[Senate Prints 111-52]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
111th Congress S. Prt.
2d Session COMMITTEE PRINT 111-52
_______________________________________________________________________
ABANDONED UPON ARRIVAL: IMPLICATIONS FOR REFUGEES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
BURDENED BY A U.S. RESETTLEMENT SYSTEM THAT IS NOT WORKING
__________
A REPORT
TO THE MEMBERS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
One Hundred Eleventh Congress
Second Session
JULY 21, 2010
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
Available via World Wide Web:
http://www.gpoacess.gov/congress/index.html
________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
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20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin BOB CORKER, Tennessee
BARBARA BOXER, California JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
JIM WEBB, Virginia ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York
Frank G. Lowenstein, Staff Director
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Republican Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Letter of Transmittal............................................ v
Introduction..................................................... 1
Findings......................................................... 2
Recommendations.................................................. 4
Overview......................................................... 6
Case Study: Fort Wayne, Indiana.............................. 7
Case Study: Clarkston, Georgia............................... 11
Conclusion....................................................... 14
Acknowledgements................................................. 15
Appendix I--Summary of Refugee Admissions as of 30 April, 2010... 17
Appendix II--Official Letter from City of Fort Wayne, Indiana.... 19
Appendix III--Refugee Article in the News-Sentinel............... 21
Appendix IV--Refugee Article in the Journal Gazette.............. 23
Appendix V--Refugee Article in the New York Times................ 24
Appendix VI--Legislation Introduced in the Georgia General
Assembly, April 2003........................................... 37
Appendix VII--Acronyms........................................... 38
(iii)
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
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United States Senate,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, DC, July 21, 2010.
Dear Colleagues: Since 1975, the United States has offered
safe-haven to nearly 3 million refugees who faced persecution
in Communist-controlled and conflict-ridden regions of the
world. This resettlement reflects our Nation's noblest
humanitarian traditions, and should continue. But we must
acknowledge that significant costs are associated with this
activity.
After consulting with community stakeholders in Indiana and
elsewhere, and in light of the recent Presidential directive
authorizing the admission of up to 80,000 refugees in FY 2010,
I asked the Foreign Relations Committee minority staff, who
have long monitored the conditions of vulnerable refugee
populations during their travels, under the leadership of
professional staff member Garrett Johnson to assess the
government's policies and programs for refugee admission and
resettlement. Staff found that resettlement efforts in some
U.S. cities are underfunded, overstretched, and failing to meet
the basic needs of the refugee populations they are currently
asked to assist. Especially in a difficult economic climate,
the current structure of the U.S. resettlement system is
proving a strain on local resources and community relations.
As a former mayor, I am sensitive to the challenges faced
by resettlement cities in Indiana and across the country. U.S.
refugee policies and procedures are determined at the Federal
level, but the burdens of addressing the unique needs of
refugees after they arrive are passed on to local communities,
often without their consent. Some resettled refugees are
illiterate in their native language or suffer from severe
physical or mental ailments and many are ill-equipped to secure
employment in an increasingly competitive job market. The
financial and mentoring assistance required to help this
population achieve self-sufficiency exceeds the resources
currently provided by the Federal Government.
In Fort Wayne, IN, educators working with large refugee
populations resettled in the city have expressed frustration
because they lack the time and tools to address the
extraordinary needs of refugee students. Poor performances on
mandated standardized tests by some recently arrived refugee
students, who often lack basic education after languishing in
refugee camps for a decade or more, are negatively impacting
the overall scores and reputations of schools. Public health
officials also have raised concerns that some refugee
populations, who have been found to suffer from elevated rates
of latent tuberculosis (TB), are not undergoing adequate
prearrival screening or properly monitoring their own
treatment. Consequently, they face a higher risk of developing
active TB, which is contagious and a potential health threat to
the general population.
(v)
The administration must demonstrate clearly to Congress and
resettlement communities how federal resources will be better
matched with refugee admissions. In order to supplement this
report and the administration's inquiry, I have also asked the
Government Accountability Office to undertake a comprehensive
review of the U.S. refugee resettlement system. In the future,
the administration may determine that an increase in Federal
funding or decrease in refugee admissions is warranted. But the
practice of passing the costs of resettling refugees on to
local communities should not continue.
I was pleased to learn recently that Representative Anh
``Joseph'' Cao of Louisiana, who fled Communist-controlled
Vietnam in 1975 as a refugee, was sponsored by a family from
Goshen, IN, and spent many of his formative years as a Hoosier.
His success and service as the first Vietnamese-American Member
of Congress exemplifies the potential benefits gained by our
country through offering safe haven to the persecuted of the
world. The administration and Congress must ensure that the
refugee resettlement system is properly structured so that it
continues to be perceived as a benefit and not a burden.
This report and its recommendations are particularly timely
given that discussions on reforming the refugee resettlement
system have been initiated within the administration. I look
forward to continuing to work with you on these issues, and I
welcome any comments you have.
Sincerely,
Richard G. Lugar,
Ranking Member.
ABANDONED UPON ARRIVAL: IMPLICATIONS FOR REFUGEES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
BURDENED BY A U.S. RESETTLEMENT SYSTEM THAT IS NOT WORKING
Introduction
The United States, historically, is a nation of immigrants.
In recent decades, however, it has also become a nation of
refugees. Since 1975, the year in which hundreds of thousands
of persons from Communist-controlled Vietnam started arriving
on our shores, the United States has officially accepted for
resettlement roughly 2.9 million refugees from strife-torn
countries around the world. The United States has resettled
more refugees than any other country.
Legally, a refugee is someone admitted to the United
States after Federal agencies have made a determination that he
or she has been persecuted or has well-founded fear of
potential persecution based on race, nationality, religion,
membership in a particular group or political opinion and is
unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin. By
contrast, the majority of immigrants allowed to enter America
generally decide to relocate for family reunion or economic
reasons.
But experience has shown that there are also important
qualitative differences between the two groups. Some refugee
populations currently arriving in the United States have
languished in refugee camps for nearly a decade or more. They
are reported to have a much greater need for prolonged
government support if they are to become conversant, employed
and self-sufficient. Some are illiterate in their native
language, these refugees have limited formal education, suffer
from serious health or psychological conditions and lack the
basic skills required to compete in an increasingly strained
job market.
In order to better understand the challenges confronting
resettlement cities and the refugees admitted to the United
States, Senator Richard Lugar, ranking member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, asked staff to assess the
government's policies and programs for refugee admissions and
resettlement. This study finds that resettlement efforts in
many U.S. cities are underfunded, overstretched, and failing to
meet the basic needs of the refugee populations they are
currently asked to assist. Especially in a difficult economic
climate, the study recommends that the Federal Government do
more to support and resource the local communities who bear the
responsibilities of receiving this increased flow. This study
concludes that the policies promulgated in the Refugee Act of
1980 and the current system of refugee processing, orientation,
placement, and resettlement assistance are out-dated and fail
to address the needs of the culturally and linguistically
diverse populations now being admitted to the United States.
This report will attempt to underscore a number of
critical challenges confronting the refugee resettlement system
and offer recommendations for better supporting local
resettlement communities as well as improving the quality of
assistance offered to refugees admitted to the United States.
Findings
1. Under current practice, the Federal Government works
with national voluntary organizations, including faith-based
groups, to decide on where to send refugees for resettlement.
These newcomers place demands, sometimes significant, on local
schools, police, hospitals and social services. Local
governments are often burdened with the weight of addressing
the unique assistance refugees require, yet they rarely have an
official role in influencing how many refugees are resettled by
local voluntary agencies and often are not even informed in
advance that new residents will be arriving.
2. Although the ability to communicate--even on a basic
level--is essential to the survival of refugee populations
(e.g., access to employment for adults and educational
opportunities for youth), resources for language instruction
are inadequate. Unlike migrants in search of economic
opportunities, who can often access extensive friend and family
networks to navigate language or other cultural barriers, new
refugee populations lack this type of community resource upon
arrival. The language barrier often impedes the ability of
refugees to navigate local health care systems with a potential
wide impact on the general public health. Interviews conducted
for this study with law enforcement officials also revealed
grave public safety concerns, as language barriers often limit
the ability of officers to communicate with refugees during
emergency situations.
A 2009 study completed by the Georgetown Law Human Rights
Institute, based on consultations with Iraqi refugee
communities in Washington, DC, Detroit, San Diego, and the
country of Jordan, found that ``refugees have difficulty
accessing English language training, the quality of instruction
is poor, and there are simply not enough classes available for
all refugees.'' \1\A 2008 study commissioned by the Office of
Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services clearly noted that refugees arriving with some
level of English proficiency, as well as those who receive ESL
services, often have better outcomes.\2\
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\1\ Adess, S. et al. (2009). ``Refugee Crisis in America: Iraqis
and Their Resettlement Experience.'' Washington, DC: Georgetown Law,
available at www.law.georgetown.edu/news/.../
RefugeeCrisisinAmerica_000.pdf.
\2\ Farrell, M. et al. (2008). ``The Evaluation of the Refugee
Social Services (RSS) and Targeted Assistance Formula Grant (TAG)
Programs: Synthesis of Findings From Three Sites.'' (Prepared by the
Lewin Group and commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.) Available at www.lewin.com/content/publications/3871.pdf.
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3. At present, efforts to address the special needs of
refugee students are ad hoc, a drain on local education
funding, and implemented in the absence of data-driven best
practices. Within the cities examined for this report, several
schools labeled as failing or facing imminent risk of being
taken over by state authorities have a high refugee student
population. School administrators complained that refugee
students--sometimes within weeks of arriving in the United
States--are required to take standardized tests and their often
poor performance is detrimental to the school's overall score.
School administrators also reported receiving little to no
additional Federal or State resources to increase staffing
levels and offer additional assistance addressing the psycho-
social-cultural needs of refugee students.
4. Currently, irrespective of important factors such as
education level, health condition or psychological background
each refugee is initially afforded one-size-fits-all
assistance. Further, resettlement locations are provided very
little, if any, prearrival information regarding these
important factors, which could help the city to better prepare
its social service infrastructure in anticipation of increased
demands. For example, in Fort Wayne, IN, a pattern of elevated
rates of hepatitis B among the Burmese was simply ``stumbled
upon'' by local public health officials. The costly treatment
associated with this life-long condition presents another
significant cost the local community will be forced to bear.
Unfortunately, federal funding formulas used to forecast
resources provided to resettlement cities have proven too
inflexible and backward-looking to respond to such public
health concerns. The issue of monitoring when and where
refugees move after they are initially resettled in the United
States, known as secondary migration, also presents a critical
challenge to the backward-looking funding system. Secondary
migration within the first 8 months of resettlement can create
hidden populations of unsupported refugees. There is currently
no system in place to transfer refugee entitlement benefits
(e.g., medical insurance, housing support, welfare support)
from State to State, placing a further unexpected strain on
communities.
5. The initial per capita grant awarded directly to
refugees for the first 30-90 days after arrival was increased
from roughly $450 to $1,100 in January 2010.\3\ Prior to this
increase, refugees were essentially consigned to poverty upon
entering the United States, as the decades-old grant level had
declined by more than 50 percent in real terms due to
inflation. However, this increase, although welcomed, is
proving to only delay the incidence of poverty, as many
refugees lack a legitimate shot at becoming employed,
conversant, and self-sufficient under the current system.
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\3\ In January, PRM increased the total Reception and Placement
grant from $900 to $1,800. Of this amount, the local resettlement
agency can use up to $700 to cover administrative expenses (i.e.,
salaries, rent, utilities, supplies, etc.). The remaining $1,100 must
be spent on behalf of refugees. On a pilot basis, PRM gave local
resettlement agencies some spending flexibility--requiring at least
$900 to be spent on each refugee and the balance of $200 may be spent
on other cases requiring additional financial assistance.
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6. There is limited Federal funding available to support
programs that assist refugees after the initial resettlement
assistance expires. Resources that exist are often not widely
advertised, difficult to access and no technical assistance is
made available to help local communities with submitting grant
applications.
7. From the perspective of local resettlement cities, it is
clear that the Federal Government has failed to communicate
what actions, if any, are being taken to build a resettlement
system capable of accommodating the refugees authorized by the
presidential directive for FY 2010, without placing additional
strain on local community resources and detracting from the
services extended to current refugees in-country.
Recommendations
1. Enhance Formal Consultations with State and Local
Leaders: The Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (PRM)
within the Department of State should restructure the process
by which refugee resettlement is determined to include formal
participation and consent from local leaders. Currently,
voluntary agencies funded to provide placement services are
only required by PRM to, in writing, briefly:
Describe the date, content, and results of
consultative discussions undertaken by the affiliate
with state and local officials in preparing this
proposal, including the response of the state refugee
coordinator. For new sites, include evidence of
consultations with and support of other local
affiliates, refugee and community service providers,
and the state refugee coordinator.\4\
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\4\ PRM Official Document obtained in April 2010, ``FY 2010
Affiliate/Sub-Office Abstract.''
The restructured process should require local resettlement
agencies to formally consult with state and local officials/
service providers in the resettlement site area regarding the
proposed number and backgrounds of refugees to be resettled in
the area. The qualitative and quantitative input given by local
communities should be included as part of the Refugee Funding
Proposals (RFPs) submitted by resettlement agencies.
The refugee coordinators in each state and PRM
representatives should verify that the consultations took place
and that the views of the officials/service providers are
accurately characterized in the RFPs. In cases of
irreconcilable opinions amongst key stakeholders regarding
absorptive capacity, the state refugee coordinator should be
able to request a moratorium for the community. During this
deferral period, PRM should engage community leaders and
voluntary agencies in order to achieve consensus. The
moratorium would make exception for cases of immediate family
reunification.
2. Improve Access to English as Second Language (ESL)
Courses: The administration should consider strategies,
informed by best practices, for providing prearrival language
instruction and enhanced access to longer term ESL classes once
resettled so that more refugees are placed on a path to
proficiency and eventual self-sufficiency. Among the top
priorities of such strategies, as suggested by experts
consulted for this report, should be allocating funding
specifically for refugee language training and exploring ways
to make some public assistance offered to refugees conditional
upon ESL class attendance to incentivize proficiency. Courses
should meet basic qualification standards in order to ensure
quality control.
3. Invest in Education: The administration should formulate
national strategies, consistent with best practices, for
engaging schools that are tasked with meeting the unique
psycho-social-cultural needs of refugee students, so as not to
detract from the quality of instruction offered to the general
student population. Among the top priorities of such
strategies, as suggested by educators consulted for this report
\5\, should be efforts which:
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\5\ The recommendations reflect the opinions of educators from East
Allen Community Schools and Fort Wayne Community Schools.
A. Create a ``new-comers'' program that delays the
immersion of some refugee youth into the general
student population and provides them, in a separated
environment, instructors and curricula informed by best
practices. Implemented with Federal funding, the
program would evaluate each refugee's educational,
psychological, and physiological status as well as
provide intensive academic, cultural, and English
language instruction.
B. Grant waivers to some refugee youth, under
conditions determined by a panel of experts, exempting
their scores on mandated standardized tests from
negatively influencing overall school performance due
to the often extraordinary circumstances surrounding
their initial resettlement.
C. Increase funding and support for adult educational
and vocational training as well as recertification
programs for nontraditional refugee students. Encourage
ESL training that is linked to prevocational education
in order to facilitate learning for employment.
4. Discard One-Size-Fits-All Approach: The overall
resettlement system must be structured to identify and address
the diverse needs of resettling populations. This should
involve overseas gathering of information that is used to help
local communities plan for and better meet refugee needs. Both
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and
Overseas Processing Entities (OPE) currently interview refugees
and asylum--seekers numerous times and at length throughout the
adjudication process and before admission. Additional
information could be collected either at the level of OPE
processing and/or to be completed by UNHCR when completing the
resettlement referral form. ORR, state refugee coordinators,
local officials and voluntary agencies should be consulted in
determining what type of information would be helpful to
improving local service delivery and capacity planning.
Additionally, this information should inform broad strategic
planning before processing and placement begins.
The administration should also ensure that funding formulas
used to forecast resources provided to resettlement cities are
more flexible, forward-looking and responsive to secondary
migration flows.
5. Improve Accountability: The administration should
examine:
A. Institutional processes and practices of voluntary
agencies, including but not limited to factors that
influence the scope of an agency's annual refugee
resettlement proposal submitted to PRM, organizational
structure, and administrative overhead to ensure an
adherence to best practices and a resettlement program
that is sensitive to local community capacity.
B. Oversight and accountability metrics used by PRM
for monitoring voluntary agencies as well as mechanisms
for assessing internal strengths and inefficiencies
within PRM's administrative processes, the nature of
PRM's consultations with local and state elected
officials, and the factors influencing the annual cap
of refugees admitted to the United States.
C. Mechanisms used for assessing internal strengths
and inefficiencies in the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and
Human Services, the nature of ORR's consultations with
local and state elected officials, and the extent of
ORR's capacity to oversee voluntary agency grantees,
address the unique needs of refugees, fact-find into
community capacity shortfalls as well as monitor the
impact of secondary migration--potentially through some
type of targeted census.
D. Metrics for evaluating refugee integration,
including but not limited to qualitative and
quantitative measurements of employment levels,
language acquisition, community interaction, etc.
E. Interagency coordination, including information-
sharing and planning-coordination between ORR and PRM
as well as the potential value added by establishing a
centralized position to coordinate long- and short-term
refugee policy housed within or reportable to the White
House.
6. Explore Innovative Models: The administration should
engage State and local leaders with experience and expertise
advancing local solutions to the challenges currently under
review at the Federal level. The development and implementation
of innovative resettlement models that incorporate lessons
learned informed by grassroots experimentation should be
encouraged and resourced.
7. Promote Community Engagement: The administration should
require voluntary agencies to submit as part of their annual
proposals a ``community engagement strategy,'' which delineates
concrete plans for increasing public awareness of and
interaction with refugees, in order to achieve greater
community cohesion. Unfortunately, the onus of initiating and
funding this type of intercultural awareness and engagement is
often left to individuals and community organizations and is
usually ad hoc at best.
Providing opportunities for established residents and
families to engage members of the refugee population will help
to demystify preconceptions and make integration more
achievable. Encouraging face-to-face interactions between
individuals or small groups can also make inter-ethnic
encounters less intimidating for all participants.
Overview
The United States has welcomed nearly 3 million refugees
to this country since the 1970s, demonstrating our Nation's
commitment to protecting those who face persecution throughout
the world.\6\ But what becomes of the refugees and the
locations in which they settle after they arrive?
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\6\ See appendix I. ``PRM Office of Admission--Refugee Processing
Center, Summary of Refugee Admissions as of 30 April 2010.''
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A 2009 study conducted by Georgetown Law Human Rights
Institute, based on consultation with Iraqi refugee communities
in Washington, DC, Detroit, San Diego, and the country of
Jordan, offered the following findings:
The United States is opening its gates to refugees
and simply forgetting about them after they have
arrived. In the process, the United States is in danger
of failing to meet its legal obligations to extend
protection to the most vulnerable refugees, promote
their long-term self-sufficiency, and support their
integration. . . .
Employment services, provided by [voluntary agencies]
and State agencies, are seriously underfunded and
unable to adequately help Iraqi refugees in their job
search. Lack of transportation remains a significant
barrier to securing and maintaining employment. English
as a Second Language (ESL) classes, generally
inadequate in both quality and duration, fail to help
Iraqis build marketable language skills. In addition,
the opportunity to pursue education and recertification
programs, prerequisites for many jobs, is either
unavailable or eclipsed by more immediate needs. Given
these barriers, it is not surprising that the vast
majority of Iraqi refugees interviewed were unemployed
despite expressing a strong desire to work.\7\
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\7\ Adess, S. et al. (2009). ``Refugee Crisis in America: Iraqis
and Their Resettlement Experience.'' Washington, DC: Georgetown Law
Human Rights Institute. Available at www.law.georgetown.edu/news/.../
RefugeeCrisisinAmerica_000.pdf.
Field research undertaken for this study in the cities of
Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Clarkston, Georgia, made similar
findings.\8\ The challenges confronting the U.S. refugee
assistance program, much like those confronting our nation's
immigration policies in general, are significant and systemic.
Strong leadership by the administration and Congress will be
needed to offer a clear and practical way forward.
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\8\ The interviews and field visits that contribute to this study
were conducted over the course of several years--from 2008 to present--
and may have been used in other documents generated by the author.
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Case Study: Fort Wayne, IN
After nearly two decades of welcoming and resettling
refugees from disparate regions of the world the city of Fort
Wayne, with a population of roughly 300,000, determined that it
had reached a breaking point. City officials and community
stakeholders felt they were sustaining a broken system on
limited community resources and a wealth of goodwill. The city
in November 2008 officially requested a resettlement moratorium
from the State Family Social Services Administration.\9\ The
city has accepted thousands of refugees throughout the years,
starting with persons from South East Asia in 1975, but
complained that the confluence of a tough economic climate and
inadequate federal resources caused the latest influx of
refugees to become unbearable.
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\9\ See appendix II. Official letter from Office of the Mayor, city
of Fort Wayne, IN.
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The State of Indiana responded by stopping new arrivals to
the city, except in the case of family reunification. But the
problems caused by the existing refugee population and the
post-arrival relocation of refugees, known as secondary
migration, remain a concern. The city has appealed to Federal
authorities for assistance, so far to little avail. A once-
welcoming environment has become what some persons interviewed
called a ``potentially explosive situation.'' They cite recent
examples in the local press of confrontations between American
citizens and refugees. The most recent incident allegedly
involved Burmese refugees publicly relieving themselves and/or
spitting betel nut juice in a local laundromat store, which
resulted in an employee of this business placing a sign on the
door stating ``For sanitary reasons, there are no Burmese
people allowed.'' \10\
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\10\ See appendix III and IV. Kevin Leininger. `` `No Burmese' Sign
Draws Ire: Despite Business Owners Apology, City's Civil Rights
Watchdog Is Investigating.'' News-Sentinel, 10 March 2010. Available at
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100310/NEWS/
3100340. Devon Haynie. ``Burmese Demand Action on Prejudice: See
Official Indifference to Sign at Laundry.'' Journal Gazette, 15 March
2010. Available at http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100315/
LOCAL/303159989.
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The historical flows of refugee resettlements in Fort
Wayne are estimated by local officials to originally have been
between 100 and 200 each year. This was considered manageable,
even if underresourced, by most within the community. Fred
Gilbert, a community advocate for refugees, noted that most
citizens were oblivious to the refugee population and were
unaware that the resettlement program existed. However,
decisions made at the Federal level to admit a higher number of
Burmese refugees to the United States, many of whom had
languished in refugee camps for nearly a decade or more,
resulted in a dramatic and unexpected increase in refugees
arriving in Fort Wayne in 2007.
According to elected officials and community leaders, the
city received roughly 700 Burmese refugees in 2007 and 800 in
2008 without any notice of their impending arrival. Moreover,
numerous city officials interviewed for this study said they
had never been asked by resettlement agencies or by PRM whether
the city could handle the newcomers.
Coinciding with this increase in refugees was the global
economic recession and decrease in demand for low-skilled labor
throughout the region. For example, Elkhart, IN, visited by
President Obama in February 2009 to underscore the Nation's
depressed job markets, is roughly a 1.5 hour drive from Fort
Wayne. It had an unemployment rate in March 2010 of 15.2
percent, compared to Ft. Wayne's 11.1 percent.
While the pace of resettlement dropped due to restrictions
limiting new placements to family reunification, Fort Wayne has
emerged as a ``community of choice'' for many Burmese resettled
elsewhere around the country. Although no official system for
tracking so-called secondary migration currently exists, city
leaders estimate that Burmese have arrived at a rate of two
secondary migrants for each refugee directly resettled in the
city. The resources required to assist this flow of secondary
migrants are not being directed to Fort Wayne because ORR and
PRM have not established a mechanism for tracking such
migration patterns. The significant strain accompanying
secondary migrants was identified by each interviewee as Fort-
Wayne's most pressing refugee-related challenge.
The concern surrounding secondary migration is warranted
because some refugee populations have proven to pose special
resettlement challenges. Many of the more than 6,000 Burmese
refugees in Fort Wayne are illiterate in their native language,
have few marketable skills, and are accustomed to government
dependence after being confined to refugee camps for a decade
or more. The demand that they become conversant, employed, and
self-sufficient within PRM's 90-day time limit was deemed
``cruel and unethical'' by Dr. Jeanne Zehr, assistant
superintendent of East Allen Community Schools.
Dr. Zehr noted that the five schools in her system with
the highest population of refugee youth are considered to have
the lowest academic performance rates according to Indiana
accountability standards.\11\ She argued that many refugee
youth should not be expected to compete with their American
peers when they have ``never even seen a toilet or flushed a
toilet because they were born in those camps.'' An American
parent at one of the failing elementary schools, Dr. Zehr said,
tried to lead an effort to have other parents withdraw their
American students because she felt that the refugee youth were
detrimental to her child's educational experience. The parents'
appeal did not gain traction, but this type of response appears
symptomatic of a general frustration.
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\11\ The five schools are Southwick Elementary School, Meadow
Brooke Elementary School, Village Elementary School, Prince Chapman
Middle School, and Paul Harding High School.
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The superintendent of Fort Wayne Community Schools, Dr.
Wendy Robinson, acknowledged that two schools in her system
with large refugee populations face imminent risk of being
taken over by State authorities because of chronic
underperformance.\12\ Dr. Robinson stated, ``We are robbing
Peter to pay Paul. . . . The one-size-fits-all approach is just
not working.'' The reality on the ground is that money is
regularly diverted from other programs to address the special
needs of refugee youth because ``they're our kids once they are
here,'' she said.
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\12\ The two schools are South Side High School and North Side High
School.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In FY 2009, East Allen Community Schools received $21,000
and $15,000 went to Fort Wayne Community Schools as part of a
larger $150,000 School Impact grant awarded to Indiana by ORR,
but such a small grant is considered to be insufficient. Dr.
Robinson contended, ``I need nurses, translators,
psychologists. I visited one of my schools on the first day of
the year and not one of the [refugee] students or parents spoke
English. $15,000 is just a drop in the bucket.''
Emphasis was placed on the need for additional staffing to
address the unique backgrounds of refugee youth, such as
nurses, because underresourcing could have consequences for the
general student population. Deborah McMahan, Health
Commissioner of Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health,
confirmed that almost half of Burmese refugees screened have
latent tuberculosis (TB). According to Dr. McMahan, there is a
10- to 15-percent lifetime risk of developing active TB within
this group \13\, a disease which is contagious, and one's
susceptibility to developing active TB is increased by
malnutrition and a weak immune system--each being prevalent
among refugees. On average, as noted by the World Health
Organization, each person with active TB infects 10-15 people
before antibiotics, and isolation procedures render them
noncontagious.\14\ Dr. McMahan contended that if 50 percent of
the roughly 800 refugees resettled in 2008 are assumed to have
latent TB, the city could have as many as 100 to 200 new cases
of active TB within the Burmese population alone. In the
absence of effective monitoring and treatment, this could
present a significant threat to public health.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ The World Health Organization notes that 5-10 percent of
people in general who are infected with TB become sick or infectious.
Available at http://who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/index.html.
\14\ Id.&
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy Chamberlin, Deputy Chief of police in Fort Wayne,
expressed concern for the safety of her officers who face the
risk of exposure to TB when responding to situations within the
Burmese community. She also referenced alarming incidents
regarding elevated rates of violence and exploitation faced by
women and children--citing a recent case in which a 50-year-old
Burmese man was found offering the sexual services of a 14-
year-old female relative. Generally, she noted that many
refugees are distrustful of officers due to previous
experiences of persecution in their countries of origin and do
not understand basic laws or social norms.
Dr. McMahan also noted that prearrival health screenings
no longer included HIV/AIDS testing, which she identified as
very concerning given the elevated rates of infection sometimes
found in refugee camps. Prior knowledge of HIV status, she
explained, allows for better planning for the complicated care
that refugees with such conditions require. Increasingly, the
costs of these tests are being dropped on the laps of local and
state governments.
She further noted that PRM provides no prearrival
population assessments or indicators to aid her in identifying
the needs of the refugee groups the city resettles. The
discovery of elevated occurrences of hepatitis B among the
Burmese population, for example, was cited as a condition she
simply ``stumbled'' upon. The expensive treatment associated
with this life-long condition presents another significant cost
the local community will be forced to bear.
Totally neglected, she continued, is funding to combat
substance abuse, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder
as well as chronic health conditions like obesity,
malnutrition, and hypertension--all of which disproportionately
plague this population. The issue of inadequate funding for
mental health treatment was underscored in the study by the
Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute:
[I]n many cases, refugees' health needs remain
untreated, compromising their ability to lead healthy,
functional lives. In San Diego, for example, refugees
with lingering mental health problems can wait 2 months
before seeing a doctor. Similarly, torture treatment
centers in the 8 States with the highest number of
Iraqi refugee arrivals are experiencing waitlists for
services. Other areas where Iraqi refugees are expected
to resettle in greater numbers, such as Idaho,
Tennessee, and upstate New York, do not have any
dedicated torture treatment centers and will therefore
require additional funding for training and capacity-
building.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Adess, S. et al. (2009). ``Refugee Crisis in America: Iraqis
and Their Resettlement Experience.'' Washington, DC: Georgetown Law
Human Rights Institute. Available at www.law.georgetown.edu/news/.../
RefugeeCrisisinAmerica_000.pdf.
The complex nature of assistance required by some refugees,
in States across the country, is seriously overstretched or not
in place at all.
Case Study: Clarkston, GA
A page one New York Times article published in January 2007
by Warren St. John, which thrust the challenges confronting
Clarkston, GA, into the foreground of national discussion,
helped bring attention to the burdens many other cities across
the United States are also attempting to address.\16\ The
article described deeply concerning stories of prejudice,
police brutality, and a small community of roughly 7,000 that
was shattered under the pressure of a broken refugee
resettlement system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ See appendix V. Warren St. John. ``Refugees Find Hostility
and Hope on Soccer Field.'' New York Times 21 Jan. 2007. Available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/
21fugees.html?ex=1327035600&en=a213425fdcd1892f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&e
mc=rss.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, the tensions highlighted in the article between
the refugee population and most long-time residents, according
to the Clarkston's former mayor, were not inflamed by deep-
seeded prejudice, but were rooted in the fact that resettlement
agencies completely failed to warn the city that refugees would
be placed in their community. When asked if city officials were
consulted, Mayor Lee Swaney stated, ``We were not part of the
process of bringing them here. We were told after the fact that
they were coming.'' He argued that settling refugees in
Clarkston, without coordinating with the city, left him with
the lion's share of responsibility but no voice. In addition,
refugees placed excessive burdens on already scarce resources
because he claimed the city did not receive extra money to
address the special needs of this population.
In April 2003, Georgia Representative Karla Drenner, whose
district includes Clarkston, in response to concerns
articulated by constituents like Mayor Swaney, introduced
legislation that would have compelled voluntary agencies
working in the State to report to government authorities
whenever 10 or more refugees were resettled in a
municipality.\17\ This past year, she also convened a townhall
meeting where she publicly encouraged the voluntary agencies
located within the city to improve communication with elected
officials and to provide more warning regarding when refugees
were due to arrive. The current mayor of Clarkston, Howard
Tygrett, reported that all of the resettlement agencies
subsequently relocated outside of the city limits in order to
circumvent this appeal and that communication has not improved
since he assumed office roughly one year ago.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ 17 See Appendix VI. Legislation introduced in the Georgia
General Assembly as House Bill 1002 by Representative Karla Drenner,
April 2003. Available at http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2003_04/
versions/hb1002_LC_28_1311_a_2.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the perspective of the resettlement agencies,
Clarkston offered refugees the basic services needed to gather
their bearings and get on their feet, which was their primary
concern. The convenient access to the metro-Atlanta job market,
nearby highway system, and affordable housing that made the
city ideal for longtime residents were the factors that caused
Clarkston to be selected as the primary resettlement city for
all of Georgia.
Since the most immediate challenge faced by refugees after
arriving was finding employment as a means to reach self-
sufficiency, living in Clarkston made sense. Although
Clarkston's business sector, comprised largely of small
businesses, could not provide enough jobs, refugees had access
to the city of Atlanta. Resettlement agencies thought that the
low-skill jobs most refugee adults qualified for, because of
their limited English and educational backgrounds, would be
available in Atlanta.
After finding work, however, figuring out how to get there
every day became the next problem. As the former mayor noted:
Transportation was a big issue and I can understand
why. If you get a job, but can't get there you are no
better off. So transportation was a big issue. Catching
MARTA, it played a big role because it was convenient.
MARTA, the public transportation system connecting Clarkston to
the larger Atlanta area, made travel to work possible for
struggling refugees unable to afford private vehicles.
The abundance of affordable housing in Clarkston was
identified by the resettlement agencies as the best option for
refugees who needed the jobs available in Atlanta but could not
afford its more expensive rent. Overbuilding during the 1980s
created a situation in which the housing ratio was 80 percent
multidwelling and 20 percent single-dwelling. Thus, Clarkston's
apartments became home to refugees who for too long lived in
the squalor of refugee camps.
Each of these factors were important for helping refugees
get on their feet, but the citizens of Clarkston were often
left to deal with the problems that emerged long after the
resettlement agencies were gone. To illustrate this point, the
former mayor discussed the living conditions of some refugee
families he observed who were unaccustomed to living in the
apartments they were placed in. Mayor Swaney stated:
I know that when the health department and I went
into some of these apartments you would not believe
what we saw. They had no idea how to live in one of
these places and I fault the agencies that brought them
here. If they come and they know what a toilet is for
and they know what a faucet and gas stove is then they
fit in to how we live here.
Further, when accidental fires were caused by inappropriate
handling of household appliances, the burden fell on
Clarkston's police department to deal with the emotional and
structural damage. The deaths of four refugee youth, who were
killed during a tragic apartment fire in 2008, underscored this
point.
The former mayor contended that the collective burden of
these issues caused resentment among some long-time residents.
He cited many meetings he attended to discuss his grievances
and to petition for these problems to be addressed by the
resettlement agencies, but no action was taken because the
agencies claimed to be financially constrained themselves.
Between 1996 and 2001, nearly 20,000 refugees were sent to
Georgia, and with most resettling in Clarkston or the
surrounding areas, nearly half of the city's population were
foreign-born or refugee at any given time.\18\ The current vice
mayor, Emanuel Ransom, offered an anecdotal example in stating,
``I am there most days court is held and 90 percent of the
local people in the court cannot speak English.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The larger ramifications of the strain associated with the
resettlement process are best illustrated by focusing on the
public school system in Clarkston. Teachers and administrators
are said to be failing to address the special needs of the
refugee youth, in addition to the needs of the general student
population. Consequently, the deteriorating condition of
overall instruction has fuelled significant shifts in the
demographics of Clarkston's population.
The reaction of many long-time residents of Clarkston to
the increasing pressures placed on the educational system was
simply to relocate. Regarding the state of Clarkston's schools,
Luma Mufleh, a community advocate on behalf of refugees in
Clarkston, remarked:
I think it's unfair for the government to put a ton
of refugees in a city and not equip them with the
resources to handle them. The schools are all failing.
Every school in Clarkston is failing because schools
are not equipped to handle this. A teacher cannot teach
10 kids at 10 different levels. So, I understand their
frustration, but they need to come up with solutions.
All the white people have left because no one wants
their child to receive a bad education. I have lots of
friends who would be interested in moving to Clarkston
because of the diversity the city offers, but only if
they are single. My married friends would not think of
moving here because of the schools. They would not want
to put their kids in Clarkston's schools. So they have
to start with the schools because that is the biggest
issue.
The resettlement process was contributing to divisions and
resentment between refugee and nonrefugee populations in
Clarkston. Further, because refugees lacked the means to move
their families to cities with better schools, their children
received what she believed to be second-rate educations and
limited long-term options.
While a local pastor noted that the flight of some long-
time Clarkston residents was driven by a desire to avoid the
diverse populations entering the city, he cited firsthand
experience of how important a consideration quality schools
were for families with children. Pastor Phil Kitchen of
Clarkston International Bible Church decided to register his
own children in a different school system because of the horror
stories he heard about Clarkston upon accepting the pastorate
of his church. As his family prepared to relocate, he recalled
several of the selectors on the church's search committee
strongly advising him against considering Clarkston's schools
because of their deplorable condition. The pastor stated:
I remember talking with them and they recommended
that I keep my kids out of Clarkston's schools. So my
wife and I decided to live in the city a few miles away
for the sake of our family. Every parent wants their
child to receive the best education available and the
simple fact is that the kids in Clarkston are at a
disadvantage.
According to recently released results from Georgia's
statewide standardized math exam for the 2009-10 academic year,
Clarkston High School has the highest percentage of failing
scores of all metro-Atlanta schools--with 47.8 percent of
students reported as failing.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ D. Aileen Dodd and John Perry. ``New Curriculum: Math Anxiety
for Students and Teachers.'' The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 20 May
2010. Available at http://www.ajc.com/news/new-curriculum-math-anxiety-
532073.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
The American people have generously welcomed far more
refugees than all other countries and we are a richer society
for having embraced such diverse cultures. While offering safe
haven to persecuted populations throughout the world remains a
humanitarian imperative, the administration should avoid biting
off more than local communities are capable of chewing.
Especially in a difficult economic climate, force-feeding
refugees into a broken system is proving to be detrimental to
the longer term interests of refugees and to the cities that
receive them.
The U.S. resettlement program should be perceived as a
benefit to local communities, not a burden. To the extent that
the resettlement cities included in this report are building
intercultural bridges and making the system work, it often
appears to occur in spite of government resources and not
because of them. Best articulated by Senator Edward Kennedy in
a 1981 report discussing the Refugee Act of 1980--legislation
he authored--he argued that the administration and Congress
should ensure local communities are not negatively impacted by
``programs they did not initiate and for which they were not
responsible.'' \20\ Immediate action is required to make this a
reality today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Kennedy, E. M. (1981). ``Refugee Act of 1980.'' International
Migration Review, Vol. 15, No. \1/2\ Refugees Today (Spring-Summer,
1981).
Acknowledgements
The following contributed in some way to the preparation of
this report, or continue to assist the committee with this
ongoing project.
U.S. Government:
National Security Council
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of State
Individuals:
Susan Boyle, Former State Refugee Coordinator, State
of Indiana
Jay Branegan, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Susan Brouillette, Senator Lugar's Office,
Indianapolis, Indiana
Nancy Chamberlin, Deputy Chief, Southeast Division,
Fort Wayne Police Department
Meg Distler, St. Joseph Community Health Foundation,
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Karla Drenner, Georgia House of Representatives,
State of Georgia
Cathy Gallmeyer, Senator Lugar's Office, Fort Wayne,
Indiana
Palermo Galindo, Hispanic and Immigrant Liaison,
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Mark GiaQuinta, President, Fort Wayne Community
Schools
Fred Gilbert, Social Worker, Fort Wayne Indiana
David Gogol, Vice-Chair, B&D Consulting
Joe Johns, Director of Missional Living, Fellowship
Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Emily Keirns Schwartz, Coordinator, English language
Learners (ELL), Fort Wayne Community Schools
Phil Kitchin, Pastor, Clarkston International Bible
Church
Desiree Koger-Gustafson, Staff Attorney,
Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic
Keith Luse, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Dr. Deborah McMahan, Commissioner, Fort Wayne-Allen
County Department of Health
Luma Mufleh, CEO and Coach, Fugees Family
Jim Murua, Assistant Chief Fire Marshal, City of
Fort Wayne
Emanuel Ransom, Vice-Mayor, City of Clarkston
Wendy Robinson, Superintendent, Fort Wayne Community
Schools
Debbie Schmidt, Executive Director, Catholic
Charities
Tony Scipio, Chief of Police, City of Clarkston
Lee Swaney, Former Mayor, City of Clarkston
Minn Myint Nan Tin, Burmese Advocacy Center, Fort
Wayne, Indiana
Helen Townsend, Refugee Health Coordinator, State of
Indiana
Howard Tygrett, Mayor, City of Clarkston
Monica Vela, Refuge Support/ELL Liaison, Fort Wayne
Community Schools
Becky Weimerskirch, Executive Director, Community
Transportation Network, Inc.
Bernard White L. III, Licensed Special Education
Teacher, Paul Harding High School
Ocleva Williams, Neighborhood Action Center, Autumn
Woods
Dr. Julie Zehr, Assistant Superintendent, East Allen
County Schools
APPENDIX I
----------
Summary of Refugee Admissions as of 30 April 2010
APPENDIX II
----------
Official Letter From City of Fort Wayne, IN
APPENDIX III
----------
Refugee Article in The News-Sentinel
``No Burmese'' Sign Draws Ire Despite Business Owner's Apology, City's
Civil-Rights Watchdog Is Investigating
(By Kevin Leininger)
Some of their customers' actions, management says, were
``alarming.''
But by targeting an entire ethnic group instead of the
unacceptable behavior, an employee's sign has forced the
Anderson-based owner of a local business to apologize and drawn
the attention of the city's civil-rights watchdog.
``For sanitary reasons, there are no Burmese people
allowed,'' read the sign that was posted on the door of Ricker
Oil Co.'s coin-operated laundry on South Calhoun Street near
Rudisill Boulevard--until an irate passerby alerted the offices
of the Burmese Advocacy Center, 2826 S. Calhoun St., and the
Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, igniting a firestorm of
protest in the media and on the Internet culminating in
Tuesday's apology from President Jay Ricker.
``Unfortunately, an employee responded to an alarming
situation in an appropriate manner . . . the sign in question
was removed, and we are exploring appropriate disciplinary
action,'' Ricker said in a statement. ``It is the policy of
Ricker's to welcome all patrons to its facilities. We are
committed to maintaining a positive relationship with all
members of the communities we serve.'' Ricker's, founded in
1979, has more than 700 employees and operates 49 convenience
stores and two laundries.
Desiree Koger-Gustafson, attorney for the legal clinic that
serves mostly low-income and immigrant clients, said she was
going to protest the sign, but its removal and the apology were
sufficient for her to drop the matter.
``Someone should inform (whoever wrote the sign) of the
last few decades of civil-rights laws. Some people still think
you can do this kind of thing,'' she said.
Gerald Foday isn't one of those people, however. The
director of Fort Wayne's Metropolitan Human Relations
Commission said his agency may file a complaint, and could
pursue civil-rights charges against Ricker's if an
investigation warrants it. Sanctions could include fines,
mandatory employee training and other remedies, he said.
``You can sanction behavior based on health,'' he said--but
you can't banish an entire group based on the actions of
certain individuals.
Ricker's spokesman Jonathan Bausman did not want to
elaborate on the behaviors resulting in the sign. ``We don't
want it to seem like we're trying to justify it,'' he said.
But signs still posted at the laundry in English and
Burmese offer a clue: ``No spitting! No betel nut!'' they read.
According to Koger-Gustafson, many Burmese chew betel nut,
which is common in their country of Burma, or Myanmar as it's
called by the ruling junta, and spit the residue, which can
result in red stains. Bausman said Ricker's has discussed its
concerns about certain behaviors with Burmese advocates and the
Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health, and said other
companies have expressed similar concerns.
Health department spokesman John Silcox said there are
``ongoing issues about what can and can't be tolerated'' with
newly arriving immigrant and refugee groups, especially in the
area of hygiene. Fort Wayne is home to about 5,000 Burmese--the
largest concentration in the United States.
The sign's removal and Ricker's apology don't satisfy all
Burmese.
Kyaw Soe, who came to Fort Wayne from Burma in 1993 and is
director of IPFW's New Immigrant Literacy Program, visited the
laundry Tuesday and said he still considers it an unfriendly
place for Burmese.
``There were signs (in Burmese prohibiting certain actions)
in every room. There were 22 in Burmese to only one in Spanish.
It's nonverbal behavior that is non-welcoming. We need more
education, more cultural sensitivity.''
Those signs about not using betel nut apparently didn't
originate with Ricker's, however. Koger-Gustafson said they
were provided by the Burmese Advocacy Center.
In fact, one was posted Tuesday atop the counter at the
group's office.
APPENDIX IV
----------
Refugee Article in The Journal Gazette
Burmese Demand Action on Prejudice See Official Indifference To Sign at
Laundry
(By Devon Haynie)
Dozens of shivering Burmese gathered in front of the
Courthouse on Sunday to urge government officials to publicly
denounce discrimination against their community.
Organizers said the rally was a response to the
government's lack of reaction to a controversial sign posted at
Ricker's City Laundry on South Calhoun Street several weeks
ago. The sign, which has since been removed, read, ``For
Sanitary Purposes, There Are No Burmese People Allowed.'' Jay
Ricker, head of the company, has since apologized for the sign,
but Burmese at the rally said it was not enough to ease their
fears of continued discrimination.
``The government has been silent,'' said Maung Maung Soe,
one of the event's organizers. ``If the government does not
take action, we will take legal action.''
Details surrounding the sign remain unclear. But by all
accounts, it seems that a lone employee posted it, perhaps in
response to the Burmese tradition of chewing betel nuts and
spitting out the juice. Ricker posted an apology on Facebook
and read an apology in a video posted on YouTube.
At the rally, members of the Burmese community held signs
reading ``We Want Equal Rights'' and ``We Are Burmese
Americans.'' Organizers said they planned to stage a larger
rally in a few days, but had to keep the gathering small
because they hadn't received a permit.
Fort Wayne is home to about 5,500 people from Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma. Many are legal refugees who fled the
country to escape the country's 60-year civil war.
``We aren't foreigners coming to visit; we are citizens,''
said Nyan Aung, an event organizer who has lived in the United
States since 1993. ``We need to be treated more like other
people. (People) need to respect our human rights.''
Thandar Thet, a 15-year-old sophomore at North Side High
School, came to the rally with her father and 5-year-old
brother. She said the sign posting made her feel uneasy about
her future in Fort Wayne.
``I've never been discriminated against, but I don't
believe this is right,'' Thet said. ``My parents came to
America for freedom. They talked about discrimination in Burma,
but that is what we came here to escape.''
APPENDIX V
----------
Refugee Article in The New York Times
[From the New York Times, Jan. 21, 2007]
Refugees Find Hostility and Hope on Soccer Field
(By Warren St. John)
Editors' Note Appended
Correction Appended
Clarkston, Ga., Jan. 20.--Early last summer the mayor of
this small town east of Atlanta issued a decree: no more soccer
in the town park.
``There will be nothing but baseball down there as long as
I am mayor,'' Lee Swaney, a retired owner of a heating and air-
conditioning business, told the local paper. ``Those fields
weren't made for soccer.''
In Clarkston, soccer means something different than in most
places. As many as half the residents are refugees from war-
torn countries around the world. Placed by resettlement
agencies in a once mostly white town, they receive 90 days of
assistance from the government and then are left to fend for
themselves. Soccer is their game.
But to many longtime residents, soccer is a sign of
unwanted change, as unfamiliar and threatening as the hijabs
worn by the Muslim women in town. It's not football. It's not
baseball. The fields weren't made for it. Mayor Swaney even has
a name for the sort of folks who play the game: the soccer
people.
Caught in the middle is a boys soccer program called the
Fugees--short for refugees, though most opponents guess the
name refers to the hip-hop band.
The Fugees are indeed all refugees, from the most troubled
corners--Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burundi, Congo, Gambia, Iraq,
Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan. Some have endured
unimaginable hardship to get here: squalor in refugee camps,
separation from siblings and parents. One saw his father killed
in their home.
The Fugees, 9 to 17 years old, play on three teams divided
by age. Their story is about children with miserable pasts
trying to make good with strangers in a very different and
sometimes hostile place. But as a season with the youngest of
the three teams revealed, it is also a story about the
challenges facing resettled refugees in this country. More than
900,000 have been admitted to the United States since 1993, and
their presence seems to bring out the best in some people and
the worst in others.
The Fugees' coach exemplifies the best. A woman
volunteering in a league where all the other coaches are men,
some of them paid former professionals from Europe, she spends
as much time helping her players' families make new lives here
as coaching soccer.
At the other extreme are some town residents, opposing
players and even the parents of those players, at their worst
hurling racial epithets and making it clear they resent the
mostly African team. In a region where passions run high on the
subject of illegal immigration, many are unaware or unconcerned
that, as refugees, the Fugees are here legally.
``There are no gray areas with the Fugees,'' said the
coach, Luma Mufleh. ``They trigger people's reactions on class,
on race. They speak with accents and don't seem American. A lot
of people get shaken up by that.''
LOTS OF RUNNING, MANY RULES
The mayor's soccer ban has everything to do with why, on a
scorching August afternoon, Ms. Mufleh--or Coach Luma, as she
is known in the refugee community--is holding tryouts for her
under-13 team on a rutted, sand-scarred field behind an
elementary school.
The boys at the tryouts wear none of the shiny apparel or
expensive cleats common in American youth soccer. One plays in
ankle-high hiking boots, some in baggy jeans, another in his
socks. On the barren lot, every footfall and pivot produces a
puff of chalky dust that hangs in the air like fog.
Across town, the lush field in Milam Park sits empty.
Ms. Mufleh blows her whistle.
``Listen up,'' she tells the panting and dusty boys. ``I
don't care how well you play. I care how hard you work. Every
Monday and Wednesday, I'm going to have you from 5 to 8.'' The
first half will be for homework and tutoring. Ms. Mufleh has
arranged volunteers for that. The second half will be for
soccer, and for running. Lots of running.
``If you miss a practice, you miss the next game,'' she
tells the boys. ``If you miss two games, you're off the team.''
The final roster will be posted on the bulletin board at
the public library by 10 Friday morning, she says. Don't bother
to call.
And one more thing. She holds up a stack of paper,
contracts she expects her players to sign. ``If you can't live
with this,'' she says, ``I don't want you on this team.''
Hands--black, brown, white--reach for the paper. As the
boys read, eyes widen:
I will have good behavior on and off the field.
I will not smoke.
I will not do drugs.
I will not drink alcohol.
I will not get anyone pregnant.
I will not use bad language.
My hair will be shorter than Coach's.
I will be on time.
I will listen to Coach.
I will try hard.
I will ask for help.
I want to be part of the Fugees!
A TOWN TRANSFORMED
Until the refugees began arriving, the mayor likes to say,
Clarkston ``was just a sleepy little town by the railroad
tracks.''
Since then, this town of 7,100 has become one of the most
diverse communities in America.
Clarkston High School now has students from more than 50
countries. The local mosque draws more than 800 to Friday
prayers. There is a Hindu temple, and there are congregations
of Vietnamese, Sudanese and Liberian Christians.
At the shopping center, American stores have been displaced
by Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants and a halal
butcher. The only hamburger joint in town, City Burger, is run
by an Iraqi.
The transformation began in the late 1980s, when
resettlement agencies, private groups that contract with the
federal government, decided Clarkston was perfect for refugees
to begin new lives. The town had an abundance of inexpensive
apartments, vacated by middle-class whites who left for more
affluent suburbs. It had public transportation; the town was
the easternmost stop on the Atlanta rail system. And it was
within commuting distance of downtown Atlanta's booming
economy, offering new arrivals at least the prospect of
employment.
At first the refugees--most from Southeast Asia--arrived so
slowly that residents barely noticed. But as word got out about
Clarkston's suitability, more agencies began placing refugees
here. From 1996 to 2001, more than 19,000 refugees from around
the world resettled in Georgia, many in Clarkston and
surrounding DeKalb County, to the dismay of many longtime
residents.
Many of those residents simply left. Others stayed but
remained resentful, keeping score of the ways they thought the
refugees were altering their lives. There were events that
reinforced fears that Clarkston was becoming unsafe: a mentally
ill Sudanese boy beheaded his 5-year-old cousin in their
Clarkston apartment; a fire in a crowded apartment in town
claimed the lives of four Liberian refugee children.
At a town meeting in 2003 meant to foster understanding
between the refugees and residents, the first question,
submitted on an index card, was, ``What can we do to keep the
refugees from coming to Clarkston?''
A COACH WITH A PASSION
Luma Mufleh, 31, says she was born to coach. She grew up in
Amman, Jordan, in a Westernized family, and attended the
American Community School, for American and European
expatriates and a few well-to-do Jordanians. There, Muslim
girls were free to play sports as boys did, and women were
permitted to coach.
Her mentor was an American volleyball coach who demanded
extreme loyalty and commitment. Ms. Mufleh picked up on a
paradox. Though she claimed to dislike her coach, she wanted to
play well for her.
``For the majority of the time she coached me, I hated
her,'' Ms. Mufleh said. ``But she had our respect. Until then,
I'd always played for me. I'd never played for a coach.''
Ms. Mufleh attended college in the United States, in part
because she felt women here had more opportunities. She went to
Smith College, and after graduation moved to Atlanta. She soon
found her first coaching job, as head of a 12-and-under girls
soccer team through the local Y.M.C.A.
On the field, Ms. Mufleh emulated her volleyball coach, an
approach that did not always sit well with American parents.
When she ordered her players to practice barefoot, to get a
better feel for the soccer ball, a player's mother objected on
the grounds that her daughter could injure her toes.
``This is how I run my practice,'' Ms. Mufleh told her.
``If she's not going to do it, she's not going to play.''
Ms. Mufleh's first team lost every game. But over time her
methods paid off. Her players returned. They got better. In her
third season, her team was undefeated.
When Ms. Mufleh learned about the growing refugee community
in Clarkston, she floated the idea of starting a soccer
program. The Y.M.C.A. offered to back her with uniforms and
equipment. So in the summer of 2004, Ms. Mufleh made fliers
announcing tryouts in Arabic, English, French and Vietnamese
and distributed them around apartment complexes where the
refugees lived.
For a coach hoping to build a soccer program in Clarkston,
the biggest challenge was not finding talented players. There
were plenty of those, boys who had learned the game in refugee
camps in Africa and in parking lots around town. The difficulty
was finding players who would show up.
Many of the players come from single-parent families, with
mothers or fathers who work hours that do not sync with sports
schedules. Few refugee families own cars. Players would have to
be self-sufficient.
On a June afternoon, 23 boys showed up for the tryouts.
From the beginning, the players were wary. A local church
offered a free basketball program for refugee children largely
as a cover for missionary work.
Others simply doubted that a woman could coach soccer.
``She's a girl--she doesn't know what she's talking
about,'' Ms. Mufleh overheard a Sudanese boy say at an early
practice.
She ordered him to stand in the goal. As the team watched,
she blasted a shot directly at the boy, who dove out of the
way.
``Anybody else?'' she asked.
IN BRUTAL PASTS, A BOND
Jeremiah Ziaty, one of those early players, is a typical
member of the Fugees.
In 1997, in the midst of Liberia's 14 years of civil war,
rebels led by Charles Taylor showed up one night at the Ziatys'
house in Monrovia. Jeremiah's father was a low-level worker in
a government payroll office. The rebels thought he had money.
When they learned he did not, they killed him in the family's
living room.
Beatrice Ziaty, Jeremiah's mother, grabbed her sons and
fled out the back door. The Ziatys trekked through the bush for
a week until they reached a refugee camp in the Ivory Coast.
There, they lived in a mud hut and scavenged for food. After
five years in the camp, Ms. Ziaty learned her family had been
accepted for resettlement in Clarkston, a town she had never
heard of.
The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in
Washington estimates that there are now more than 12 million
refugees worldwide and more than 20 million people displaced
within their own nations' borders. In 2005, only 80,800 were
accepted by other nations for resettlement, according to the
United Nations.
The Ziatys' resettlement followed a familiar script. The
family was lent $3,016 for one-way airline tickets to the
United States, which they repaid in three years. After a two-
day journey from Abidjan, they were greeted in Atlanta by a
case worker from the International Rescue Committee, a
resettlement organization. She took them to an apartment in
Clarkston where the cupboard had been stocked with canned
goods.
The case worker helped Ms. Ziaty find a job, as a maid at
the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the affluent Buckhead section of
Atlanta, one that required an hour commute by bus. While
walking home from the bus stop after her first day, Ms. Ziaty
was mugged and her purse stolen.
Terrified of her new surroundings, Ms. Ziaty told her son
Jeremiah never to leave the house. Like any 8-year-old,
Jeremiah bristled. He especially wanted to play soccer. Through
friends in the neighborhood, he heard about tryouts for the
Fugees.
``When he tell me, `Mom, I go play soccer,' I tell him he's
too small, don't go out of the house,'' Ms. Ziaty recalled.
``Then he would start crying.''
Ms. Ziaty relaxed her rule when she met Ms. Mufleh, who
promised to take care of her son.
That was three years ago. At age 11, Jeremiah is a leader
of the 13-and-under Fugees, shifting among sweeper, center
midfielder and center forward.
Other members of the Fugees also have harrowing stories.
Qendrim Bushi's Muslim family fled Kosovo when Serbian soldiers
torched his father's grocery store and threatened to kill them.
Eldin Subasic's uncle was shot in Bosnia. And so on.
The Fugees, Ms. Mufleh believed, shared something intense.
They knew trauma. They knew the fear and loneliness of the
newcomer. This was their bond.
``In order to get a group to work together, to be effective
together, you have to find what is common,'' she said. ``The
refugee experience is pretty powerful.''
* * * * * * *
Ms. Mufleh made a point never to ask her players about
their pasts. On the soccer field, she felt, refugees should
leave that behind.
Occasionally, though, a boy would reveal a horrific memory.
One reported that he had been a child soldier. When she
expressed frustration that a Liberian player tuned out during
practice, another Liberian told her she didn't understand: the
boy had been forced by soldiers to shoot his best friend.
``It was learning to not react,'' Ms. Mufleh said. ``I just
wanted to listen. How do you respond when a kid says, `I saw my
dad shot in front of me'? I didn't know.''
As a Jordanian in the Deep South, Ms. Mufleh identified in
some ways with the refugees. A legal resident awaiting a green
card, she often felt an outsider herself, and knew what it was
like to be far from home.
She also found she was needed. Her fluent Arabic and
conversational French came in handy for players' mothers who
needed to translate a never-ending flow of government
paperwork. Teachers learned to call her when her players'
parents could not be located. Families began to invite her to
dinner, platters of rice and bowls of leafy African stews. The
Ziatys cut back on the peppers when Coach Luma came over; they
learned she couldn't handle them.
Upon hearing of the low wages the refugee women were
earning, Ms. Mufleh thought she could do better. She started a
house and office cleaning company called Fresh Start, to employ
refugee women. The starting salary is $10 an hour, nearly
double the minimum wage and more than the women were earning as
maids in downtown hotels. She guarantees a 50-cent raise every
year, and now employs six refugee women.
Ms. Mufleh said that when she started the soccer program,
she was hopelessly naive about how it would change her life.
``I thought I would coach twice a week and on weekends--
like coaching other kids,'' she said. ``It's 40 or 60 hours a
week--coaching, finding jobs, taking people to the hospital.
You start off on your own, and you suddenly have a family of
120.''
OFF TO A ROUGH START
On a Friday morning in August, the boys come one by one to
look for their names on the roster at the public library. Many
go away disappointed, but six do not.
The new players are:
Mohammed Mohammed, 12, a bright-eyed Iraqi Kurd whose
family fled Saddam Hussein for Turkey five years ago and who
speaks only a few words of English.
Idwar and Robin Dikori, two rocket-fast Sudanese brothers,
12 and 10, who lost their mother, sister and two younger
brothers in a car crash after arriving in Clarkston.
Shahir Anwar, 13, an Afghan whose parents fled the Taliban
and whose father suffered a debilitating stroke soon after
arriving in this country.
Santino Jerke, a shy 11-year-old Sudanese who has just
arrived after three years as a refugee in Cairo.
Mafoday Jawneh, a heavyset boy of 12 whose family fell out
of favor after a coup in Gambia, and who has a sensitive side;
his older brother ribs him for tearing up during ``The Oprah
Winfrey Show.''
Ms. Mufleh is uncertain of her team's prospects. She will
have to teach the new players the basics of organized soccer.
There are no throw-ins or corner kicks in the street game they
have been playing.
In her occasional moments of self-doubt, Ms. Mufleh asks
herself: Can I really get these boys to play together? Can I
really get them to win?
* * * * * * *
The Fugees' first practice this season is on a sultry
August afternoon, with thunderclouds looming in the distance.
After 90 minutes of studying, the team runs for half an hour
and groans through situps, push-ups and leg lifts.
But the Fugees have no soccer goals. The Y.M.C.A., which
sponsors the team, did not place the order, despite a $2,000
grant for the purpose. Ms. Mufleh quietly seethes that a team
of wealthy children would probably not have to wait for soccer
goals. She likens practice to ``playing basketball without a
hoop.''
The team's first games portend a long season. The Fugees
tie their first game, 4-4. In their next game, they surrender a
lead and lose, 3-1. The team isn't passing well. Players aren't
holding their positions.
On a sweltering afternoon in early September, the Fugees
prepare to take the field against the Triumph, a team from
nearby Tucker. Even before the game, there is a glaring
difference between the Fugees and their competition. The
Triumph have brought perhaps 40 parents, siblings and friends,
who spread out with folding chairs and picnic blankets and are
loaded down with enough energy bars and brightly colored sports
drinks for an N.B.A. team.
Though this is technically a home game, no one is on the
Fugees' side. During the course of the season, only one Fugees
parent will make a game.
The Fugees lead, 2-0, at halftime. In the second half, they
put on a show: firing headers, bicycle kicks and a gorgeous
arcing shot from 30 yards out. Even the parents of the Triumph
gasp and clap in appreciation. At the final whistle, the Fugees
have won, 5-1.
``Not bad,'' Ms. Mufleh tells her team. ``But next week
will be a much better game, O.K.?''
A CALL FOR CHANGE
Ms. Mufleh has a list of complaints about the Fugees'
practice field: little grass, no goals. Neighborhood children
regularly wander through the scrimmages, disrupting play.
But after a gang shooting in an apartment complex behind
the field in late September, she concludes that the field is
not safe. She cancels practice for two days. Fed up, she storms
into Mayor Swaney's office, demanding use of the empty field in
Milam Park.
When Lee Swaney first ran for City Council in Clarkston
more than 15 years ago, he did so as an unabashed
representative of ``Old Clarkston''--Clarkston before the
refugees. It was certainly the more politically viable stance.
Because few of the refugees have been in the country long
enough to become citizens and vote, political power resides
with longtime residents. The 2005 election that gave Mr. Swaney
a second four-year term as mayor of this town of 7,100 was
determined by just 390 voters.
As mayor, Mr. Swaney has frequently found himself caught
between these voters and the thousands of newcomers. But he has
also taken potentially unpopular steps on behalf of the
refugees. In 2006 he forced the resignation of the town's
longtime police chief, in part because of complaints from
refugees that Clarkston police officers were harassing them.
Mr. Swaney gave the new chief a mandate to purge the Police
Department of rogue officers.
Within three months, the chief, a black man of Trinidadian
descent named Tony J. Scipio, fired or accepted the
resignations of one-third of the force.
Soccer is another matter. Mr. Swaney does not relish his
reputation as the mayor who banned soccer. But he must please
constituents who complain that refugees are overrunning the
town's parks and community center--people like Emanuel Ransom,
a black man who moved to Clarkston in the late 1960s.
``A lot of our Clarkston residents are being left out
totally,'' Mr. Ransom says. ``Nobody wants to help,'' he says
of the refugees. ``It's just, `Give me, give me, give me.' ''
Mr. Swaney encourages Ms. Mufleh to make her case at the
next City Council meeting. So in early October she addresses a
packed room at City Hall, explaining the team's origins and
purpose and promising to pick up trash in the park after
practice.
Mr. Swaney takes the floor. He admits concerns about
``grown soccer people'' who might tear up the field. But these
are kids, he says, and ``kids are our future.''
He announces his support of a six-month trial for the
Fugees' use of the field in Milam Park.
The proposal passes unanimously. At least for six months,
the Fugees can play on grass.
GETTING BACK IN THE GAME
Early on the morning of Oct. 14, Jeremiah Ziaty is nowhere
to be seen. The Fugees have a 9 a.m. game an hour from
Clarkston, against the Bluesprings Liberty Fire, one of the top
teams. Ms. Mufleh had told her players to meet at the library
by 7.
Ms. Mufleh usually leaves players behind if they aren't on
time. But she knows Jeremiah's mother is now working nights at
a packaging factory; she gets home at 3 a.m. and won't be up to
wake Jeremiah. So the coach orders the bus driver to the
Ziatys' apartment. Jeremiah is sound asleep. Awakened, he grabs
his uniform and fumbles toward the bus.
From the outset of the game, the Fugees, and especially
Jeremiah, seem groggy. They fall behind, 1-0. But in the second
half, they tie the score, fall behind, and tie it again, 2-2.
Jeremiah is now playing fearsome defense. With minutes to go,
the Fugees score. They win, 3-2.
``We played as a team,'' says Qendrim Bushi, the boy from
Kosovo. ``We didn't yell at each other. Last game, when they
scored, all of us were yelling at each other. And Coach made us
do a lot of stuff at practice. That's why we win. Only because
of Coach.''
As the Fugees leave the field, a man on the Bluesprings
sideline yells to them, ``I'd have paid money to watch that
game!''
* * * * * * *
The Fugees have a knack for inspiring such strong
reactions, both positive and negative. After one game Ms.
Mufleh thought for a moment she was being chased by a rival
parent.
``We've heard about your team,'' the man said when he
caught up with her. ``We want to know what we can do to help.''
The rival team donated cleats, balls and jerseys.
Then there was the game in rural Clarkesville last season
at which rival players and even some parents shouted a racial
epithet at some of the African players on the Fugees.
After being ejected from a game against the Fugees in
November, a rival player made an obscene gesture to nearly
every player on the Fugees before heading to his bench. And
opponents sometimes mocked the Fugees when they spoke to each
other in Swahili, or when Ms. Mufleh shouted instructions in
Arabic.
There were even incidents involving referees. Two linesmen
were reprimanded by a head referee during a pregame lineup in
October for snickering when the name Mohammed Mohammed was
called.
Ms. Mufleh tells her players to try their best to ignore
these slights. When the other side loses its cool, she tells
them, it is a sign of weakness.
Ms. Mufleh is just as fatalistic about bad calls. In her
entire coaching career, she tells her players, she has never
seen a call reversed because of arguing.
The Fugees are perhaps better equipped to accept this
advice than most. Their lives, after all, have been defined by
bad calls. On the field, they seem to have a higher threshold
for anger than the American players, who often respond to
borderline calls as if they are catastrophic injustices. Bad
calls, Ms. Mufleh teaches her players, are part of the game.
You have to accept them, and move on.
On Oct. 21, Ms. Mufleh is forced to put this theory to the
test. The Fugees are on their way to Athens, an hour's drive,
for their biggest game, against the undefeated United Gold
Valiants. A win will put them in contention for the top spot in
their division. Ms. Mufleh sets out in her yellow Volkswagen
Beetle, the back seat crammed with balls and cleats. Her team
follows in a white Y.M.C.A. bus.
Just outside Monroe, Ms. Mufleh looks to her left and sees
a Georgia State Patrol car parallel to her. She looks at her
speedometer. She isn't speeding.
The brake light, she thinks.
Ms. Mufleh noticed it early in the week, but between
practices, work and evenings shuttling among her players'
apartments, she neglected to get it fixed. The trooper turns on
his flashing lights. Ms. Mufleh eases to the side and looks at
her watch. If this doesn't take too long, the team will make
the field in time to warm up.
It isn't so simple. Because of a clerical error, a ticket
Ms. Mufleh paid a year before appears unpaid. Her license is
suspended. The trooper orders her from her car. In full view of
her team, he arrests her.
In the bus, the Fugees become unglued. Santino Jerke, in
the country only a few months, begins to weep, violating the
unwritten team rule that Fugees don't cry. Several of the
Fugees have had family members snatched by uniformed men, just
like this. They have been in the United States too little time
to understand court dates or bail.
Ms. Mufleh tells the team's manager and bus driver, Tracy
Ediger, to take the team to Athens. They know what to do. They
can play without her.
Coachless, though, the Fugees are lost. Athens scores
within minutes. And scores again. And again. The final score is
5-0.
After the game, Ms. Ediger drives the team back to Monroe.
She puts together the $800 bail for Ms. Mufleh and signs some
papers. In a few moments, the coach appears. Later, Ms. Mufleh
says she thought at that moment about all the times she had
told the Fugees to shake off bad calls, to get back in the
game, to take responsibility. She walks straight to the bus and
her players.
``This was my fault, and I had no excuse for not being
there,'' she tells them. ``I should have been there and I
wasn't, and the way it happened probably messed you guys up.''
Ms. Mufleh asks about the score.
``It was a really hard team, Coach,'' says Idwar Dikori,
the Sudanese speedster.
``Were they better than you?''
``No!'' the Fugees shout in unison.
``Come on, guys--were they?''
``No, Coach,'' Robin Dikori says. ``If you were there, we
were going to beat them.''
Back in Clarkston that night, Ms. Mufleh takes some sweet
rolls to the family of Grace Balegamire, a Congolese player.
Grace's 9-year-old brother has heard about the arrest, but
doesn't believe it.
``If you were in jail,'' the boy says, ``you wouldn't be
here.''
Ms. Mufleh explains that she gave the people at the jail
some money and promised to come back later, so they let her
out.
``How much money?'' he asks.
``Enough for 500 ice creams.''
``If you pay 500 ice creams you can come out of jail?'' he
asks.
Ms. Mufleh grasps the boy's confusion. The boys' father is
a political prisoner, in jail in Kinshasa, under circumstances
that have drawn condemnation from Amnesty International and the
Red Cross. The government there has issued no word on when, or
if, he will be released.
At the Ziatys' home, the arrest has a similarly jarring
effect. Jeremiah locks himself in his room and cries himself to
sleep.
BATTLING TO THE END
It's late October, and with just two weeks left in the
season, a minor miracle occurs in the arrival of two 10-foot-
long cardboard boxes: portable soccer goals for the Fugees. The
administrator at the Y.M.C.A. finally put in the order. Ms.
Mufleh and Ms. Ediger assemble the goals in Milam Park.
The goals and the new field offer Ms. Mufleh new
opportunities to coach. On grass, players can slide-tackle
during scrimmages, a danger on the old, gravelly field. A lined
field makes it easier to practice throw-ins and corner kicks.
And goals: well, they provide a chance for the Fugees to
practice shooting.
A disturbing trend has emerged in recent games. The Fugees
move the ball down the field at will, but their shots are wild.
They tie two games despite dominating play.
Perhaps the Fugees are missing shots for the reason other
teams miss shots: because scoring in soccer, under the best
conditions, is deceptively difficult. But Ms. Mufleh also
wonders if the absence of goals for most of a season doesn't
have something to do with it.
Even so, the Fugees end the regular season on a misty
Saturday with a 2-1 victory, to finish third in their division
with a record of 5-2-3, behind undefeated Athens and the Dacula
Danger, a team the Fugees tied. The season finale will be a
tournament called the Tornado Cup. To a player, the Fugees
think they can win.
``What makes us work as a team is we all want to win bad--
we want to be the best team around,'' Qendrim says. ``It's like
they're all from my own country,'' he adds of his teammates.
``They're my brothers.''
* * * * * * *
The Tornado Cup comes down to a game between the Fugees and
the Concorde Fire, perhaps Atlanta's most elite--and
expensive--soccer academy. The Fugees need to win to advance to
the finals.
Standing on the sideline in a sweatshirt with ``Soccer
Mom'' on the back, Nancy Daffner, team mother for the Fire,
describes her son's teammates as ``overachievers.'' One is a
cellist who has played with the Atlanta Symphony. Her son wakes
up an hour early every day to do a morning radio broadcast at
his school.
The Fire are mostly from the well-to-do Atlanta suburb of
Alpharetta. They have played together under the same coach for
five years. They practice twice a week under lights, and have
sessions for speed and agility training.
Over the years, the parents have grown close. During
practice, Ms. Daffner says, she and the other mothers often
meet for margaritas while the fathers watch their sons play.
The team has pool parties and players spend weekends at one
another's lake houses. In the summer, most of the players
attend soccer camp at Clemson University. Ms. Daffner estimates
that the cost of playing for the Fire exceeds $5,000 a year per
player, which includes fees, travel to tournaments and, of
course, gear. Each player has an Adidas soccer bag embroidered
with his jersey number.
There is one other expenditure. The parents of the Fire
collectively finance the play of Jorge Pinzon, a Colombian
immigrant and the son of a single working mother. He isn't from
Alpharetta, but from East Gwinnett County, a largely Latino
area outside Atlanta. Fire parents go to great lengths to get
Jorge to games, arranging to meet him at gas stations around
his home, landmarks they can find in his out-of-the-way
neighborhood. Jorge is the best player on the team.
Ms. Mufleh gathers the Fugees before warm-ups.
``Play to the whistle,'' she tells them. ``If the ref makes
a bad call, you keep playing. O.K.? You focus on the game and
how you're going to win it. Because if you don't, we're going
to lose your last game of the season, and you're going home
early.''
Just before the opening whistle, some of the Fugees see a
strange sight on the sideline. A teacher from the school of
Josiah Saydee, a Liberian forward, has come to see him play.
Some older refugee children from the complexes in Clarkston
have managed rides to the game, an hour from home. Several
volunteers from resettlement agencies show up. For the first
time all year, the Fugees have fans.
The Fugees come out shooting--and missing--frequently. They
lead, 1-0, at the half. In the second half, it's as if a force
field protects the Fire's goal. After a half-dozen misses, the
Fugees score again midway through the second half, to lead by
2-1.
Then, with just minutes to go, Jorge Pinzon of the Fire
gets free about 25 yards from the Fugees' goal. He squares his
shoulders and leans into a shot that arcs beautifully over the
players' heads. Eldin Subasic, the Fugees' Bosnian goalie,
leaps. The ball brushes his hands and deflects just under the
bar, tying the game.
The final whistle blows moments later. The Fugees' season
is over.
``You had them,'' Ms. Mufleh tells her team after the game.
``You had them at 2 to 1, and you wouldn't finish it.''
The Fugees are crushed.
``We lost, I mean, we tied our game,'' says Mafoday Jawneh,
the sensitive newcomer to the team. ``It was so. . . . '' His
voice trails off. ``I don't know what it was.''
AN UNPLEASANT HOLIDAY GIFT
The holidays are a festive time in Clarkston. Santa Claus
arrives by helicopter at City Hall. The mayor is there to greet
him, as are some of the Fugees.
They have other concerns besides Christmas. The Fugees have
held two carwashes in town, to raise $1,000 to go to a
tournament in Savannah in late January. They have come up $130
short, and Ms. Mufleh tells them that unless they raise the
money, they are not going. When one player suggests asking
their parents, Ms. Mufleh says that any player who asks a
parent for tournament money will be kicked off the team.
She tells them, ``You need to ask yourselves what you need
to do for your team.''
* * * * * * *
``You need to ask yourself what you need to do for your
team,'' Jeremiah Ziaty says.
He is at home in his kitchen, talking with Prince Tarlue, a
teammate from Liberia, making a case for a team project. Some
of the boys are to meet at Eldin Subasic's apartment. They can
knock on doors in town and offer to rake leaves to raise the
money to get to Savannah. No need telling Coach, unless they
raise enough cash. Prince says he is in. Grace is in, too. Some
older boys in the refugee community offer to help out as well.
Late on a Sunday morning, they set out.
That afternoon, Ms. Mufleh's cellphone rings. It's Eldin,
who asks if she will pick up Grace and take him home. They have
been raking leaves all day, he says, and Grace does not want to
walk home in the dark. Oh, Eldin adds, he wants to give her the
money.
``What money?'' she asks.
``You said we needed $130,'' he tells her. ``So we got
$130.''
* * * * * * *
Ms. Mufleh and Ms. Ediger, the team manager, spend the
holiday vacation visiting the players' families. On Dec. 26,
Ms. Mufleh receives a fax on Town of Clarkston letterhead.
Effectively immediately, the fax informs her, the Fugees
soccer team is no longer welcome to play at Milam Park. The
city is handing the field to a youth sports coordinator who
plans to run a youth baseball and football program.
Questioned by this reporter, Mayor Swaney says he has
forgotten that in October the City Council gave the Fugees six
months. A few days later, he tells Ms. Mufleh the team can stay
through March.
In early January, Ms. Mufleh logs on to Google Earth, and
scans satellite images of Clarkston. There are green patches on
the campuses of Georgia Perimeter College, and at the Atlanta
Area School for the Deaf, around the corner from City Hall. She
hopes to find the Fugees a permanent home.
------
CORRECTION: FEBRUARY 1, 2007
A front-page article on Jan. 21 about a soccer program for
refugee boys in Clarkston, Ga., rendered incorrectly a
quotation from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in which Mayor
Lee Swaney of Clarkston commented on the use of a town park. He
said, ``There will be nothing but baseball down there as long
as I am mayor.'' He did not say ``baseball and football.''
EDITORS' NOTE: MARCH 4, 2007
A front-page article on Jan. 21 reported on a soccer
program for refugee boys in Clarkston, Ga., and how it has come
to symbolize the passions that run high in the area over the
issue of immigration. The article included a statement that
Clarkston's mayor, Lee Swaney, had forced the resignation of
the town's longtime police chief, in part because of complaints
from refugees that police officers were harassing them.
The former police chief, Charles Nelson--who was not
identified by name in the article--called The Times on Feb. 5
to say that he had resigned voluntarily. Mayor Swaney says that
Mr. Nelson left on his own accord.
The Times tried several times to contact Mr. Nelson for
comment before publication. The article should have said that
he could not be reached, and it should have attributed the
information about the circumstances of his resignation to those
who provided it.
APPENDIX VI
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Legislation Introduced in the Georgia General Assembly, April 2003
HOUSE BILL 1002
By: Representatives Drenner of the 57th, Mobley of the 58th, Marin of
the 66th, and Benfield of the 56th, Post 1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT To amend Chapter 60 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated, relating to general provisions applicable to counties and
municipalities, so as to provide that voluntary agencies that assist
with the resettlement of refugees must make certain reports to the
county and municipality in which such agencies are located; to provide
a definition; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Georgia:
Section 1. Chapter 60 of Title 36 of the Official Code of
Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions applicable to
counties and municipalities, is amended by adding a new Code
Section 36_60_24 to read as follows:
``36_60_24.
``Any voluntary agency that is involved in the resettlement
of refugees in this state shall report to the governing
authority of the county and, if located within a municipality,
to the governing authority of the municipality in which such
agency is located each time that such agency resettles or
assists in the resettlement of ten or more refugees at one time
in such county or municipality within ten days of such refugees
arrival in the county. For the purposes of this Code section,
`voluntary agency' shall mean an agency located in this state
that contracts with the United States Department of State or a
National Voluntary Resettlement Agency to provide reception and
placement services to refugees who reside in this state.''
Section 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this
Act are repealed.
APPENDIX VII
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Acronyms
FY--Fiscal Year
PRM--Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration
ESL-- English as Second Language
USRAP--U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
GAO--Government Accountability Office
ORR--Office of Refugee Resettlement
MARTA--Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority