{"id":7216,"date":"2012-05-10T06:45:05","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T12:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=7216"},"modified":"2013-05-13T17:55:17","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T23:55:17","slug":"travel-loans-jeopardize-success-for-idaho-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/05\/10\/travel-loans-jeopardize-success-for-idaho-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel Loans Jeopardize Success For Idaho Refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Qusay Alani with Dhiaa and Ahmad, two of his three sons.<\/p><\/div>\n

The weak economy has exposed shortcomings in a little-known program of the U.S. State Department.\u00a0 Each year, tens of thousands of refugees arrive in the U.S.\u00a0 Most take out federally-funded loans to cover the cost of travel.\u00a0 But in this economy that has left so many without work, refugee advocates and refugees themselves say the travel loan program puts vulnerable people in an impossible bind.\u00a0 Some of those refugees are here, in Idaho.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>Travel Loans Jeopardize Success For Idaho Refugees<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sunny, spring afternoon, but the light is dim inside Qusay Alani\u2019s east Boise apartment.\u00a0 He settles into an armchair to tell the story of his family\u2019s long journey from Iraq to the U.S.\u00a0 A neighbor, also Iraqi, translates.\u00a0 “I left Iraq in 1997,” he says.\u00a0 “I went to Jordan.”<\/p>\n

Alani says he left Iraq after he was jailed for refusing to join Saddam Hussein\u2019s Baath Party.\u00a0 In Jordan, he says, he lived like a fugitive.\u00a0 As more and more Iraqis fled there, they were less and less welcome.\u00a0 Alani began the process of applying for refugee status.\u00a0 <\/em>He didn’t aim to come to the U.S.\u00a0 He and his family simply needed to go somewhere.\u00a0 “Any country, I go to,” he says.\u00a0 “The only thing is just to protect my family.\u00a0 Because, you know, if I go back to Iraq I might get killed, you know.\u00a0 So \u2013 do my family.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Olson displays one of the several promissory notes she has seen that were signed with thumbprints. This loan agreement, for $6,904, is for a refugee family that came from Nepal.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2009, after years of waiting, Alani and his family learned they were bound for the United States.\u00a0 This is where the travel loan comes in.<\/p>\n

“They gave us like a month prior,” Alani explains.\u00a0 “They told us \u2013 in a month ahead, you\u2019re going to travel.\u00a0 Then a day before, they told us to come and sign for your tickets.”<\/p>\n

Alani says that\u2019s when he found out he would have to sign a loan for more than $4,500.\u00a0 He, his wife and three children were scheduled to leave Jordan the next day.\u00a0 Alani says there was nothing to do but sign.\u00a0 “We have no idea that, like, what is it, and we just got our ticket then,” Alani says.\u00a0 “If somebody is not signing, it means he\u2019s not going to fly.”<\/p>\n

Idaho Legal Aid attorney Zoe Ann Olson shuffles through a box of case files in her Boise office.\u00a0 She represents Qusay Alani and many others like him: refugees who have found themselves jobless in the fallout of the Great Recession<\/a>.\u00a0 Olson is trying to get their loans waived or deferred.\u00a0 She says it was only a few years ago that refugee clients began seeking that help.\u00a0 “They would always bring us their travel loan bill,” she says.\u00a0 “I mean, almost every single one of them said, \u201cI can\u2019t pay my rent, but I also can\u2019t pay this bill and I\u2019ve got this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olson realized how difficult it would be for refugees with little income or command of English to pay back thousands of dollars.\u00a0 She also wondered if they\u2019d understood what they were getting into.\u00a0 As an example, she holds out a piece of paper.\u00a0 It\u2019s from the file of a client who came from Tanzania.\u00a0\u00a0 At the top, it reads, \u201cPromissory Note.\u201d\u00a0 At the bottom, under the word \u201cSignatures\u201d is a single thumbprint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Legal Aid attorney Zoe Ann Olson stands next to the many files of her travel loan clients.<\/p><\/div>\n

“Here\u2019s a bill for $10,306 that this person put their thumbprint on and agreed to, and they will not have the means to pay it back,” Olson says.\u00a0 “This promissory note is in English, and I\u2019m certain they could not read it.”<\/p>\n

Travel loan program guidelines require that loan documents be explained to loan recipients.\u00a0 But Olson says none of the people she represents felt they had any choice but to accept the loans and get to the United States.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the program works<\/a>: it\u2019s funded by the Department of State.\u00a0 The loans are interest free.\u00a0 Refugees are supposed to pay\u00a0them off within four years, or risk bad credit.\u00a0 It\u2019s a system Bob Carey says doesn\u2019t sit right, especially in this economy.<\/p>\n

“There are inherent contradictions with bringing refugees here for humanitarian purposes, and then putting what may be an undue burden on them,” Carey says.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Carey oversees Resettlement and Migration Policy for the International Rescue Committee.\u00a0 The IRC has 22 offices across the United States that assist with refugee resettlement.\u00a0 When it comes to travel loans, resettlement agencies are middlemen.\u00a0 They don\u2019t originate the loans, but they do collect payments.<\/p>\n

Carey believes the loan program shouldn\u2019t pursue struggling families for money they may not have.\u00a0 “It is wrong to expect refugees who are receiving public benefits who are in minimum wage jobs and are having difficulty supporting their families \u2013 to expect them to pay back a significant loan at that time,” he says.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

International Rescue Committee<\/p>

The International Recue Committee's Bob Carey is critical of the travel loan program.<\/p><\/div>\n

The International Rescue Committee called for changes in the travel loan program three years ago.\u00a0 Carey says the IRC would like to see the loan program ended.\u00a0 The State Department isn\u2019t there yet, but there is an effort underway to make changes, says Deborah Sisbarro, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.<\/p>\n

“We are, in fact, in the process of making improvements in the way the travel loan program works, yes,” she says.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Sisbarro says there will be a new informational website explaining the travel loan program. \u00a0She says monthly loan payments will be capped according to income,\u00a0and loan agreements will be translated into nearly a dozen languages.\u00a0 She says the changes should be in place by next year.<\/p>\n

“The main thing that we\u2019re trying to ensure is successful resettlement in the United States,” Sisbarro explains.\u00a0 “And so we don\u2019t want to bring people here and set them up for failure.\u00a0 We want refugees to be resettled in the United States and be given the opportunity to succeed.”<\/p>\n

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