The congregation of Genesis United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, expected the Sudanese refugee family to arrive September 14, 2001. They had agreed to sponsor a refugee family —John and Sarah, their three children (boys aged 8 and 10, a daughter, 4), and John’s brother Michael (18). The family fled their homeland to escape the terror inflicted by warring factions eager to seize southern Sudan’s  oil-rich lands. The family became refugees in Uganda and eventually were approved to come to the United States. Then, on 9/11, a different kind of terror put their hopes for a new beginning on hold.

 

The day after the tragedy, in Cairo, Egypt, the Rev. David Grafton of the Joint Relief Project for Refugees of St. Andrew’s Church, described the sympathy, concern, and even apologies offered by members of the community—Sudanese, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali, both Christians and Muslims. Soon afterward he came to recognize the irony that the refugees would be much more affected by 9/11 than he.

 

Immediately after the terrorist attacks, the United States halted all refugee flights from Africa and the Middle East and recalled the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officers who adjudicated the refugee cases at posts across the world. Approved refugees in the Middle East, Cairo, and elsewhere in Africa, including Uganda, could not travel, and new arrivals could not be interviewed.

 

In December 2001, Genesis United Methodist Church was able to communicate with the refugee family in Uganda. The fifth and sixth grade Sunday school classes sent photos of the new home awaiting the refugees, showing the snow in Michigan and assuring them of warm clothing. The package was received and John and Sarah sent the following reply:

 

Dear Friends in Christ,   We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hope that you are well and in good health. the letters and pictures you sent to us have been received in good condition. We are very pleased and praising our Lord for his Love. We hope very soon we shall meet. We also request your prayers for our journey so that God can make it possible for us to reach you, as we all desire. May the Lord’s name be praised.

 

 The Rev. Chris Lane, co-pastor of Genesis United Methodist Church, said: “We still have the porch light on for this family. Waiting for them is one of our spiritual tasks.” A year later, the church and the family are still waiting, more letters have been exchanged, and the family has moved from the camp into town (Kampala). the required medical examinations prior to departure expired and had to be rescheduled. While in this “waiting mode,” Genesis United Methodist Church is looking at possible ways to help the family during the long delay. At the same time, the church is concerned that the house secured for the family remains unoccupied.

New Security Procedures

INS officers returned to their posts last year, and refugee flights have resumed. But security concerns continue to affect the refugee program. Of all newcomers to the United States, refugees have always been the most thoroughly scrutinized. The perpetrators  of the 9/11 events were not refugees  seeking asylum. Refugees, themselves victims of terror, were the first to face the brunt of the US security concerns after the attacks.

 

Approved refugees must wait until they clear new verification and security procedures. One such process, now recognized as ultimately improving the integrity of the program, checks the validity of the relationship claimed by refugees joining relatives in the United States. Another requires that families with boys and men aged 15 to 45 must receive an FBI “Security Advisory Opinion” for the family’s male members. It is this requirement that is likely to be holding up the family in Uganda.

 

It has taken a year to get the new procedures in place and movement is slow. although the Bush Administration placed Fiscal Year 2002’s refugee admissions number at 70,000, only 28,000 refugees were admitted last year. In recent years, admissions have averaged 80,000. For 2003, the ceiling was set at 70,000, although the Administration anticipates that only 50,000 will be admitted. Only 4000 refugees were admitted from October to December 2002—the first three months of Fiscal Year 2003. the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) registered a 50 percent drop in cases received for resettlement last year, although overall church involvement was only slightly less than the previous year and churches continue to wait for refugees.

 

The visa slots for 42,000 refugees unable to travel last year are now lost, with no plans to replace them. This is not a negligible figure in light of the deprivation and sometimes dangerous situations in which refugees live, not to mention the purposeless  tedium of camp life that assails all refugees unable to return home and lead productive lives. In January, the INS indicated its intention to halt the processing of Iraqi refugees. Refugee advocates responded strongly—Iraqi refugees have good reason to be refugees. The State Department has since rescinded the plan.

 

Effects on Resettlement

In this country, the professional network of affiliate offices nurtured and developed over the years by resettlement agencies such as Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program (with which UMCOR participates in resettlement) has been hard hit. Without refugee arrivals, some small offices have closed, while others have reduced staff or reduced hours. The challenge is to ensure that the professional caliber of the network is maintained for the time when the program is fully restored.

 

The US Refugee Resettlement Program is the world’s most generous, and it reflects the American concern for refugees. It sets an example for other resettlement countries and helps assure poor asylum countries (often hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees) of US concern and involvement. The program has a value far beyond the number of refugees it settles, which even in a “normal” year is less than one percent of the world’s total of 20 million refugees.

 

There are signs that the program will emerge from its present doldrums. Last year, Church World Service, along with Lutheran Social Services, resettled 300 Montagnard refugees from Vietnam in North and South Carolina. Twenty-six UM congregations came forward to sponsor and assist the refugees. The government has announced its intention to identify other specific groups of refugees for whom resettlement offers the only durable safe solution. One such group is the 11,000 Somali Bantu refugees waiting in Kenya, a long-suffering population. When bordering countries Tanzania and Mozambique were unable to take the Bantu, the US agreed to take them, and the refugees are now going through the pre-resettlement process.

 

Refugee advocates must work hard to ensure that refugee admission and arrival numbers in 2004 increase and perhaps compensate for this long period in the desert.

 

The United States benefits not only from its compassionate policies to refugees around the world but also from the industry and ambition of the refugees themselves, who contribute to the country’s strength and wealth as well as to its rich diversity. UMCOR is aware of these benefits but also sees active church participation in the program as following the biblical mandate. Jesus said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Congregations that have sponsored refugees have found their horizons widened and the congregation revitalized and often felt in awe of the gifts they have received from refugees. In this way, love, which “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13), may be found to conquer all things, including fear that can inhibit and oppress even a generous nation.

 

Homeland Security Department   The creation of the Homeland Security Department and the subsequent shuffling and redefining of departments within it constitutes the largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Justice in 1947.   As of Saturday, March 1, the Immigration and Naturalization Service ceased to exist.   It became three different bureaus of the new Homeland Security Department: enforcement, inspections at ports of entry, and services such as naturalization and green cards.   Other agencies that have been absorbed by the new agency are the Customs Service, the United States Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Functions of other departments are also affected.   The Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan may be accessed from the Department of Homeland Security website:   http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/reorganization_plan.pdf

 

 

 

* Susan Wersan is the Program Coordinator for refugee Ministries, UMCOR.