2024 - Q1

Friends,

This newsletter is from Joe Mitchell of the IFBB, and is an update on refugees in Idaho Falls.

How to be an advocate - even in an election year

The first time I spoke as an advocate for refugees was a fiasco.  It was at a church, and I led off by implying that if you didn’t agree with me, you must not be a first-class Christian.  I didn’t build any bridges, I attached explosives and detonated them. The church didn’t provide any support at that time, and I don’t blame them. 

In the past 2+ years I’ve become better at building bridges. (Pro tip: In your talking points, avoid Jane Fonda, fascism, and Tucker Carlson.) Here are a few ideas for making our conversations more worthwhile.

1. Be clear with your terms.  A migrant is a person who crosses a border by choice, typically for better economic prospects.   A refugee is a person who cannot return to their country of origin because of a well-founded fear of persecution.  A refugee has already been vetted and crosses the border openly, with legal standing. The US does not have a refugee crisis on our southern border, we have a crisis of illegal border crossings.  

A local lobbying group muddies the waters by listing one of their Action Initiatives as “Illegal Immigration and Refugees vs Homeless US Citizens”.   The first two groups are very different and it seems disingenuous to lump them. Second, refugees are not in competition with homeless US citizens.  For example, I actively support both refugee resettlement and the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission. 

2. Supporting refugees does not fall neatly into a Red or Blue category, so be prepared to happily resonate with people you normally disagree with.  A strong case for welcoming refugees can be made from several perspectives: Humanitarian, Biblical, Loyalty to Military Allies, and Economic.  A bumper sticker supporting refugees would not be out of place next to a Coexist sticker on a Prius, a Don’t Tread on Me sticker on a rusty International Scout, or a Buy American sticker on a Cadillac. (Note to self:  Bridge Builders needs some bumper stickers.)  Idaho is a deep red state, but we resettle three times more refugees per capita than the national average.  We have a strong economy and need people willing to work in jobs like agriculture, as truck drivers, as machine operators, and in health care. And we have many decent, generous people who are willing to welcome newcomers.  

3. Don’t spend much conversational energy on the edge cases.  If your conversation turns to refugees being part of a conspiracy to replace white Americans, or Idaho being the center of the American Redoubt movement, you are not likely to make progress by defining terms or giving statistics. I suggest changing to a topic you can both enjoy, like how annoying it is when Cabelas runs out of .22 shells.

4. If you represent an organization, show support for refugees (and get free advertising) by signing up with the Idaho Office for Refugees here.  Refugee Appreciation Legislative Luncheon - Idaho Office for Refugees

5. Accept your role as a leader.  I don’t share this mailing list, but it is chock-full of formal and informal leaders.  Leaders are informed about problems but are still able to give an optimistic, compelling vision of the future. I have enjoyed connecting with refugees because they typically don’t complain, and they believe that the US is still a place of freedom and opportunity.  I agree. Leaders of faith can be quick to add even more reasons for ultimate optimism. My exhortation for all of us is to shed the fear and outrage of an election-year news cycle and lead with confidence.

Updates

1. G, M, and R came to Idaho Falls almost two years ago through the Operation Allies Welcome program. Continual efforts to reunify with their wives, who are still in Afghanistan, move forward, albeit at a glacial pace.  Estimates for processing their I-730 Petitions vary, but the median is about 28 months.  This is in addition to the 2+ years that they have already been separated.  M’s case is more complex and may take even longer.

2. Some provisions of the Afghan Adjustment Act were included in the Senate’s recently passed Border Bill.  This would help speed family reunification, but it appears unlikely that  the provisions will become law, because the House would also need to agree. There is more on the AAA here:  Policy — #AfghanEvac

3. Dmitrii came to Idaho Falls with his family about a year ago through the Uniting for Ukraine program. He has recently started a  small business. 

4. Some friends are in the process of starting a  Private Sponsorship Group, with the goal of resettling another new family  in Idaho Falls.  If you are interested in being part of their five person team, let me know and I will connect you.  There is general info here:  https://welcomecorps.org/

5. Kim and I are in contact with five other new groups in Idaho completing  Welcome Corps applications: one in Coeur d’Alene, one in Moscow, one in Caldwell, and two in Boise.  Since Bridge Builders is the only group in the state to have gone through the process, which we have done twice, we are answering questions for the other groups. Private Sponsor Groups supplement the well-established resettlement infrastructure in Boise, Nampa, and Twin Falls. https://www.idahorefugees.org/resettlement-in-idaho.html

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Feb 6 2024