Afghan Refugee Struggles-WEB
Metadata
- Afghan Refugee Struggles-WEB
- January 28, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script Afghan Refugee Struggles (TV, R) HEADLINE: In Texas, Afghan Refugee Families Struggle to Begin New Life TEASER: In the U.S. for more three months, these refugee families say they are not getting the help they need from the local refugee agency PUBLISHED AT: 1/27/2022 at 8:35am BYLINE: Deana Mitchell CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: VIDEOGRAPHER: Deana Mitchell VIDEO EDITOR: Deana Mitchell SCRIPT EDITORS: Michelle Quinn, Mia Bush VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Zoom PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV x__ RADIO x__ TRT: 4:57 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[As an unprecedented number of Afghan refugees are placed in U.S. cities, resettlement agencies struggle to keep up. Deana Mitchell talked to several Afghan families new to Austin, Texas who said they aren’t getting the help they need.]] ((NARRATOR)) (( Mandatory CG: Ismail Purdali)) Ismail Purdali worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan for several years. He was shot in the arm by the Taliban in 2014 and lost a leg to an explosion in 2016. And in August of last year, he joined around 75,000 other Afghans seeking refuge in the United States. ((Ismail Purdali, Afghan refugee, via translator Abd ur Rahman Shinwari)) ((Mandatory CG: Ismail Purdali)) “I was injured two times while working with U.S. advisers, and they told me that when you go to the U.S., you will get financial aid and the U.S. government will help.” ((NARRATOR)) But after several months in Austin, Texas, and unable to walk very far on his own, he waits in his apartment every day for the very things that will allow him to build a new life. Like his social security card, so that he can apply for food stamps and hopefully find work. Other basics promised to refugees include English lessons and instructions on how to use public transportation. That hasn’t happened for Purdali and two other refugees VOA spoke to who were in the same U.S. special forces unit in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. When Purdali calls the agency that was assigned to help him, Refugee Services of Texas, he can’t get through, he says. ((Ismail Purdali, Afghan refugee via translator Abd ur Rahman Shinwari)) “We don’t have our caseworker right now. Nobody is taking care of us right now.” ((NARRATOR)) Across the U.S., Afghan refugees are living on military bases or have been placed in homes by refugee agencies assigned to help them adjust. But, with an unprecedented number of Afghans arriving suddenly last fall, agencies are struggling to help refugees get resettled, raising the question whether the system in place is sufficient to meet the need. ((NARRATOR)) Russell Smith, the CEO of Refugee Services of Texas, who is based in Austin, said he was unaware of the specifics of Purdali’s situation and that of other refugees VOA spoke to. But he said the agency is coping with a high demand. ((Russell Smith, Refugee Services of Texas CEO)) “We are more than double our arrivals in the first three months of this fiscal year. So, that hurts me to think that people are kind of falling through the cracks. I know that we are hiring as fast as we can.” ((NARRATOR)) The U.S. refugee resettlement infrastructure has suffered from years of decline during the Trump administration, when federal government funding was cut, said Elizabeth Ferris, a migration policy expert at Georgetown University. ((Elizabeth Ferris, Georgetown University Migration Expert)) ((Courtesy: Zoom)) “And at the same time, you've got this dramatic increase in numbers. There's a lot of pressure to move people off the bases into communities quickly, and so it's really putting stress on these local agencies and on the refugees themselves.” ((NARRATOR)) Still, she said the situation for the families VOA spoke to is unacceptable. ((Elizabeth Ferris, Georgetown University Migration Expert)) ((Courtesy: Zoom)) “If the local affiliate doesn't have the capacity, they either need to build that capacity or maybe make other arrangements and people shouldn't fall through the cracks like that.” ((NARRATOR)) Falling through the cracks is what Fazullah Mohmadi feels like he, his wife and 10 children, including a newborn, have done. ((Fazullah Mohmadi, Afghan refugee via translator Abd ur Rahman Shinwari)) “This house is like 12 people in it. We are not like animals, you know. There should be the same human rights.” ((NARRATOR)) He said he was told his rent at $2,300 a month is too high to be eligible for monthly payments that others receive. He has been surviving with food stamps, which a neighbor helped him apply for, and some savings from working with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He doesn’t know who his landlord is, when he is expected to pay bills on his own, and his calls and texts to RST go unanswered. ((NARRATOR)) A spokesperson for Refugee Services of Texas disputed this claim and said all families have received multiple cash assistance payments. But he did admit that the agency, which has helped settle 800 Afghans in the area in four months, is behind schedule on providing services, such as teaching English and learning how to use the bus. ((NARRATOR)) ((Mandatory CG: Zoom)) Demetrio Alvero is the director of operations for Episcopal Migration Ministries, which receives money from the federal government and distributes it to refugee affiliates such as Refugee Services of Texas. ((Demetrio Alvero, Episcopal Migration Ministries)) ((Courtesy: Zoom)) “There's plenty of money to assist individual families. So what you're describing to me is very inconsistent with the way our affiliates operate and it would really require us to look into the matter very carefully.” ((NARRATOR)) Getting some help and attention is exactly what Mohmadi is hoping for. ((Fazullah Mohmadi, Afghan Refugee)) ((via translator Abd ur Rahman Shinwari)) “My request is from the government, if they give pay to different organizations like RST, they have to have some kind of accountability. They have to see what’s going on and what’s the reality in the ground. They have to have checks and balances.” Meanwhile, 20,000 more Afghans are on military bases awaiting to be assigned to cities throughout the U.S. ((Deana Mitchell for VOA News, Austin, Texas))
- NewsML Media Topics Politics
- Topic Tags Refugees
- Network VOA
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English