HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield: Refugees Are A Blessing To This Country – Forbes

A family evacuated from Afghanistan are led through the arrival terminal at Dulles International ... [+] Airport to board a bus that will take them to a refugee processing center on August 25, 2021. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Refugees garnered front page headlines after the fall of Kabul as Americans showed their generosity for those escaping persecution in Afghanistan. However, refugee admissions fell to historic lows during the Trump administration and are only slowly recovering during the Biden administration. If refugee arrivals in FY 2016, which were approximately 85,000, had remained at that level from FY 2017 through FY 2021, nearly 300,000 more refugees would have arrived in the United States, according to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy.

To better understand the current state of U.S. refugee policy, I interviewed Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). HIAS was founded in 1881 to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, and today helps resettle refugees of all faiths and backgrounds to assist them in integrating into America.

Stuart Anderson: Can you give an update on what is happening with the Afghans who arrived in America after the fall of Kabul?

Mark Hetfield:Most of the Afghans who were airlifted to the United States arrived with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Many arrived without so much as a suitcase. The United States did not have time to process them as refugees, so the Department of Homeland Security brought them in under humanitarian parole.Humanitarian parolees, unlike refugees, do not normally have access to resettlement assistance from refugee resettlement agencies like HIAS, nor do they have a pathway to a green card, to citizenship or even to reuniting with their spouses and children.

In September, however, Congress passed legislation which made Afghan humanitarian parolees eligible for services provided to refugees. Congress has not, however, yet provided them with a pathway to legal status in the United States or to reuniting separated families. Without some kind of Afghan adjustment act, they will have to navigate the complexities of our very backlogged asylum system. As of November 15, around 45,000 humanitarian parolees remain on U.S. military bases across the United States, and approximately 25,000 have moved off the base into communities.

Anderson: How can people help?

Hetfield: The best way to help is to go to http://www.welcome.us, a clearinghouse to match volunteers, businesses, funds, housing, in kind donations, and even frequent flyer miles to good use to assist the Afghans who have been airlifted to the United States. While all services are needed, the highest priority is securing housing so that Afghans can move off the bases and start their lives in a new community.

Anderson: Can you explain the recent initiative to allow private citizens to assist in refugee resettlement?

Hetfield:In 2016, many Americans became aware of the Canadian private sponsorship program, which had just been expanded so Canada could meet its commitment to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees. The Canadian program allows a group of individuals to band together to support a refugees first year in Canada, augmenting the capacity of the government resettlement program. While the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is already a public-private partnership between the U.S. government and 9 national charitable networks, over the last five years a philanthropic effort has been underway for private sponsorships to complement this capacity.

The Afghan crisis provided the opportunity to fully launch the concept of private sponsorships in the U.S. Congregations, local organizations, and even informal groups of five or more individuals can now apply to the community sponsorship hub to sponsor and directly assist an Afghan family resettled to their community, with a lower financial and time commitment than required by the Canadian system. HIAS itself is excited about becoming an umbrella sponsor to support a network of Jewish congregations across the country who want to privately sponsor refugees. (For more information, see http://www.sponsorcircles.org.)

Anderson: What happened to refugee admissions during the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration?

Hetfield:In spite of a global refugee crisis, causing greater refugee resettlement needs than at any time in human history, the Trump administration lowered the annual refugee ceiling from 110,000 to 15,000the lowest number since the Refugee Act of 1980. Consequently, the national refugee resettlement capacity of the United States has been eviscerated. The nine agency resettlement networks were forced to close 100 of over 300 sites, with skeletal staffing in the surviving locations.

In addition to the 70,000 Afghans already brought to the United States, the Biden administration has launched a top to bottom re-evaluation of the Refugee Program, and set the FY2022 refugee ceiling at 125,000. While the nine agencies are in the process of reopening nearly one hundred new sites, we have not yet built back enough to receive all the Afghans and other refugees who need resettlement. This is precisely why the Biden administration has welcomed the acceleration of private sponsorships.

Anderson: How do you respond to those who say refugees present a threat?

Hetfield:From the time of the founding of the United States over 200 years ago, millions of refugees have come here to find freedom and escape persecution. And throughout this period, elements of our society have painted newcomers as threats to our economy, our culture, and our national security.

Politicians have exploited those fears to enact discriminatory legislation which often has undermined the civil liberties of all Americans, dating back to the Alien and Sedition Acts of the John Adams administration. Yet Ive never seen any evidence that, over the last 250 years, refugees in America have been anything but economic, social and cultural contributors to our great country. Of the three million refugees resettled to the United States since the Refugee Act of 1980, not a single one has committed a lethal act of terror on U.S. soil. History is the best evidence that refugees have been a blessing to this country, not a threat.

Anderson: What about those who argue refugees are a fiscal drain?

Hetfield: History too has clearly demonstrated that refugees, over the long run, benefit the United States. President Trump, in his January 27, 2017, executive order, commissioned a government study to document how much refugees were costing the United States. The study, however, which was leaked but never finalized nor released, actually found that over a ten year period refugees contributed $63 billion more in federal, state and local taxes than they took in services and assistance.

America resettles refugees for humanitarian reasons, but doing so happens to be in our national economic interest. An upfront investment is required, however, so that people who lost everything have an opportunity to succeed in this country. And they do overwhelmingly succeed and contribute.

Anderson: Refugees reimburse the U.S. government for certain costs, is that correct?

Hetfield:Yes, refugees are required to reimburse the United States government for the cost of their flights to the United States. This is not the case, however, for the Afghan humanitarian parolees who were airlifted here.

Anderson: What policy recommendations do you have for the Biden administration?

Hetfield:The good news is that the Refugee Act of 1980 gave the executive branch a flexible framework to use resettlement to support U.S. power as a global leader, while rescuing and providing durable solutions for refugees. Over the last forty years, however, the refugee program has become so politicized by fear, and so encumbered with red tape and window dressing, that it can no longer carry out the rescue function that Congress intended. Moreover, the U.S. has persistently failed to plan for inevitable refugee crises, such as the one we are experiencing in Afghanistan.

I would urge the administration to (1) remove the red tape to restore rescue to the program; (2) establish an emergency planning function with an active trained roster of former and current government and NGO staff to serve as reservists who can be mobilized to staff resettlement during humanitarian crises; (3) build on current efforts to establish community support for refugee resettlement, including but not limited to private sponsorships; (4) more consistently prioritize reunification of separated refugee family households; and (5) facilitate access for refugees to labor and educational visas to immigrate to the United States, to complement the capacity of the refugee resettlement program.

Anderson: What do you think is the most important thing Americans should know about refugees?

Hetfield:Refugees are a blessing to this country. If you dont believe me, volunteer, meet some, and see for yourself.

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HIAS CEO Mark Hetfield: Refugees Are A Blessing To This Country - Forbes