Resettling Afghans revitalized agencies
The sudden crush of thousands of Afghans who arrived in Houston last fall forced local refugee resettlement agencies to drastically expand services in a matter of weeks.
Houston’s role as the top destination for evacuated Afghans stressed these agencies, which had diminished in scope following Trump-era cuts to refugee resettlement.
But leaders for these groups say there’s an unforeseen silver lining to the logistical hurdle of resettling more than 5,500 Afghans: Refugee resettlement in Houston is back and organizations are better prepared to welcome refugees from around the world.
“That was a test,” said
Ali Al Sudani, who oversaw the quick expansion of refugee resettlement at Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston last fall. “That’s going to help us prepare for coming years.”
His group and four other local refugee resettlement agencies scrambled to hire Dari and Pashto speakers to manage the urgent needs of Afghan newcomers: meeting them at the airport, taking them to get driver’s licenses or to the doctor and moving them into new, furnished apartments.
“That doesn’t mean all their needs have been met,” he said. “But definitely they are way more advanced on their journey to self-sufficiency and working and supporting themselves.”
Springing into action was especially difficult considering that agencies like Al Sudani’s had received so few refugees prior to the influx of Afghans. Interfaith Ministries had resettled a little more than 100 refugees in the two prior years. Suddenly, they were receiving hundreds of Afghans in a matter of weeks.
A gutted program
The Trump administration slashed the number of refugees who could resettle each year to roughly a quarter of the Obama-era total. Admissions dropped by another half during the pandemic to just over 11,000 nationwide. By 2018, the U.S. was operating with a gutted refugee resettlement program at a time when more people were displaced worldwide than ever before — more than 89 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In the unpredictable world of refugee resettlement, organizations rely on a mix of public and private funds to maintain their programs. Agencies get money from the U.S. State Department for each new person they resettle. So when the Trump administration dropped the number of refugee arrivals to a fraction of Obama-era numbers, that funding stream largely dried up.
The Houston area has been a historic hub for refugee resettlement. During the time of these funding cuts, local agencies took a major hit, limiting their capacity to serve local refugees. Larger groups got help from the region’s deeppocketed philanthropists. But one small Houston-area organization retained just a single staffer to handle all new arrivals; other agencies shuffled positions or didn’t replace staff when people quit.
Elsewhere in the U.S. small refugee resettlement agencies shut their doors.
Just a suitcase
Then, about a year ago, everything changed. In September 2021, planes began shuttling beleaguered Afghan families from U.S. military bases to Houston. Many were starting new lives with just a suitcase, limited or no English and still wrecked from the trauma of a violent and sudden departure from their homes.
Agencies staffed up and scaled up their operations — refugee resettlement was back.
It was a rough ride. Some frustrated Afghans waited weeks in extended stay hotels and overworked caseworkers drove pregnant mothers, who suddenly had to worry about insurance and health care costs, to doctor appointments. Social Security cards were mailed to addresses people had left.
Staff stepped up, working long hours to meet Afghan families’ needs, and faith communities, veterans, hotel owners also came together to lend a hand — one person even donated a cow that could be slaughtered according to halal guidelines. A significant boost in support could be attributed to Americans’ rare bipartisan support for this particular immigrant population, due in part to the fierce allyship of U.S. veterans who depended on Afghans during the 20year occupation of their country.
More evacuated Afghans resettled in Houston than any other U.S. city — in fact, Houston took in more of these families than 47 U.S. states — some 5,600 evacuated Afghans. Houston became home for about half of all Afghans who resettled in Texas.
Now that early interventions — the airport pickups, the apartment placements and school enrollments — have concluded the next phase of services involves language education, career counseling and time-intensive case support to help immigrants file the paperwork to remain in the country legally.
‘Fire tested’
Agencies are now looking ahead to 2023 — at what could be a return to a more predictable and steady stream of actual refugees. Afghans were not considered refugees, because they were welcomed under something called humanitarian parole. It’s a distinction that refugee advocacy groups think is important because if you look solely at refugee resettlement for official refugees, the U.S. brought in only 25,465 refugees nationally despite a refugee ceiling of 125,000.
“Over the past year, communities across the country have welcomed people displaced from Afghanistan and Ukraine who arrived via humanitarian parole, but permanent resettlement through the refugee program has remained historically low. The cases of hundreds of thousands of refugees from many other countries around the world have been languishing for years,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project.
Biden’s refugee cap for 2023 is 125,000 again — if that cap is met, Houstonarea agencies leaders say they are prepared to receive the thousands likely to be sent to Houston.
“Anybody who has been with us in the last year is fire tested,” said Jennifer Linscomb, director at Refugee Services of Texas in Houston, referring to her hardworking personnel. Their staff increased from roughly 25 people to 40 to handle the newcomers.
Other agencies saw similar expansion. At Interfaith Ministries, the resettlement staff increased from about 30 to 80, and the agency is actively hiring additional employees. The staff at Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has nearly tripled from 36 to 96.
Besides the logistical challenges, agencies had to become culturally competent and provide speakers in a range of additional languages to serve the unique needs of their clients.
“It’s extremely difficult,” said Al Sudani, of Interfaith Ministries. “You have to be culturally aware: You have to be a social worker. You have to be a problem solver. You have to document. You have to be good in finances.”
Daniel Stoecker, CEO of the Alliance, said he’s hopeful the group can provide its former level of services again.
“We look forward to working with our national and local partners to restore the refugee resettlement program to its full capacity and continue welcoming those who have historically contributed to making our communities stronger,” said Stoecker said.
Preliminary numbers show this may actually be how it all shakes out.
Interfaith Ministries expects around 800 refugees could arrive in the Houston area in 2023, which is less than the 1,396 Afghans they resettled in 2022, but far more than the 130 refugees they received in 2021. For all of Houston, Al Sudani said that will translate to between 3,000 and 4,000 refugees in 2023, according to early estimates.
Of course, uncertainty looms large in the unpredictable world of refugee resettlement — Biden or his successor could decide to cut the number of refugees the U.S. will take, regardless how much conflict is raging around the world.
These big national decisions will continue to play out in Houston, said Al Sudani, who came to Houston as a refugee more than a decade ago. He believes that agencies should provide services and language support for whatever groups arrive.
“All the resettlement is local,” he said, “we should have a unified message of welcoming and support and compassion to all refugees who are in need.”