Issue 24: June 6, 2022
In this issue...
We're covering recent developments in the slow progress toward's laws more accepting of immigrants in the U.S, Kenya's recent reforms of their refugee residence and employment laws, and Uganda's appeal for greater international support amid a rapidly worsening refugee crisis in the region. We're also covering the obstacles refugees face in trying to access educational opportunities and how those obstacles harm broader society.
US Immigration Policy Update
By Marin Theis
Afghanistan
Recently, the United States Department of Homeland Security allowed Afghan refugees to file for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the U.S. through November 23, 2023 as long as they meet U.S. residency requirements. A report by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services estimates that over 72,500 Afghans may be eligible for TPS.
Title 42
An effort to end Title 42, the Trump-era immigration rule that cited public health concerns to deny asylum-seekers at the southern border, has been blocked by a Louisiana judge. Multiple states, including Arizona and non-southern border states, filed a lawsuit claiming that the Biden administration failed to give proper public notice when it attempted to end the rule, and the suit was upheld. The Biden administration and other political entities have sought to end the Title 42 policy for months to no avail.
Immigration lawsuits
Republican-led states have filed 27 lawsuits regarding immigration since President Biden took office in January 2021. These lawsuits have challenged laws such as a policy meant to reduce wait time for asylum-seekers, DAPA (a policy which allows non-citizen parents of citizen children to apply for residency), and a 100-day deportation moratorium that began at the beginning of the Biden presidency. In many cases, multiple states have banded together to file these lawsuits.
Though only four suits so far have been successful, such a plethora of attacks on immigration reform has made progress even more difficult while Congress remains gridlocked. Moreover, the rapidly changing policies make the immigration process more confusing for immigrants, placing residency in the US further out of reach.
Non-cash assistance programs
A new rule proposed by President Biden would codify into law the end of a Trump-era policy that broadened the legal definition of “public charge.” A public charge is someone who is determined to be legally incapable of taking care of themselves, and factors considered generally include an individual’s need to use welfare programs. This label can be used to deny entry to immigrants, except for refugees and asylum seekers, which are exempt.
The 2019 Trump rule included a migrant’s use of non cash-assistance programs (such as Medicaid) in determining whether they were a public charge and expanded the legal definition of public charge. The changes President Biden proposed would repeal such legal developments and revert the legal framework to that of policies from 1999.
Refugees in Kenya
By Nick Costantino
The new Kenyan refugee act, established in February of 2022, allows refugees to obtain jobs in Kenya and includes provisions for economic inclusion, integration, refugee status determination, and the ability for refugees to contribute to Kenya’s national and local economies, according to a report by Refugees International. This act is unprecedented in terms of Kenya’s earlier refugee policies because, in Kenya, before this act was passed, refugees were required to stay in a refugee camp and could not live anywhere else, so this new policy will open up a multitude of opportunities for refugees in Kenya and allow people to have better living conditions.
This new act will offer the opportunity for refugees to work for a living wage and thereby abandon their reliance on aid agencies for food and water; refugees will be able to make profits for themselves so they can buy essential goods for themselves, an ability which is particularly important right now due to a food crisis that supply chain issues and droughts in Eastern Africa have perpetuated.
However, even though refugees can now move out of refugee camps and can enter the workforce of Kenya, they still have to live in “designated areas." The new law defines these areas as “any reception area, transit point or settlement area as may be declared by the Cabinet Secretary,” according to an article by Refugees International. The Kenyan National Qualifications Authority, based in Nairobi, must also recognize these refugees' job qualifications, a stipulation which means they would have to make the long and arduous journey to Nairobi to even obtain a job.
Kenya is the host of so many refugees–550,817, to be exact–primarily due to violence, social unrest, and famine in East Africa. However, even within Kenya, three million people are on the brink of starvation, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee.
The primary places refugees lived before Kenya's new legislation was the Dadaab Camp, where 43 percent of Kenya’s refugees resided, and the Kakuma Camp, where another 41 percent of Kenya’s refugees lived. However, in March 2021, security, environmental, and economic burdens, made the Kenyan government decide to close the Dadaab camp. The closure of Dadaab was scheduled for June of 2022, according to a report by the UNHCR. In light of the Kenyan government's decision, refugees' and the international community's anxiety has increased due to new uncertainty about the future of the lives of these refugees, according to an article by the UNHCR.
The closing of Dadaab and the potential for the closing of other camps may leave tens of thousands of refugees stranded and without any basic resources to support themselves. Thus, even though Kenya has made incredible progress in improving the lives of refugees in conjunction with the UNHCR through the enactment of new legislation, the closure of refugee camps could result in catastrophic consequences and may lead to an even larger refugee crisis in East Africa, exacerbating the issue even more.
Uganda Emergency Appeal
By Jack Elworth
As Uganda accepts influxes of Congolese and South Sudanese refugees, the UNHCR issued a plea to the international community for a sum of 47.8 million USD in order to provide for the basic needs of the refugees. The refugees are largely fleeing violent clashes and targeted killings in their homes. Killings, rape, and pillaging are all common in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the failed state of South Sudan, both of which have entirely failed to provide basic governmental services and protection. As a result of this failure and in addition to violence, food insecurity and disease are rife. Uganda, despite its human rights violations in the absolute, is, relatively a safer state for these refugees and has accepted tens of thousands of them. At the time of the statement’s issuance in April 2022, the refugee population of Uganda was roughly 36,000 individuals, but UNHCR projections predicted that the number would rise to 60,000 by June 2022. The same projection cited Congolese refugees fleeing into the west of Uganda and South Sudanese into the north as the main drivers of the new influx.
The UNHCR’s statement, released at the end of April, includes an emergency response plan that outlines the needs of the refugees and the distribution of aid. Three categories of need (measured in USD) surpass the rest by multiples: education, health & nutrition, and food security. These three needs reflect the demographic of the refugees; according to a 2014 UNHCR fact sheet, the majority of Congolese refugees in the world are under the age of 18. The same report goes on to state that “considerable numbers” of Congolese refugees have not received any formal education whatsoever. The importance of this appeal is the opportunity it presents to provide a young generation of refugees the education and safety to create a more sustainable world. In a world with humanitarian crises worsening and multiplying year after year, the solution we must strive for with aid packages like this is to give refugees a chance. Instead of simply providing for protection and food, as the world is already failing to do, we must provide education and thus opportunity to refugees so that they might become independent of strained international aid.
Uganda’s lasting hospitality as a host country in terms of both acceptance and opportunity is not just commendable but exemplary. Hillary Onek, Ugandan Minister of Relief, Natural Disasters, and Refugees, stated that “Uganda has continued to maintain an open-door policy to refugees based on traditional African hospitality and not turning away anybody who is running to us for safety.” Uganda has held true to this principle: in 2019, Uganda surpassed Lebanon to become third on the list of countries with the most refugees with 1.3 million individuals. Only barely trailing Pakistan, new influxes may push open-door Uganda to second on that list, despite its relative poverty. Furthermore, Uganda, widely lauded for the opportunities with which it presents refugees, favors a settlement approach to its refugees. Uganda’s 2006 Refugee Act guarantees refugees' freedom of movement, the right to employment, education, and health, and the right to start a business. In addition to these incredibly rare guarantees, the Ugandan government grants plots of land to many refugees in order to settle and start a new life. Uganda lives up to Onek’s promise of hospitality by welcoming all refugees and providing them not with a life confined in dangerous refugee camps but with a one marked by new opportunity to build a new life. But Uganda is certainly not rich, and this kindness is certainly not cheap. Thus, this UNHCR appeal to the international community is massively important to not just the safety but also to the overall successful future of African refugees.
Higher Education for Refugees: Prospects and Challenges
By Harrison Huang
Refugees dwell within the social, economic, and political fabric of their host country. At the moment, most refugees reside in developing regions – nine of the top ten refugee-hosting countries are considered developing regions, and 84 percent of refugees live in these countries. This trend poses challenges to the social development of refugees in a global setting.
Developing countries are characterized by their dependence on natural resources, lack of welfare provisions to support growing populations, and lower living standards. Thus, one of the most serious issues for refugees seeking assimilation in these countries is education——specifically, higher education that more or less guarantees a sustainable future.
A report by the UNHCR describes that the overall perception of refugees as temporarily displaced people who return to their home country and resume their briefly interrupted lives leads to an insufficient short-term approach that disregards the skills, knowledge, and competencies refugees need to establish themselves in the long run. Higher education parity is a means to incorporate refugees into the education framework, empower women and girls by expanding access, and enhancing refugee self-reliance.
Tertiary education for refugees is most effective when it becomes systematic, operated and sustained by the host country. In the vision of the UNHCR, as government institutions initiate policy changes and open up more educational opportunities for refugees, the “super disadvantage” (barriers to employment, services, and education for the next generation) that used to weigh refugees down would be effectively eliminated.
Unfortunately, however, the reality of higher education is far more convoluted. The British government removed the cap on enrollment numbers of the higher education system in 2015 and provided immediate access to student loans and scholarships, hoping that more refugees would become eligible. Immigration rules were also relatively more relaxed in terms of who would be allowed to enter into the higher education system in England. Nonetheless, students with refugee backgrounds in British universities only amounted to several thousands and received barely any support beyond initial scholarships.
Qualifications for entry into tertiary education not only vary from country to country, but also within each country, and within each country’s universities. Such discrepancies result in an asymmetry of information between institutions and refugees, and most often lead to refugees’ invisible status in the community and ultimately a regrettable failure to pursue education. This makes their transition to an improved living condition much more difficult.
Currently, there are a total of 87,833 refugee students across the globe, receiving certified tertiary education and maximizing their chances of an ensured, economically-stable life. Here are some of the ways in which you can empower more refugees in need of higher education:
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Donate to the IIE - The Power of International Education is a non-profit organization that supports the UNHCR’s 15by30 target (providing 15 percent of all refugees with access to higher education by 2030)
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Stay informed or learn more about the US’s current and future policies on refugees and asylum seekers through the Higher Education Immigration Portal