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This will directly impact Syracuse, as<br />
Mayor Stephanie Miner has officially promoted<br />
opening the city to more refugees by<br />
joining the Cities for Action coalition, which<br />
consists of more than 118 mayors and county<br />
leaders supporting federal immigration<br />
reform.<br />
Horton and Broadway’s main goal locally<br />
is to try to reduce all of these external burdens<br />
for the families they serve, especially<br />
their Syrian families, so that they can reach a<br />
state of self-sufficiency within a year.<br />
Their role in the resettlement process,<br />
however, begins only once refugees have been<br />
vetted by the U.S. Department of Homeland<br />
Security and the United Nations. Broadway<br />
said normally it takes two to three years to get<br />
the finances, documentation and approval to<br />
enter the U.S., but the vetting process is so extensive<br />
and complex that in extreme cases, it<br />
can take 20. According to Homeland Security,<br />
Syrians must pass two more layers of security<br />
checks than refugees from any other country.<br />
After the Paris attack, the House of Representatives<br />
voted to tighten security. The 20-step<br />
vetting process for Syrian refugees can take at<br />
least two years.<br />
“If terrorists are going to get into this<br />
country, it’s not going to be through the refugee<br />
resettlement programs,” Broadway said.<br />
And when they do manage to arrive in<br />
the U.S., refugees essentially start from the<br />
ground up, which can be disheartening. One<br />
new American encapsulated the entire feeling<br />
to Broadway in one statement: “I’ve come to<br />
realize that U.S.A. stands for You Start Again.”<br />
“There’s inevitably a kind of a disenchantment<br />
that happens,” Broadway said. “You<br />
know, you first come and you think, ‘Oh. I’m<br />
going to America, I’m going to be an American.’<br />
... But then they come here, and it’s hard.<br />
You might come on a beautiful August day,<br />
but four months later, you’re in the depths of<br />
winter. And if you’re from Africa, that can<br />
just be awful for people.”<br />
Refugees are only given $900 to cover<br />
the first 90 days of expenses — including a<br />
security deposit and the first month of rent.<br />
These new Americans must initially rely on<br />
Syracuse’s carefully structured refugee assistance<br />
framework, which remains one of the<br />
strongest frameworks in the U.S., thanks to<br />
InterFaith<br />
Works and<br />
Catholic<br />
Charities.<br />
These are<br />
the two<br />
resettlement<br />
agencies in<br />
Syracuse,<br />
along with<br />
refugee support<br />
groups<br />
such as Hopeprint<br />
and<br />
the Refugee<br />
Assistance<br />
Program.<br />
The<br />
transition<br />
can take<br />
weeks,<br />
months or<br />
Photo by Sarah Smith<br />
Devi, from Nepal, far right, laughs with her<br />
friends after dancing at a Hopeprint event at<br />
Wellwood Middle School.<br />
years, depending on one’s particular circumstances.<br />
While money remains a big issue in<br />
the transition period, according to Horton<br />
and Broadway, the most universal issues that<br />
refugees face are learning English and getting<br />
jobs.<br />
“Learning the language is huge,” Horton<br />
said. “Probably right at the top [of priorities].”<br />
Thirteen-year old Devi, a Nepali refugee<br />
who has been in Syracuse for about two years,<br />
has gradually opened herself to the local<br />
community by performing traditional Nepali<br />
dances. Still, she finds the transition difficult,<br />
namely because of learning English, which<br />
illustrates the huge challenge agencies face in<br />
helping refugees jump over this hurdle.<br />
“I’m so scared,” she said. “I don’t know<br />
how to talk English … don’t know how to<br />
speak English.”<br />
Programs that both RAP and InterFaith<br />
offer help address language issues along with<br />
cultural adjustment. RAP offers English Language<br />
Learners five days a week, from Monday<br />
to Friday.<br />
Different members of the community<br />
have also contributed greatly to help refugees<br />
learn their way around Syracuse. Centro,<br />
Syracuse’s public transportation system, offers<br />
a free learning program so that new refugees<br />
— who mostly live in the city — can become<br />
winter 2017 | 25