Even after a moving introductory speech by Pema Chagzoetsang, the refugee program specialist with the Department of Workforce Services, the 18th annual Refugee Symposium held in Park City promised to be pretty routine.
That was until an energetic dialogue showcasing many viewpoints broke out in the audience Thursday.It followed a panel discussion by refugees who praised the United States but also said refugees need more help and time to learn English and become assimilated. Another spoke up, saying refugees should be grateful for the many services that are available.
Nerima Pasic, a native of the former Republic of Yugoslavia, fled there because warfare between the Serbians and Croatians destroyed her home and city. She arrived here with her young daughter and parents.
"I want to thank you, America, for the wonderful hospitality," Pasic said. But she added that refugees expect more from America because it is the best, nicest and richest country in the world.
Specifically, Pasic recommended that refugee financial and medical assistance last longer than the federally permitted eight months, particularly for middle-aged people who don't speak English. (In 1975, it was 36 months but has been reduced over the years.)
Pasic said it takes longer than eight months to master the language as well as make all the other huge adjustments to a new culture. Pasic said many non-English speaking refugees are professionals who can't find jobs because of the language problem, which is a waste of human potential.
"If we give them more time and spend more money on them, believe me, they know how to pay back," she said.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Shahrokhe (Shawn) Berzingi of Iran who fled that country because Islamic extremists were persecuting members of the Baha'i faith.
But Alla Branzburg, an employment counselor with the Department of Workforce Services whose family members could not speak English when they came here from the Ukraine, spoke up from the audience with another viewpoint. She did not oppose what the speakers said, and she acknowledged that every person's experiences are different.
Still, Branzburg said, "Coming here is our choice."
"I disagree when people say this country does not provide enough help. Our own countries provide much less help," she said.
Assimilation was hard for her family, especially elderly relatives and young children, but she said they asked God to bless America every day.
"What we make of ourselves or our lives, that is what we make out of it," she said.
Many speakers who popped up with other opinions didn't agree with Branzburg, but her remarks stimulated a lively dialogue and produced several ideas about how to assist refugees.
Some insisted that people who flee war-torn lands really have no choice - they either get out or die. Often, a U.N. official decides where they land.
Khando Chazotsang, a Tibetan refugee who is coordinator of the state Office of Ethnic Health, said refugees need consistent and sustained mentoring from someone for as long as two or three years to adjust to U.S. life.
Sometimes kind-hearted Americans greet refugees at the airport with a basket of goodies and spend a few months with them but later drift away. Some immigrants don't understand that these friends aren't there for the long haul and become cynical or even despair, she said. Consistent mentoring and help with networking can greatly assist refugees, Chazotsang said.
Moon Ji, director of Asian Affairs in the Office of Ethnic Affairs, praised the diversity of opinions and dialogue that emerged. Such discussions pave the way for teamwork in the community.
Luncheon speaker Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, delivered an impassioned plea for a more compassionate America.
He said this country tends to debate whether to keep open or shut its immigration doors every 30 or 40 years. Sharry said this generation is in the middle of that debate now and he hopes historians later can write that most Americans of this era chose to be open-minded and inclusive.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Report provides an immigrant portrait
The National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group, prepared a report on immigrants drawing information from a variety of sources. It was assisted by the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank.
That report, titled "Fiscal Portrait of the Newest Americans" said:
- The typical immigrant and his or her children pays an estimated $80,000 more in taxes than they receive in local, state and federal benefits during their respective lifetimes.
- Immigrants who become U.S. citizens typically have higher adjusted gross incomes and therefore pay more taxes than native-born Americans.
- Because more than 70 percent of immigrants are older than 18 when they arrive, that means U.S. taxpayers didn't pay to educate them. The report said the United States reaps $143 billion in value of "this human capital."
- Only 3 percent of immigrants are older than 65 when they arrive, while 12 percent of Americans are 65 or older. The total net benefit of immigrants to the Social Security system in today's dollars is nearly $500 billion for the 1998-2022 period and nearly $2 trillion through 2072.