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Syrian Refugees in the American South a Case Study of Refugees in Towns Austin, Texas, USA

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Syrian Refugees in the American South a Case Study of Refugees in Towns Austin, Texas, USA Syrian Refugees in the American South A Case Study of Refugees in Towns Austin, Texas, USA May Mzayek Austin, Texas, USA / A Case Study of Refugees in Towns 1 JUNE 2018 Contents About the RIT Project 3 Location 4 Introduction 5 About the Author and How She Wrote the Report 5 Methodology 5 A Note on Terminology 6 Background on Refugees in the United States 7 Background on Refugees in Austin, Texas 9 Mapping the Refugee Population 9 The Urban Impact 10 Economic Integration 10 Social & Cultural Integration 10 Refugee Experiences in Austin 11 Health care 11 Psychological Issues 12 Financial Challenges 12 Culture and Language 13 Green Cards 14 Hope in their Children 14 Conclusion 15 References 15 Austin, Texas, USA / A Case Study of Refugees in Towns 2 About the RIT Project The Refugees in Towns (RIT) project promotes understanding of the migrant/refugee experience in urban settings. Our goal is to understand and promote refugee integration by drawing on the knowledge and perspective of refugees and locals to develop deeper understanding of the towns in which they live. The project was conceived and is led by Karen Jacobsen. It is based at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University and funded by the Henry J. Leir Foundation. Our goals are twofold Our first long-term goal is to build a theory of integration form the ground up by compiling a global database of case studies and reports to help us analyze and understand the process of immigrant/refugee integration. These cases provide a range of local insights about the many different factors that enable or obstruct integration, and the ways in which migrants and hosts co-exist, adapt, and struggle in urban spaces. We draw our cases from towns in resettlement countries, transit countries, and countries of first asylum around the world. Our second more immediate goal is to support community leaders, aid organizations, and local governments in shaping policy, practice, and interventions. We engage policymakers and community leaders through town visits, workshops, conferences, and participatory research that identifies needs in their communities, encourages dialogue on integration, and shares good practices and lessons learned. Why now? The United States—among many other refugee-hosting countries—is undergoing a shift in its refugee policy through travel bans and the suspension of parts of its refugee program. Towns across the U.S. are responding in different ways: some resist national policy changes by declaring themselves “sanctuary cities,” while others support travel bans and exclusionary policies. In this period of social and political change, we seek to deepen our understanding of integration and the ways in which refugees, migrants, and their hosts interact. Our RIT project draws on and gives voice to both refugees and hosts in their experiences with integration around the world. For more on RIT On our website, there are many more case studies and reports from other towns and urban neighborhoods around the world, and we regularly release more reports as our project develops. www.refugeesintowns.org Austin, Texas, USA / A Case Study of Refugees in Towns 3 Location Texas, USA Austin, Texas, USA Austin, Texas, USA / A Case Study of Refugees in Towns 4 Introduction Austin, Texas offers an example of resettled refugees’ experiences in the American South. Methodology Austin provides insight on resettlement in Texas, a state that is somewhat unusual in that it pulled out of the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program My fieldwork took place in the spring of 2017 as in 2016, resulting in the loss of the state’s access part of my MA research at a Texas university. I to federal resettlement funds (Kennedy, 2016). was living in Austin with a couple from SARA who Despite this loss, in 2017 Texas resettled the introduced me to Syrian families by assigning largest number of refugees of the 50 states. me volunteer work with the community. From my The city of Austin approved the resettlement interactions with SARA members, I interviewed of 315 refugees, half of which were Syrian. Two two women personnel about their observations resettlement organizations, Refugee Services of of Syrian refugees in Austin to gain a better Texas (RST) and CARITAS of Austin became the understanding of their interactions with the main agencies resettling Syrian refugees, assisted refugee community. They provided insight on the by other non-profit organizations, including Syrian urban impact of Syrian refugees in the city. I then American Refugee Aid (SARA), organized by Syrian used purposive sampling and my own position Americans. The Syrians in Austin are mostly from as a Syrian to make connections to the Syrian Daraa, and a few from Damascus, Hama, Homs, community. Aleppo, and Idlib. Some of the families have been in the United States since 2015, while others To understand refugees’ experiences, during have been resettled for less than a year. These my research I used participant observation, the households averaged five individuals per family, qualitative method of partaking in the participants’ of which four on average were children (Personal daily activities and recording observations communication with SARA). (Bernard, 2011) I recruited 35 individuals (Table About the Author and How She Wrote the Report I decided to work with Syrian refugees because, as a Syrian native, I sympathize with their suffering and wanted to provide relief to my own people. While I still have family in Syria, most of my relatives are displaced abroad in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Also, I was familiar with the difficulties of resettlement, integration, and culture shock. I felt that I could provide some sense of direction to the Syrian refugees in Austin as they acclimated to their new environment. I migrated to the US in 2000 when I was ten years old. My father wanted our family to have endless opportunities because we viewed America as the “land of the free.” As a Syrian-American, I wanted to share my experiences with the Syrian refugees in order to help them during the integration process. Having the same background and language as the Syrian refugees helped me build trust with the Syrian community: all of my contacts were enthusiastic when they heard me speaking Arabic. They joked about my Aleppian accent—known as the heaviest accent in Syria—and welcomed me into their homes. We sympathized with each other as we shared stories of loss and heartache in Syria. Many of these refugees felt comforted by my presence because they saw me as a cultural and linguistic liaison, and they felt proud to have a fellow Syrian-American in their community because I reinforced their hopes of integrating into American society. Austin, Texas, USA / A Case Study of Refugees in Towns 5 Interview Sampling Chart: Research Participants in the Syria Refugee Community and SARA Number of Research Participants Men Women Age Range 18-59 18-62 Interviews (N=15) 7 8 Key Informants (N=10) 2 8 Participant Observation (N=37) 13 24 SARA Personnel (N=4) 2 2 1) who agreed to allow me to be a participant States. Each interview ranged between 30-90 observer in their lives; and of those, 15 approved minutes. I maintained contact with most Syrian to be interviewed about their experiences while refugee families from Austin who became my 10 became my key informants. Also, I worked with friends. four individuals from SARA to understand their experiences with the Syrian refugee community and their role as an aid agency. My participants A Note on Terminology were adults of 18 years or older. I obtained IRB approval from the University of Texas, San Antonio to conduct my research. This report uses working definitions of “wellbeing,” “refugee,” and “integration.” The article focuses My daily interactions with Syrian refugees and on resettled refugees who are situated in a grey volunteering at SARA allowed me to observe and zone between refugee status and citizenship. For interview refugees about their experiences in the the purposes of this report, they are referred to as United States. All of my interactions were in Arabic, “refugees.” which made it easier to communicate with the refugees. In most cases, their English limitations It is impractical to present a specific definition made it difficult to connect with non-Arabic of “wellbeing,” because in the refugee literature speakers. My Syrian background made them feel researchers have defined the term in several comfortable because they knew I understood their different ways, most of which are tied to past cultural norms such as donning conservative attire, refugee experience and trauma (Correa- accepting snacks and drinks during visits, smoking Velez, 2010). However, I use Mathews and hookah, and performing gender normative roles Izquierdo’s (2009) understanding of wellbeing (cooking, cleaning, or babysitting). which emphasizes the concept as a subjective experience of satisfaction with life, or the “good These interactions allowed me to gain the trust life,” which can be shared among groups of of the community. Many would repeat, “She is a mutual background. In addition, I examine Syrian to us! She knows the American world, but integration because it is a factor that affects the she maintains her roots.” I became a friend or a wellbeing of refugees who find it difficult to adapt family member to many in the Syrian community to a new environment (Phillimore et al., 2007). because I spent time with them every day sharing a language and a culture. During my interviews, I I define “integration” through a combined asked the refugees about their wellbeing to track understanding of Ager and Strang’s (2008) and how this had changed from their time in Syria Phillimore and Goodson’s (2008) frameworks through their integration period in the United because their work combines objective and Austin, Texas, USA / A Case Study of Refugees in Towns 6 subjective approaches to integration.
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