Refugee window closing Sacramento County is experiencing a sharp drop in SIV admissions by Mark Heckey and raHeeM F. Hosseini
ra h e e m h @ne w s re v i e w . c o m
Mohibullah Hanifi arrived in Sacramento just The process for getting into the country under before President Donald Trump slammed the SIV program is intensive. After Homeland America’s doors to refugees, asylum seekers and Security approves their petitions, applicants must those who risked their lives aiding U.S. armed interview in person at a U.S. embassy or consulate forces overseas. abroad. Multi-layered security screenings are also The 42-year-old served the U.S. Army as a performed. It can take years to get a visa, and medical interpreter and trained combat medics processing times have only ballooned under the for the Afghan military in his home country. The current administration. risk to his safety wasn’t hypothetical. He says he Those who receive SIVs are admitted as lawful eventually drew the attention of the Taliban, endanpermanent residents and are eligible for the same gering him and his family. resettlement assistance and public benefits as “I found circumstances more and more dangerrefugees. ous,” said Hanifi, the father of six children. Hanifi is currently enrolled in the medical assisIn 2012, Hanifi petitioned the U.S. Department tance program at Sunrise Tech Center & Creekside of Homeland Security for a special immigrant visa, Adult Center, an adult education program offered or SIV, which is available to Afghan and Iraqi through the San Juan Unified School District. He nationals who worked with the American governsays he was training to be a family doctor back ment as military interpreters or in other capacities in Afghanistan and is hoping to revive that dream and have letters of recommendation from a here. He has his green card and is working superior. toward becoming an American citizen. Then he and his family waited Another SIV holder and fellow five years. student is Khatera Khushee, who “I found Hanifi arrived in the United arrived from Afghanistan in circumstances States in 2017, just before SIV 2016. Her husband worked admissions nose-dived the as a computer programmer more and more following year by nearly 60 for the U.S. Army in Kabul, dangerous.” percent under Trump. The making him eligible for little more than 8,000 SIVs the special visa and her as Mohibullah Hanifi issued last year to Iraqi and his dependent. They now Special Immigrant Visa Afghan interpreters, translators live in the resettled Afghan recipient in Sacramento and U.S. government workers and community of Creekside, where their dependents were the fewest in she performed so well in an ESL five years, according to data collected by program that the adult school hired her the Congressional Research Service. as a part-time instructional assistant. The sharp drop in refugee admissions has Khushee says that’s different from her experiwreaked havoc on the nonprofit network that helps ence in her homeland, where she was discouraged them settle in a new land. One local organization from pursuing higher education. dedicated to aiding refugees and immigrants, “I was told that I would never be allowed to Opening Doors, laid off staff due to the loss in teach,” she said. government support that comes with fewer refugee Khushee plans to apply to Sacramento State admissions, said interim CEO Debra DeBondt. University’s teaching program. Like Hanifi, she “It was traumatic—loss of budget due to the and her husband have green cards and are working sudden loss of refugee arrivals,” DeBondt said. toward citizenship. The financial picture for Opening Doors and If current admission trends hold, there will be other nonprofits is likely to worsen this year under far fewer of these stories. In the past six months, Trump. That’s especially true in Sacramento the federal government granted entry to only 666 County, which has been among the top destinations refugees in the entire state, according to the Refugee in California for refugees. Between the 2013 and Processing Center. That’s shaping up to mean a 74 2017 fiscal years, Sacramento accepted nearly 5,000 percent drop in refugee admissions in California refugees, third only to Los Angeles (8,515) and when comparing the 2017 and 2019 fiscal years. Ω San Diego (12,063), according to the California Department of Social Services.
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04.18.19 | SN&R | 13