Refugees share stories with lawmakers
Fresh off the heels of a federal judge’s decision to dismiss Tennessee’s lawsuit against the federal government over a refugee resettlement program, Juma Shaibo had a message for state lawmakers Tuesday.
“We are here today to tell them that we are refugees and we are good people,” said the five-year Nashville resident who fled the war-torn city of Darfur, Sudan, before eventually making his home in the U.S. “We can vote them in and we can vote them out.”
Shaibo and more than 40 other refugees who have moved to Tennessee through the federal resettlement program gathered in Nashville on Tuesday in the hopes of dispelling fears among lawmakers.
“There are too many people — lawmakers — who don’t know much about refugees,” Shaibo said, before heading to the offices of House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, and Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville.
Their message, according to Shaibo, who works as an assistant physician at an area hospital, is simple. “We are not all bad,” he said. “I’m proud to be here. My family is proud to be here, and we wish all the lawmakers should come down and listen to us because we love them, we love Tennessee and Tennessee loves us, too. We are proud to be in America.”
The group effort, organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, was the first of its kind, as refugees hope to engage with lawmakers in an effort to discourage bills deemed unfriendly by the community.
Shaibo was joined by Shalum Deeka, who also fled Sudan and has lived in Memphis for the past 18 years, and had a similar message.
“Refugees are also contributors,” Deeka said.
A 2013 report presented to the Joint Government Operations Legislative Advisory Committee found refugees and their descendants provided $1.4 billion in revenue for Tennessee between 1990 and 2012, compared to $753 million in state support.
“We are here to support this country, to build this country and to be contributors,” said Deeka, a small business owner who also works for a car rental company. “We appreciate what this country has done for us.”
He praised the news that a federal judge dismissed Tennessee’s lawsuit over the federal refugee resettlement program.
On Tuesday, Gov. Bill Haslam declined to weigh in on the case’s dismissal.
When asked if he felt vindicated after the state attorney general declined to spearhead the lawsuit last year, Haslam said, “I do think having an attorney general who is separate from the elected process of either the executive branch or the legislative branch has served the state well over the years.”
Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.