Monday, June 18, 2018
The Indiana Institute for Working Families supports all working
families who are striving toward a better life for themselves and their
children. Policy choices matter. The administration’s recently-enacted "zero tolerance" policy relating to immigration
at the southern border is unacceptable and one that can be changed.
Families belong together.
Policies are choices that reflect our values. At the Institute, we are centering
families in many ways, from work on paid family and medical leave to advocacy
on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps)
to promoting access to high-wage job training. We have contacted our lawmakers about
this policy choice and we will continue to speak out publicly
whenever families are harmed.
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Wednesday, June 20th is World
Refugee Day. It is a day to celebrate the strength and courage of
the millions of men, women, and children who flee violence in search of safety.
It is a day for governments to recognize their global responsibility in helping
displaced people. Let us take this day to look at the positive impact refugees
have on Indiana.
Under U.S. law, a refugee is a person who demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular special group. Though US federal immigration policy is being discussed on cable news, in Congress and the White House, and around water coolers everywhere, refugees seem to be a population within this conversation who get lost among the headlines. In the midst of this conversation, the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) released a report on refugee resettlement, trying to answer the question, “What are the experiences of businesses that hire refugees?”
FPI used interviews
with employers of refugees in four different areas of the country that have
differing economic and political situations as well as ranges of immigration
experiences. They supplemented that data with American Community Survey (ACS)
and Worldwide Refugee Processing System (WRAPS) data, and interviews with
refugees, refugee resettlement staff, members of the community, and other
service providers. For the most part, they found that the similarities, not
the differences, between refugees and non-refugee employees are what
employers focused on.
There were two main
findings of the study:
1) Refugees tend to
stay with the same employer for longer than other hires;
2) Once employers
create a positive relationship with the first few refugees, it opens the door
for the recruitment of others.
Employers found that
there was a mutual adjustment period with refugees, but once those workers had
adapted to the expectations and the work environment had adapted to the
refugees, refugee employees had lower turnover in 73 percent of respondent
cases. The positive reputations employers developed in refugee communities
allowed them access to potential employees. Furthermore, when placement
agencies saw that refugees were thriving at a company, they would send their
clients there. “Once the firm has made whatever adjustment may be necessary and
has proven to provide good opportunities for refugees, a channel opens up
between the refugee community and the company that makes recruitment
significantly easier” according to the FPI report.
According to Exodus Refugee Immigration, 50 percent of
refugees resettled in Indianapolis are Chin, Karen, Karenni, and other ethnic
minorities from Burma. The city also resettles Congolese and Syrian refugees,
as well as small numbers of refugees of Iraqi, Eritrean, Somali, Bhutanese,
Chinese, Afghani, Cuban, and other national descent. FPI reports that
Indianapolis ranks in the top 30 metro areas for refugee placement over the past
decade, although 2017 saw only 646 refugees resettled, a 69 percent
decrease from the 2,100 refugees resettled in 2016. This decrease, seen after
the current administration paused immigration and then lowered caps on refugees
entering the US, is disappointing for those seeking asylum and Hoosier
communities who benefit from the presence of diversity.
As the conversation
around immigration and allowing refugees into the country and Indiana, in
particular, continues, we should remember that beyond being humans in need,
refugees are employees companies want and need. Both a city’s culture and
economy can benefit from seeking refugee placements.
