USA TODAY International Edition
Trump policies largely keeping refugees out of US
Resettlements to US drop to lowest level in 40 years
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Amina Olow holds her breath as she dials her aunt, the only hope she has of reaching her daughters, 15- year- old Nemotallah and 13- year- old Nestexo.
The phone rings and rings before a relative answers. The girls, Olow asks. The girls are not home, the voice on the other line says.
Olow rests her forehead in her hand and stares down at the phone.
Olow lives in Columbus, Ohio, 7,000 miles away from her oldest daughters, who live in Kenya. She hasn’t lived with them in 13 years, separated by immigration delays that seemingly have no end in sight. She wasn’t there to buy them their first hijab, cuddle them to sleep after nightmares or celebrate their good grades in school.
“It’s tough, it’s really tough,” Olow says. “They still need their mom. No child should be away from their mom.”
Across the U. S., thousands of refugees are desperately waiting to be reunited with their children, parents, spouses and other siblings. Under the Trump administration, these families have had to wait even longer for their relatives to receive visas to travel to the United States, if they are approved at all.
The U. S. Office of Refugee Resettlement states that allowing refugees to enter the country reflects the nation’s core values. But days after President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, his administration halted the resettlement program entirely for 120 days; banned people from the Muslimmajority countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days; and cut the amount of refugees admitted into the country during that fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000.
The Trump administration has since gone further, limiting the number of refugees allowed into the U. S. during this fiscal year to 15,000 applicants, the lowest rate in the resettlement program’s 40- year history.
The election could be pivotal for families like Olow’s. Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden has said his administration will “prioritize restoring refugee admissions in line with our historic practice.” His campaign website states that he plans to set the annual cap to 125,000 refugees initially and will increase it even more over time.
Refugees are legal immigrants fleeing persecution, war or violence. They must go through numerous tests, background checks and security checks, which can often take years.
Olow, 39, and her husband, Abdirahman Ibrahim, were living in South Africa in 2008 when xenophobic attacks broke out across the African nation. The family’s grocery store was looted and burned to the ground. Once, they say, they saw neighbors burned alive.
The parents, both of whom were born in Somalia, sent their girls, 11 months and 3 years old at the time, to Kenya to live with family friends.
“It was a quick- second decision because of safety,” Olow said. “People were dying. ... We all ran for our lives.”
In 2009, the United Nations helped the couple apply for resettlement. In the intervening years, they had two more children, and in summer 2014, the family flew to be resettled in the USA.
They expected they would quickly be reunited with their oldest daughters. Then Trump was elected to the White House in 2016.
Before Trump took office, it typically took about three years for families like Olow’s to be reunited. Now, advocates tell families to prepare for six years, if they’re lucky.
Olow was able to see her daughters on a video call for the first time in November.
It had been so long since she had seen them that she couldn’t tell who was who. Olow said her daughters don’t understand what is taking so long and why they can’t join their family now. Olow doesn’t know how to explain something she doesn’t understand herself.
Olow likes to imagine what life will be like if her daughters are able to finally arrive in the U. S. She thinks about how much help they could be when it comes to cooking, cleaning and watching their four young, rambunctious siblings, who ask about them frequently.
One evening, Olow and her husband tried again to connect with their daughters. She listened to an automated voice tell her the number was not in service.
Olow raised her hands in frustration and then tried again, determined to hear her daughter’s voices. When the phone started to ring, Olow clapped her hands excitedly.
“Come on,” she said, looking at the smartphone on her small kitchen table.
Then, finally, her oldest daughter’s voice. Olow flashed a big smile and a thumbs- up.
“She’s here,” she said, pumping her fist in victory.
The girl’s giggles could be heard on the other end of the line. She told her parents how she did on her school exams and asked about her younger siblings, whom she has never met.
Olow remained quiet, listening happily as her husband and daughter shared the stories of their family.