Starting a new life in America is never easy for refugees, but doing it during a pandemic has created more struggles, especially after the federal government cut off funding to help them resettle and suspended new arrivals indefinitely.
In this April 22, 2020, photo, Afghan refugee Mahmood Amiri poses with daughter Safa, and his wife Masouda, in West Valley City, Utah. Coronavirus restrictions have affected refugee families in the same ways as anyone else — job losses, child care challenges — but many are navigating the turmoil in a language they don't fully understand and without extended family or close friends to help.
The Amiris arrived in Salt Lake City on March 24, about a week after states began shutting down schools and businesses to try to stop COVID-19 from spreading. After waiting three years for a visa, they ignored warnings from an airplane employee in Kabul that traveling to the U.S. during the pandemic would be dangerous.
Refugee aid organizations have pivoted from training families for work and school to teaching them how to apply for unemployment benefits and do schoolwork online. They’re dipping into emergency funds to pay for rent and food for families after losing federal dollars. Ana Lucia Ibarguen and her three children arrived as refugees to Claxton, Georgia, in July after fleeing gang violence in Colombia. She and her 20-year-old son began studying English and working at a clothing distribution center before the pandemic abruptly left them without jobs or a school to study the language.
Some refugees who haven’t been laid off have jobs that put them at risk of infection, including as ride-hailing drivers, in restaurants and at meatpacking plants like the JBS USA factory in Greeley, Colorado, which has had an outbreak of at least 280 confirmed cases and seven deaths. That high rate is understandable considering that refugees often live in crowded apartments with other families, making social distancing impossible, Parmar said. They also pack vans to carpool to Denver International Airport, where many refugees work, or some 65 miles to the meatpacking plant in Greeley.The Amiris said they feel safe and their rent and food is being paid for by Catholic Community Services of Utah.
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