Two refugee families arrived in Alachua County thanks to the efforts of a local nonprofit organization.
The Greater Gainesville International Center received a second refugee family Wednesday — from Guatemala — as part of a collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, according to a Tuesday newsletter. The center received the first refugee family — from Afghanistan — July 8 as part of the remote placement program through the aid organization. Another family, also from Guatemala, will arrive in August, according to Lauren Poe, the center’s president.
Poe, Gainesville’s former mayor, said his center is coordinating with community members, city government, Alachua County and faith-based organizations to help the refugee families integrate into the community.
He declined to disclose the identities of the religious organizations, citing anti-immigration sentiment as a risk.
“Immigrants are being targeted,” Poe said, “and those who help them are being targeted right now in our country.”
Poe said that because there is no resettlement agency “within 50 miles of Gainesville,” his organization is eligible to participate in the remote placement program.
“Once we do permanent resettlement, the remote program will no longer be valid,” he said.
Along with the remote program, the center has also applied to be a “full affiliate partner” with the International Rescue Committee in order to provide refugee resettlement services. Poe said the center is looking at “maybe a family a month.”
The plan is to then start resettling families in November at the earliest, although he said the timeline is “out of our control” because the state and federal government have to approve the application.
Not everyone loves the idea.
Tim Marden, a 52-year-old Newberry city commissioner and chairman of the Alachua County Republican Party, said more refugees would exacerbate problems in the community.
Tommy Rogers, a 48-year-old Gainesville resident, said many Gainesville residents are suffering from homelessness or food insecurity and bringing more refugees is going to make everything worse.
Dee Basso, a 56-year-old Alachua County resident, said she thinks Gainesville will have to shelter refugees in tents as Chicago has done with migrants. She said more refugees would mean more crime, wonders how the refugees are going to be vetted and wants to know where the funding is going to come from to support refugees.
Poe held a community consultation meeting and explained his proposal to local leaders and representatives. It didn’t mollify all the concerns.
“One thing [that] is important is just communication and education in the community, just trying to make folks aware of what is happening and what to expect,” said Missouri State University professor Emily Frazier, who researches refugee resettlement in the United States.
Poe said his organization will connect refugees with “resources like housing and transportation and employment.” He said he was approached by the rescue committee about resettling refugees.
“First the family goes through an exhaustive vetting process. At some point, the federal government makes a determination whether to grant them refugee status or not,” Poe said.
Basso and Marden both expressed concerns over the vetting process.
“I can go down to the border, pretend that I don't speak a word of English and just say that I'm from Venezuela, and this is my name, and this is my birthdate and that's it. They don't verify anything at all,” Basso said. “If they have no documentation whatsoever, how do you know?”
University of Vermont professor Pablo Bose also researches refugee resettlement and said there is a difference between refugees and those who come to the southern border and other parts of the U.S. to claim asylum.
“The pathway is different, the amount of time is different and the reality when you're in the country is different,” Bose said. “People who get resettled here as refugees have more legal authorization to be here.”
He described the vetting process as “intensive” with background checks and interviews overseas and it takes a long time for people to be considered as refugees.
“A lot of people have compared it to a lottery system to even get to the point of having an interview,” Bose said.
Frazier said the process could take at least 18 months. She said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will conduct interviews, collect biometric data and any documents showing identification. Then, after receiving information from the UNHCR, the U.S. will conduct those same background checks again.
President Joe Biden set the United States refugee admissions for fiscal year 2024 to be 125,000. Refugee admissions to the country have been increasing following a decline from 2016-2020, according to data from Statista.
Florida had received 2,602 refugees this year as of May 31. In 2023, Alachua County received 169 refugees, entrants and asylees, of which 10 were refugees. This is the most refugees Alachua has received, according to available data from the Florida Department of Children and Families.
“I think we have been welcoming new permanent neighbors at a significant pace for many, many years,” Poe said. He said he disagrees with people saying Alachua County lacks the infrastructure to handle refugees.
“If the resources and infrastructure don't exist to welcome the new neighbors we get every year, then our local community needs to address that,” Poe said.
Gracia Fernandez, the 29-year-old immigration and language service coordinator for Alachua County, said she wishes Poe’s proposal for refugee resettlement could be delayed for another year because of factors such as a tense election year.
“I think that the very valid concerns that local organizations have expressed regarding this current stress on resources is real,” she said. “There is a real lack of affordable housing. There is real racial tension going on throughout our community.”
Both professors Bose and Frazier said housing and schooling for non-native English speakers are issues refugees face.
“Transportation is often a real challenge, where refugees are resettled… might be some distance from the services they access, from the jobs they work in [and] the schools that their kids attend,” Bose said.
Poe said the refugee families receive funding from the federal government and private sources, not local taxpayer dollars. His center does not receive funds from any local government. It is currently raising money for the refugees through donations.
Frazier said the majority of the initial funding refugees receive comes from the federal government. Resettlement agencies such as the International Rescue Committee can apply for state grants, private grants and federal grants and disperse its funding to local organizations.
“The amount of money that the federal government provides is wildly insufficient to even get somebody an apartment, let alone furnish it and buy them food. I don't know if you've been on the housing market recently, but it's not great anywhere in the country,” she said.
A little over $2,400 is provided per refugee in order to provide basic services during their first 90 days in the country, according to the State Department. Frazier said most refugees quickly find employment within those 90 days.
“If you have a lot of kids to take care of, you're going to be working your tail off to try to provide for your family,” she said. Frazier said something people don’t realize is many refugees arrive in the U.S. with travel loans they owe to the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a study this year that found refugees and asylees to have contributed $124 billion back to the American economy during a 15-year period.
“You might not believe it, but some of the best ethnic food I've ever had in my life is in a little town outside of Des Moines, Iowa,” Frazier said. “Des Moines has been doing resettlement for over 30 years and so they now have second and third generation folks who have started grocery stores and restaurants and businesses and really revitalized these old neighborhoods.”
Poe said he felt grateful the International Rescue Committee approached him.
“I think this is going to help so many people,” he said, “not just the refugees resettling themselves, but our entire community for the talents and gifts and determination that they bring with them.”