Refugees Find a New Home in North Carolina Amid COVID-19

SEATTLE, Washington — Refugees seeking asylum in the United States faced a lot of obstacles in recent years. The refugee ceiling—the annual number of refugees the president determines can enter the country—has been dramatically decreasing since 2017, from 110,000 refugees allowed entry in 2017 to 18,000 in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges for those who recently began their resettlement process. Expatriates flocking to the U.S., particularly refugees in North Carolina, are finding a home amid the chaos.

Amid these difficult times, North Carolina, the state with the seventh-highest refugee resettlement rate in 2019, still strives to be a welcoming and supportive place for those resettling within their borders. In September 2019, the Trump administration issued Executive Order 13888. This order allowed officials to refuse refugees if they desired, instructing states and local governments to either accept or turn away refugees for resettlement in their areas.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper quickly responded and submitted a letter in December expressing the state’s willingness to participate in the resettlement program. In the letter, Governor Cooper states, “North Carolina was one of the first states to welcome refugees to the U.S. after the U.S. Refugee Act was signed into law in 1980. Our state has a strong network of community and faith-based groups which aid in the resettlement of refugees who seek safety from persecution.” As Cooper mentions, seeking safety is the driving force for refugees and families embarking on the resettlement journey, which is a long and often difficult process.

To explain the process in very simplified terms, refugees seek out camps in their home countries to flee war, violence or persecution. They then register with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Applicants participate in interviews with the UNHCR, lasting six months to several years. Refugees selected to resettle in the U.S. begin a separate screening process conducted by the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security. Refugees undergo cultural orientation before entering the U.S. as long as they pass medical and security checks. Finally, national resettlement agencies determine what states and locations best fit the families or individuals based on criteria such as cultural makeup, connections in the area and available jobs.

Once within a state, refugees can seek out programs to help settle into their new homes. In North Carolina, as with other states, there are essentially two parties that function to help refugees resettle successfully: state-run programs and private, nonprofit organizations. North Carolina established the North Carolina Refugee Assistance Program (NC RAP), which serves to help eligible participants become economically self-sufficient. NC RAP does this by offering short-term financial support, medical assistance and other services such as English language training and employment services.

The private, nonprofit organizations operate under contract with the state of North Carolina to provide further services to help refugees transition into their new communities. The Church World Service (CWS) and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) are both examples of private agencies that work to resettle people in North Carolina. Organizations like these exist all across the country, but North Carolina presents special challenges that the employees at CWS and USCRI need to address.

Feven Smith works as a reception and placement program coordinator at USCRI in Raleigh, North Carolina. Smith told The Borgen Project how refugees deal with a problem that is probably familiar to most people in the Research Triangle region in North Carolina. “Public transportation is not one of the best, as we all know,” said Smith. “Until they get a car they will have to use public transportation, so they’ll have less flexibility than having an easier transportation system.”

The Borgen Project also interviewed Kokou Nayo, a refugee community organizer at CWS. Nayo mentioned another challenge CWS faces when trying to place refugees in the Triangle region and Greensboro city. “We get refugees that have larger families,” he stated. “Some refugees come with eight or nine people. One of the challenges is to find accommodation that will suit everyone. Houses here are not built to accommodate eight people in one family.”

The USCRI and CWS facilitate programs to address these issues among others, such as helping refugees get their driver’s licenses and finding landlords interested in housing refugee families. While resettlement agencies have routine issues they deal with, COVID-19 is presenting new, unique challenges. Nayo added that employees at CWS help refugees who recently lost their jobs apply for unemployment. This is especially difficult amid the COVID-19 pandemic with slow state unemployment websites and overwhelmed phone lines.

However, some refugees that arrived recently do not qualify for unemployment. Thankfully, CWS received donations from members of the community to help unemployed individuals in the meantime. Smith stated that the USCRI is currently going through a difficult transition that a lot of people can likely relate to. “We have been affected in so many ways,” stated Smith. “The refugees are not able to come and the ones who came cannot get the regular services they used to in person. Now everything is provided through the phone, so it is not that easy.”

However, to Nayo, this difficult time presents an opportunity for people to observe how refugees deeply care for their new homes in North Carolina. Nayo stated refugees are working in hospitals and chicken plants every day amid the pandemic to keep the place they call home as operational and unaltered as possible.

“For every refugee that is in North Carolina, they will tell you, ‘this is my home.’ And home is technically not where you are born, home is where your heart feels at peace. Home is where you feel yourself. Most refugees do feel themselves here, and you can see them going to their work during a pandemic,” said Nayo. “This just shows you how much they care.”

– Lindsey Shinkle
Photo: Flickr