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Syrian Refugees, U.S. Resettlement Policies, and Community Response STILL WELCOMEThe Syrian Community Network is a nonprofit with the mission to empower Syrian refugees in achieving a seamless transition and relocation to the United States through connecting people to the right services and support networks. We envision a matured wave of Syrian refugees who are well-integrated into the culture of American society and are leading goal-filled lives. SCN was established by a diverse team of community members with intentions to aid and to assist in easing the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Numerous Syrian Community Network leaders, volunteers, and partners contributed to this report, including Suzanne Akhras Sahloul, Maya Atassi, Shannon Sweetnam, Yara Ayache, Heba Hanna, Mona Megahed, Ahmad Alatrash, Fatuma Haji, Rana Sammani, Ayman Akil, and Zoe Sahloul from New England Arab American Organization ( NEAAO ) . We would like to thank the leaders from our chapters in Chicago, San Diego, Atlanta, and Tucson for their feedback and dedicated work. This report was written by Kathleen Fallon. On behalf of our board members and founders, thank you Oxfam America for supporting this report, and to our generous community and all who support our work. Above all, we would like to thank and dedicate this report to the refugee families we serve, and to all Syrian refugees and displaced persons around the world who have been forced to leave their homes. COVER PHOTO CREDIT: SAN DIEGO SCN CHAPTER REPORT DESIGNER: ISAAC VERSAW PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2019 ABOUT SYRIAN COMMUNITY NETWORK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS 1 9 11 14 17 21 33 47 53 5 3 GLOSSARY FORWARD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT SYRIAN REFUGEE ADMISSIONS TO THE U.S. RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM AND POLICIES EXPERIENCES OF RESETTLED SYRIAN REFUGEES COMMUNITY RESPONSE RECOMMENDATIONS 1 GLOSSARY2 ASYLUM SEEKER An asylum seeker is a person who flees their home country, enters another country seeking international protection ( i.e. applies for asylum ) , but has yet to be recognized as a refugee. Relevant immigration authorities of the country of asylum determine whether the asylum seeker will be granted protection and become officially recognized as a refugee, or “ asylee. ” During the time that their asylum claim is being examined, asylum seekers must not be forced to return to their country of origin. EXECUTIVE ORDER An executive order is a directive issued by the U.S. president to set federal policy without the approval of Congress. The legality of individual executive orders can be challenged by federal courts. FISCAL YEAR The U.S. government ’ s Fiscal Year ( FY ) runs from October 1 to September 30 of each year. PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION The Presidential Determination for Refugee Admissions is put forth by the U.S. president each fiscal year after consultations with Congress and other federal agencies. The Presidential Determination sets the annual number of refugee admissions. REFUGEE According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, a refugee is any person who “ owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. ” REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT Resettlement is the transfer of “ vulnerable ” refugees from an asylum country or host country to which they have initially fled, to another safe third country that has agreed to admit them and grant them permanent settlement. SCN Syrian Community Network TPS Temporary Protected Status ( TPS ) was created in the Immigration Act of 1990. It is a temporary immigration status provided to people from certain countries facing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions, allowing them to stay and work in the U.S. for the period of time that the U.S. government makes the designation. UNHCR UN Refugee Agency ( UN High Commissioner for Refugees ) USRAP U.S. Refugee Admissions Program3 As I write this, the news has just come in that the White House has slashed refugee admissions almost by half, to an unprecedented low, capping the fiscal year 2020 resettlement number at 18,000. At the same time, a coinciding Executive Order announcement is instituting a policy where refugees will be resettled " only in those jurisdictions in which both the State and local governments have consented to receive refugees, " though refugee resettlement has always been under federal jurisdiction. We hear stories each day of Syrian refugees being forcibly returned to Syria from neighboring countries, their lives being put in grave danger - in the last three months alone, at least 2,500 Syrian refugees have been forcibly deported from Lebanon 1 . We witness a rise in hate crimes, many targeting immigrants and refugees. And on the southern border of the U.S., we hear the heartbreaking stories of men, women, and children forced to live in inhumane conditions, with more than 2,000 children separated from their parents, for seeking asylum and opportunity. We are in a time where the system designed to support and give refuge to the most vulnerable people is being dismantled. Lost in the discourse about tightening borders and reducing the cap on admissions is the fact that refugees are not numbers; they are women, men, and children who were forced to leave their homes. Nobody asks to be a refugee, and nobody wants to leave their home country. People don ' t risk drowning in the sea on a boat unless the water is safer than land. Resettlement is the last resort for refugees. Now is the critical time to remind our government that refugees are welcome. As the founder of the Syrian Community Network, I am inspired each day by the remarkable successes, hard work, and open hearts of the individuals and families I work with. Over the past three years, 1 Amnesty International, “Lebanon: Authorities must immediately halt deportation of Syrian refugees,” 27 August 2019: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ news/2019/08/lebanon-authorities-must-immediately-halt-deportation-of-syri- an-refugees/ FORWARD4 we have served over 3,500 refugees with rent assistance, hands-on and culturally appropriate case management support, and innovative programming aimed at employment, empowerment and mentorship. Self-sufficiency is at the heart of our work. I have also seen the kindness and generosity in community members, students, faith-based communities, and of entire towns coming together across the country to support newly resettled refugees. Especially since the “ travel bans ” were initiated, designed to prevent refugees of certain backgrounds such as Syrians from entering the U.S., we have seen an outpouring of love from strangers to new refugees, wanting to reinforce that they are welcome and they are home. The experiences of Syrian refugees in the U.S. - from the reasons they were forced to leave Syria, the path and experience of their displacement, their challenges upon arrival here, their goals for the future - are as diverse as the cities and towns in which they have settled. Our goal in this report is to give a platform to the experiences and perspectives of resettled Syrian refugees, whom we are honored to serve. We hope this report can serve as a resource for others on the current challenges that Syrian refugees in the U.S. face. We put this report together to emphasize the short and long-term impact of drastic refugee admissions cuts, and serve as a tool to advocate for the strengthening of the refugee resettlement program. With gratitude, Suzanne Akhras Sahloul Founder & Executive Director Syrian Community Network 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY6 2 UNHCR, “Resettlement Data.” Updated June 2019: https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/ resettlement-data.html. The conflict and atrocities against civilians in Syria have created the largest refugee crisis in the world, with 5.6 million Syrians forced to flee from their country. When refugees cannot safely return to their home country, as is the case for the vast majority of Syrians, or remain in a host country, there is another, often life-saving option: resettlement in a third country. The U.S. has been the global leader in refugee resettlement, particularly since the passage of the 1980 Refugee Act. However, while the world faces the highest levels of displacement on record, refugee admissions to the U.S. are at a historic low - particularly the FY2020 refugee admissions cap of 18,000 - and in the last two years the U.S. has cut the number of refugees it admits more than any other resettling country. 2 A total of 21,559 Syrian refugees have been admitted to the U.S. since 2012. However, between 2016 and now, there has been a 96 % drop in admittance of Syrian refugees. Since the Trump administration took office in 2017, there have been numerous policy changes - from the historic cuts to refugee admissions, to budget reductions for the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program, to three Presidential Executive Orders denying admission to refugees from specific nationalities, most notably Syrians - designed to dismantle the U.S. refugee resettlement infrastructure and program. The short-term and long-term consequences of these policy changes are dire : • There has been a 71 % drop in total refugee resettlement, 91 % drop in the resettlement of Muslim refugees, and 96 % drop in Syrian refugee resettlement. • Resettlement applications and processing have been derailed. • The U.S. is abandoning the norm of responsibility-sharing for refugee protection, and contributing to a domino effect. • The crisis for Syrian refugees is worsening. • Local resettlement offices are closing, leading to a loss of institutional knowledge, capacity, and skills that will affect resettlement in the long-term. • With the shrinking institutional support network, it will take longer for resettled refugees to rebuild their lives in the U.S. However, resettled refugee families are resilient. Each individual Syiran refugee who has been resettled in the U.S. has their own unique experience, from what caused them to leave Syria, to their experiences at different stages of displacement, to the process of adjusting to their new life in the U.S. We highlight numerous experiences and reflections of resettled Syrian refugees in this report, and through conversations with them and members of community resettlement organizations, we reflect on several trends in their experiences :Next >