It was a small celebration, an evening of gratitude and togetherness. Yaser Alhomsi wanted to say thank you to the other Syrian refugees who had helped provide food and support during his family’s first month in Cleveland.
On that evening in early October, the familiar flavors of their homeland were spiced with conversation and laughter — the first taste of making a new, more permanent home on Cleveland’s West Side.
None of the families had been in the U.S. for more than six months and even that had not been easy. They fled war, bombings and sometimes torture in their own country. They spent time in overcrowded refugee camps — the lives of some 4.8 million people torn apart and put on hold for years.
As we were reporting this month’s feature “This Place is Now a Home,” the issue of refugee resettlement, especially for Syrians, became one of Donald Trump’s fearmongering refrains on the campaign trail.
“We have no idea who these people are, where they come from,” Trump said of Syrian refugees during a stop in Phoenix. “I always say, Trojan horse. Watch what’s going to happen, folks. It’s not going to be pretty.”
Of course, this is untrue. Refugees — many of them women and children — are among the most vetted people to enter the U.S. The 14-step process involves multiple federal intelligence and security agencies and takes between 18 months and two years.
Now that the election has been decided, there’s even greater concern among those working on behalf of refugees about what will happen in a Trump presidency.
“I am very fearful for the future of refugee resettlement,” says Danielle Drake of US Together, one of three resettlement agencies working in Cleveland. “He has said more than once that he wants to completely overhaul the process, potentially shut it down.” In the past, she never thought such a move would be possible. “If there was ever a time that it could happen, it would be now,” Drake adds.
Those fears extend to refugees already here as well. The day after the November election, one of the families at the Alhomsis’ celebration was met with taunts and insults about how they’d soon be sent back home.
We must not let that happen. In the face of fear, we need to show strength.
Consider those new families gathered over food — thankful for love, friendship and opportunity. As many of us come together over the holidays, that’s the spirit we must carry with us as we move forward.
