Refugees set to resettle in Minnesota next month now barred entry after Trump order

[MUSIC PLAYING] EMILY BRIGHT: I'm Emily Bright in for Nina Moini. Good afternoon. Among the blizzard of executive orders from President Donald Trump on day 1 was an order to temporarily suspend all refugee resettlement. Now, the latest state data from 2023 shows Minnesota welcomed an estimated 2,000 refugees, plus another 1,000 humanitarian arrivals from Afghanistan and Ukraine.

We're already seeing the first impacts of the executive order. Nearly 1,600 Afghans cleared by the US government to resettle in this country had their flights canceled, that's according to a report from Reuters. Joining us now to help us understand the impact of this executive order are two people. The first is Jane Graupman, the executive director of International Institute of Minnesota, which is one of five resettlement agencies in the state. Welcome, Jane.

JANE GRAUPMAN: Thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here.

EMILY BRIGHT: Also joining us is Nasreen Sajady, the executive director of the Afghan Cultural Society, a non-profit supporting Afghan refugees in Minnesota. Nasreen, thank you for being here.

NASREEN SAJADY: Thank you for having me.

EMILY BRIGHT: Jane, I'll start with you. I know as an overview, there are a number of ways people can legally come to this country, different types of visas and programs, what exactly does this executive order block?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yes, you're exactly right. There are many legal pathways for immigrants to come to the United States. The refugee program is one of those. The program has been around since 1980. It's welcomed many refugees to our country.

Historically, it's had very strong bipartisan support in Congress. And I think it's really important for the audience to understand too, that it's a very well-established and very well-defined program. So people apply for refugee status outside of the United States. They go through years of vetting. The last time I checked, there were at least 14 security clearances that refugees have before they arrive to the United States or to other countries as well.

So it's a very well-established, very extensive program, and the vetting is extensive. So when people arrive, they are usually most always being reunified with families. So the refugee program is a family reunification program. We just saw a family arrive on Friday evening, that was joining family members that were coming here.

EMILY BRIGHT: Nasreen, now, following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, I know Minnesota has welcomed a number of Afghan refugees. How many do you estimate are in Minnesota now?

NASREEN SAJADY: I would say approximately 2,000 are here.

EMILY BRIGHT: And how is your organization responding to this news?

NASREEN SAJADY: We are scrambling a bit. There's just been so many fires that have been lit overnight by this new administration that affects us directly. And so we're just scrambling to find answers. Many of the people that work with me are people who came in the evacuation.

And so there were promises of reunifying with family that are now in limbo or they're uncertain of. And we're getting a lot of questions already specifically about this, birthright situation, about not allowing them to be citizens since we have so many people in community that are pregnant right now. So we are just scrambling to try to find answers. And as the director of the organization, I am also scrambling to make sure that we have funding to continue doing this work and keep my staff on the team.

EMILY BRIGHT: I can't even imagine everything that's happening. Jane you mentioned there was a family that was reunited on Friday, do you have clients who were about to resettle and now they're in limbo or they're stuck?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yes. So in your question, the executive order that was issued yesterday does suspend the refugee program. And temporarily, we'll see if that changes. But yes, we had a 26-year-old female who was going to join her family. Her family arrived to the US into Minnesota in May, and because she was ill, she couldn't travel.

She was going to be arriving in February to rejoin her parents and her brothers, and she will be unable to join them now. As also two young minors, 15 and 11-year-old from Burma, whose parents were killed in a car accident, we're going to be joining their relatives in Minnesota in February as well. And those cases now will not be booked for travel.

EMILY BRIGHT: I'm noticing that from May to February, nothing in this process happens quickly, even in well-running times.

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yes, absolutely. And just so important to know that people arriving here that has been in the works for years and years and years for people to get here. So it's very, very tough on families. And I think it's just tough all around. It used to be the refugee program didn't have a lot of changes from one political administration to the next, and that has changed, and it's just really hard on communities.

EMILY BRIGHT: Does your work effectively stop?

JANE GRAUPMAN: No, absolutely not. The institute is a very robust, busy place. We serve last year over 5,000 people. So we have folks immigrants that are here through other programs. Some of them came through the refugee program as well. But we have very comprehensive services, really extensive employment services.

And I think it's really important to note that we already have employers talking to us and calling us that are very concerned. The institute has helped trained and help employ over 4,000 people in health care. Many of them RNs, nurses that are working in hospitals and long term care, as do other agencies that do this work in the community.

And immigrants are doing jobs that we have here in Minnesota, they're also creating a lot of jobs in our state. So employers and other people obviously, it affects a lot of people in our community.

EMILY BRIGHT: Nasreen, what are you hearing from Afghan folks here about all of this? What are some of the questions that they and you have?

NASREEN SAJADY: I think their biggest concern is trying to reunite with their families. Many people have been working really hard to build a new life here and gain stability in Minnesota to be able to reunite with loved ones and people that were separated during the evacuation. These people are all still concerned.

There's a lot of concern about family members and friends who supported the US during their 20 years in Afghanistan, and who are now no longer being allowed to come to the US after being promised. And we hear stories of harassment by Taliban, and many people are fearful of their lives. And so these are things that we hear.

There's a lot of misinformation that's being shared online and then spread through community. And so there's a lot of trying to combat that. On top of already trying to stabilize themselves in the US and navigate these systems, it's just a lot of stress.

EMILY BRIGHT: What is a main piece of misinformation you are trying to combat?

NASREEN SAJADY: I think the one that I heard that was mind boggling was someone had been spreading that with Trump coming into office that he liked Afghans and he was going to give everyone citizenship because he was in office when Taliban was coming back. So that one was one that was very confusing.

EMILY BRIGHT: Quite the opposite.

NASREEN SAJADY: Yes, exactly. And I think they are learning now after the first day that is not how he moves.

EMILY BRIGHT: Which brings up the point, what does this executive order, does it present a risk for people who are refugees living here? Jane, do you want to take that?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Sure. I would say I think that as I'm sure Nasreen has already said and can attest to that. For people like her and me that do this work every day are paying attention to what's happening on the ground with our clients first and foremost, but also trying to interpret laws that are coming and happening quickly.

Our clients are also trying to do that, but they don't have as much context and always access to the information that we do. And so it just causes a lot of fear in community. There's a lot of misinformation as you know and so agencies like ours try to interpret. People are already asking our staff questions here that we're doing our best to answer. So it just creates a lot of confusion.

And I think, again, just really speaks to the need that has been a need for decades for congressional action. Presidents don't have a lot of authority over immigration. It's really acts of Congress that we need to provide pathways for people that are clear.

EMILY BRIGHT: And just briefly, Nasreen, do you want to add to that?

NASREEN SAJADY: No, I agree with that. I feel like the misinformation is becoming really difficult to combat, especially with some of these, with not wanting to vet the posts online anymore. So everything is just moving so fast and it's hard to get that information to make sure that people are not spreading this throughout the community.

I think community organizations are really important at this time because this is where people turn to--

EMILY BRIGHT: Absolutely.

NASREEN SAJADY: --for these answers and for the support.

EMILY BRIGHT: I want to thank you both so much for your time and for the good work that you are doing. Thanks for being here.

JANE GRAUPMAN: Thank you.

NASREEN SAJADY: Thank you.

EMILY BRIGHT: Jane Graupman is the executive director of International Institute of Minnesota, and Nasreen Sajady is the executive director of the Afghan Cultural Society.