol has become more aggressive in its apprehension and detention of asylum seekers (theintercept.com).

The right to ask for asylum is a human right. The right to leave one’s country to escape persecution and to find a safe place to live free from fear and violence is a human right. Refugee status and the right to claim asylum are rights protected by international human rights law. However, these rights are being directly attacked by the current administration. The process is and will continue to be made more difficult and hostile towards asylum seekers, and fewer and fewer refugees will be resettled in the United States due to xenophobia and racism masquerading as national security concerns. This may very well be the end of United States Refugee policy and the end of any asylum case being granted in the United States. As a country that often shames the human rights records of other countries and prides itself on being defenders of human rights abroad, it may be time that we turned that finger around, took a long hard look in the mirror, and asked ourselves how committed to defending human rights we really are if we won’t even defend and uphold them on our own soil.

References Cited:

Print:

Bohmer, C., & Shuman, Amy. (2008). Rejecting refugees : Political asylum in the 21st century. London ; New York: Routledge.

Webpages:

https://theintercept.com/2018/04/03/immigration-detention-asylum-seeker-medical-exam/

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/us/politics/trump-immigration-mexico-daca.html

https://www.state.gov/j/prm/ra/admissions/

http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html