ARC students hold panel discussion on Syrian refugees in crisis
Olga Bonfiglio
College of Arts and Sciences staff writer
The speakers included Ramea Almubarack, a multi-talented graduate student in chemical engineering and anti-Islamophobia advocate, who spoke about her family’s experience in Syria during and before the civil war; and Susan Reed, managing staff attorney from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who spoke on the issue of refugee resettlement from a legal perspective.
Ramea Almubarack was born in Syria to a Jordanian father and a Syrian-Palestinian mother. She spoke about her memories of Syria where she grew up. She used to spend much time with her family, which included over 100 aunts, uncles and cousins. Her family was rich, but now because of the war, they have lost everything and are scattered all over Europe. She doesn’t even have photographs of her family.
One day, someone showed her a photo of her uncle on Facebook, but she didn’t recognize him because he was so thin.
One of her aunts escaped to Germany by walking there. Many times she had to hide in the forest to avoid people stopping her. Now that she is there, she knows she is being tracked. Ramea communicates with her mother by Skype, who mostly cries during their conversations.
“It’s tough to be isolated here in Kalamazoo where I have exams—and know that people, my family, are suffering and dying,” said Ramea who is working on her graduate degree in chemical engineering.
Electricity in Syria is down to two hours a day, she said, and there is misery everywhere.
Two years ago she found out that her grandfather wanted to tell her something before he died, but she was in America, and he was in Syria. He died before she could see him; he had no medicine to help him.
“He wanted me to be a successful woman,” she said. “He wanted me to tell others that people are all the same and that they must give to others. So this is my motivation: to live his words.”
Ramea’s passion involves bringing people from different cultures together by using traditional food, clothes, music and dancing. Last spring, she created the exhibit, “Through Your Eyes,” at the College of Fine Arts, which featured photographs of women wearing the hijab. It was a way of encouraging people to share the beauty of their own culture with others. Additionally, Ramea has volunteered for Kalamazoo Colleagues International as an interpreter. She is currently visiting churches, synagogues and other places of worship to confront Islamophobia.
Susan Reed pointed out that the definition of a refugee is a matter of international law, which resulted from the horror of not protecting Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler’s genocide during World War II, she said. In the United States, refugee status was not codified until 1980.
In order to be identified as refugees or asylees, they must prove they are unable to return to their country because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on one of five protected categories including race, religion, national origin, political opinion and membership in a particular social group. The last basis is constantly evolving, however. For example, in 1994, a case was decided where gays and lesbians would be considered in some countries part of a particular social group with a well-founded fear of persecution. Then, because of the civil war in Syria, many Syrians also meet the legal definition of refugees for a variety of the possible reasons.
"Asylum seekers get into this country by showing up at our front door—a port of entry,” said Reed. “Although this is not illegal, they will be detained. They then must prove that they meet the legal definition of a refugee in a complex legal process.”
Those who are actually admitted to the U.S. as refugees go through a more complicated process abroad, but they have a clear legal immigration status and a path to U.S. citizenship. First, they must be identified outside the United States and brought in from a refugee camp or another location abroad by the U.S. working in partnership with another international partner such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Potential refugees then go through a 13-step process, the highest level of security of any group seeking entry into the U.S. that involves referral, clearance, in-person interviews with the refugees and others connected to them, medical screening and matching families with agencies. For this last part, various non-profit agencies engage in a bidding process to handle the refugees’ cases. This involves cultural orientation, security clearances and placement for housing, education, medical care and the like.
Reed gave a more in-depth explanation of refugee policy and Governor Snyder’s role in tripping off other governors’ rush to restrict Syrian and Iraqi resettlement. To get the details on this issue, view her blog, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
Susan is a managing staff attorney from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center whose work alleviates pressures created by global crises and promotes a more welcoming community in Michigan. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and Marquette University. She has practiced immigration and immigrant rights law since 2003 and has served as a staff attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan and as a regional attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors, the immigration legal services program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. In 2013, Susan was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to the Foreign Language Board of Review to serve as a committee member of the Court’s Limited English Proficiency Implementation Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the Detroit City Council Immigration Task Force.
Advocates for Refugees in Crisis is a registered student organization dedicated to assisting, advocating and help the resettlement efforts for displaced persons in southwestern Michigan.
Founded in 2015, the ARC initially arose out of the current Syrian Civil War that started back in 2011, but it serves a far broader cause. As its name suggests, ARC is a WMU student group that is dedicated to helping the wide array of problems that arise from global crises involving displaced citizens, especially refugees. As of this year, its goals include resettling of a few Syrian families into the greater Kalamazoo region and providing support and aid to them for the multitude of needs that arise from global resettlement. ARC’s other goals include fundraising, awareness, dialogue, political reform and research.
ARC began meeting during the fall semester 2015 to discuss ways in which Kalamazoo citizens might support refugees coming into Michigan. In particular, they were looking for what resources existed in town in order to facilitate local resettlement initiatives. They partnered with services like Bethany Christian Services and others in this process.
ARC has volunteered in a few different capacities for Bethany Christian Services of Grand Rapids, which began in 1944 as an agency that provided adoption, foster care and pregnancy counseling. More recently it has assisted refugees and immigrants resettling in the United States.
For example, in April, a group of ARC members helped clean and provide maintenance fixes to a downtown home as preparation for the “Grouphome” that will house up to 12 Muslim orphaned boys from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
In March, ARC volunteers helped move out furniture from one house to furnish a Congolese family’s new home. The Western Herald covered that event.
ARC meets every Monday at 7 p.m. in the Bernhard Center Faculty Dining Room (Room 19) and it welcomes all people who are interested in refugees. For more information, contact ARC on Facebook or at @email.