The Biden administration, which this week tried to push off its flawed withdrawal from Afghanistan on former President Donald Trump, also muffed the initial resettlement of 72,000 refugees in U.S. cities, according to a new audit.
Church-based agencies that were paid hundreds of millions to scatter pro-America refugees around the country said they received little notice of arriving refugees and couldn’t line up jobs or housing, sometimes putting families in vacation rentals.
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What’s more, they said that many of the refugees had no knowledge of American culture, especially modern political culture, and subjected their handlers to racist and sexist remarks and treated some like handymen.
“The fast pace of arrivals, the lack of available housing, difficulty obtaining necessary documentation for the APA participants, and minimal pre-arrival cultural orientation also presented challenges for resettlement agencies,” said the State Department’s inspector general.
“Resettlement agencies reported that the [Afghan Placement and Assistance] Program involved some of the most significant challenges that they had ever faced,” it added.
Topping the list was the surge of 72,000 refugees into the United States during the short withdrawal program. Many were those who worked with Americans during the war. The report said the number was the highest “ever” that the nine resettlement agencies working with the State Department had handled in a condensed period.
While the agencies, most affiliated with Lutheran, Episcopal, and Catholic groups that also get paid to settle illegal immigrants around the nation, said the funding was fair in the program, the coordination and services help from several Cabinet-level departments was poor.
For example, many were given just 72 hours’ notice of refugees coming from holding facilities in Europe and the Middle East. Sometimes, they arrived during religious holidays. And while in the past, they would receive one refugee or one family to help, they often received up to 70 at a time.
Finding housing during the coronavirus crisis was also difficult. The audit said the emergence of corporate ownership of rentals also made it difficult to get housing because refugees often had no or wrong identification.
There was a similar problem helping refugees find jobs because the federal government either delivered employment ID to the wrong address or supplied the wrong information.
Especially trying to the agencies involved was the lack of cultural education the refugees were provided in advance of coming to America. Typically, said the report, refugees are run through a cultural class to explain how their settlement would work. That either didn’t happen or was abbreviated.
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As a result, many arrived with “unrealistic expectations” of getting big sums of money and lucrative jobs.
They were also rude to U.S. aid workers. “Some [refugee agency] staff reported experiencing racism and sexism from Afghan clients unaccustomed to the norms of U.S. society,” said the audit, adding, “Some parolees refused to work with female case managers or case managers from minority groups.”
Others were unclear on the role aid workers provided. “Some held unrealistic expectations as to what their respective case managers could do for them on a day-to-day basis. For example, some asked their case managers to perform everyday tasks, such as small home repairs or providing tours of their neighborhood.”
Read the full report below.
