ALABAMA INTERFAITH REFUGEE PARTNERSHIP
 Photo by Larry James Baylas on Unsplash In the United States, access to transportation is a form of freedom. Transportation allows people to travel to work and school, to the grocery store, to appointments with lawyers and doctors, and to other community and social activities. Access to transportation is a means to upward mobility and economic progress, but for many refugees and asylum seekers, transportation is inaccessible. The majority of United States residents rely on the use of personal vehicles as their main form of transportation. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that 91% of adults in the U.S. commute to work using personal vehicles, whereas only 5% of adults nationwide commute to work regularly using public transit. This nationwide reliance on personal vehicle use as the main form of transportation presents specific barriers for asylum seekers, many of whom are unable to obtain driver’s licenses due to the lack of necessary legal documents, eligibility stipulations, and language barriers during driving tests. Lack of Necessary Legal Documents In order for a non-U.S. citizen to obtain a driver’s license in Alabama, they must have the following documents: A valid foreign passport with an acceptable visa or resident alien card; Social Security number verification * or letter from Social Security stating ineligibility; and one document from the “secondary” list authorizing presence in the U.S. for more than 160 days. The “secondary” list contains the following documents: Employment authorization document with valid Social Security card; a valid visa (with supporting documents) authorizing presence in the United States for a period exceeding 160 days; a valid I-94 arrival/departure record issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; or an original I-797 (notice of action) issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, showing approval of change of status or extension of stay. These requirements present barriers to asylum seekers on a number of accounts. Firstly, most of the documents on the “secondary” list are not applicable for asylum seekers. Asylum seekers do not come into the U.S. with a valid visa that would meet the requirements for obtaining a driver’s license, many of their I-94 cards do not reflect the proper immigration status for the requirements of a driver’s license, and they would not possess an I-797 until their asylum application is approved and they become an “asylee” instead of an “asylum seeker.” Secondly, many asylum seekers in the U.S. do not arrive with foreign passports. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) explains that “refugees are persons fleeing persecution, conflict or violence in their country of origin, and therefore cannot, or cannot reasonably, approach the authorities of their countries of origin to obtain a passport, as this might put them at serious risk of harm.” Additionally, those who do attempt to apply for their foreign passports are met with difficulty finding transportation to the consulates in Atlanta and, if they do find transportation, long wait times for appointments. “We had a really difficult time making an appointment at the Honduran consulate,” said *Miguel. “We tried to make an appointment in April but they could not see us until August.” The risk and wait times associated with obtaining a passport makes it difficult for asylum seekers to fulfill even the most basic requirement in pursuit of a driver’s license. Thirdly, per USCIS policy, most asylum seekers, except those admitted with a status called “Humanitarian Parole,” must wait 150 days after filing their asylum applications before they are eligible to apply for employment authorization. The current processing time for employment authorization (EAD) applications based on a pending asylum application currently ranges from 11.5 to 13.5 months. This processing time means that, at a minimum, asylum seekers must wait nearly a year before obtaining one of the documents necessary to apply for a driver’s license. Eligibility Stipulations If an asylum seeker is fortunate enough to have all of the necessary documents required to obtain a driver’s license, there are still additional stipulations that are not well-communicated by administering agencies. One of these stipulations is that one must have 160 days remaining on their immigration status or other legal documents such as work permits to be eligible to apply for a license. “I passed both the written and operational driving tests in English,” explained *Daniel. “But after the test, they told me I needed a minimum of six months left on my work permit to get my license…I only had one month left. I applied to extend my work permit months ago but have not heard anything yet…I am still without a license.” Another avenue to obtaining a driver's license in the United States is transferring an International Driving Permit (IDP) and a valid license from one’s home country to the new state of residence. The opportunity of this pathway is slim, however, because an IDP and license must have been administered by the asylum seeker’s home country before they arrived in the U.S. The United States does not issue IDPs to foreign visitors. As asylum seekers are fleeing their home countries to escape violence and persecution, most leave quickly and do not prioritize obtaining an IDP beforehand. Language Barriers during Driving Tests If an asylum seeker makes it to the testing phase of the application process, they may be presented with additional barriers. In Alabama, written examinations are available in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese. Many asylum seekers, however, speak local dialects or other languages not represented in the list of available testing languages. Additionally, the road skills test takes place in the car with an examiner and is not required to be administered in any language other than English. This presents a challenge for asylum seekers if they do not understand English and are not able to effectively communicate with the examiners. Breaking Down the Barriers “I wish the transportation system in the U.S. was different,” said *Daniel. “Many people who come here know how to drive. They have talent. They should be given permission to drive if they knew how…If they could drive, they could contribute to their families, and to this country.” ALIRP works to assist our Partners in overcoming the barriers associated with accessing transportation and obtaining their drivers’ licenses in various ways, including:
Seeking asylum in the U.S. is no easy feat, and those who take on the challenge show strength, bravery, and determination every step of the way. Show that you stand with asylum seekers in Birmingham and across the globe by joining ALIRP in our efforts to support them. To do so, consider volunteering your time, making a financial contribution, or sharing this article with a friend. Every action to remove barriers while seeking asylum is necessary, and we hope you will take action today. *All names have been changed to protect the identities of our Partners. Learn More How America’s Failing Public Transportation Increases Inequality Automobile Dependency: An Unequal Burden Take Action Become a member of the Transit Citizens Advisory Board of the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority Write to your Representatives and Congressmen to advocate for better public transportation in Alabama Join the National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates to advocate for increased investment in Public Transportation
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 Photo by Mike Bird on Pexels Finding affordable housing is a known challenge for many in the U.S. due to several factors including housing shortages, housing poverty, and underfunded assistance programs. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the United States has a shortage of 6.8 million affordable housing units for extremely low income families. 70% of all extremely low income families spend more than half their income on rent, and over 580,000 people experience homelessness every day. Asylum seekers face unique challenges and barriers to finding housing when they arrive in the U.S. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) claims that “refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants are particularly vulnerable to a range of human rights violations, including the right to adequate housing.” In trying to find housing, asylum seekers face many barriers including not knowing where to start, the unavailability of safe and affordable housing, and the lack of documents and materials necessary to obtain housing. Not Knowing Where to Start “When we arrived in the US, we lived with an aunt and her family. It was crowded and after a few months, we started to feel like we were overstaying our welcome,” explained *Miguel and *Ana, two of ALIRP’s Partners. “We wanted to find a house of our own, but we didn’t know where to start looking. We didn’t know how to learn about housing that was available…we didn’t have a car or a driver's license to go look for housing…we didn’t know what to do.” This situation is not unusual among asylum seekers. When migrants request asylum after crossing the U.S. border, they may be released from Customs and Border Patrol custody to await their immigration hearings from within the country. When they are released, they may be transported by nonprofit or religious groups, or they may find their own means of transportation to a family member or sponsor already living in the U.S. Once the migrants reach their destinations they are effectively on their own because asylum seekers are ineligible to receive assistance or services, including housing assistance, from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Lack of knowledge about the housing market in the resettlement country often hampers migrants’ search for housing. Lack of Necessary Documents and Materials In order to rent a house or apartment, renters are typically required to provide the landlord or property manager with a number of documents and materials including valid photo identification, proof of employment and income, background checks, rental history and references, Social Security Numbers, and credit reports. Although required documents may vary from landlord to landlord, the requirements of photo identification and proof of income are typically non-negotiable. The requirement of photo identification creates a barrier for many asylum-seeking individuals who often do not possess identification documents such as passports and photo IDs. In the case of *Nicolás, an ALIRP Partner, the Customs and Border Patrol agent he encountered confiscated his Honduran ID. In the case of *Julián and *Karla, they did not have passports when they fled Honduras and were unable to secure an appointment to obtain one for months due to backups at the Honduran consulate in Atlanta. “We couldn’t open a bank account without a passport,” explained *Karla, “and without a bank account, we couldn’t prove our income or how much money we had.” Asylum seekers face additional challenges proving their income due to the length of time they must wait before applying for and receiving a work permit. Per USCIS policy, one must wait 150 days after filing their asylum application before they are eligible to apply for employment authorization. The current processing time for employment authorization applications based on a pending asylum application currently ranges from 11.5 to 13.5 months. Thus, any work they might do in order to survive and provide for their families likely occurs under the table and without proof of income. Asylum seekers in Alabama must have valid work authorization before they are able to apply for or obtain driver’s licenses or Social Security Numbers. Lacking a driver’s license and Social Security number makes the ability to secure housing even more difficult if asylum seekers do not already have their passports and proof of income. Lack of Safe and Affordable Housing Although an affordable rent for a minimum wage worker would be $377 per month, the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Alabama is currently $849 per month. This means that, in order to afford this level of rent and utilities, a household must earn an hourly wage of $16.32, which is $9.07 above the state minimum wage. Those with extremely low incomes are the most cost burdened by rent prices: 86% of extremely low income renter households spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs, and 67% spend more than half of their income on housing costs. Most of the asylum seeking Partners served by ALIRP have extremely low incomes and face significant challenges in finding affordable housing. Those who do find affordable housing often only find it in poor condition and in underserved neighborhoods. Miguel and Ana, for example, were only able to find affordable housing in a rural town about 45 minutes outside of Birmingham. Here, they have fewer options for public transportation to alleviate the burden of not having a driver’s license, making it difficult to get to and from work. For Nicolás, in only two years of living in the U.S. he has witnessed two episodes of gun violence merely a few yards from his house. Due to the lack of other viable housing options, he is not able to move his family to safety. These are only some of the difficulties asylum seekers face in finding safe and affordable housing. Breaking Down the Barriers ALIRP assists partners in overcoming several barriers associated with finding and maintaining housing. When a partner reaches out to ALIRP or is referred to us by Alabama’s State Refugee Coordinator, Inspiritus, ALIRP conducts an intake assessment to determine the individual or family’s needs. If housing is determined to be one of their needs, ALIRP assists them in a variety of ways, including:
Seeking asylum in the U.S. is no easy feat, and those who take on the challenge show strength, bravery, and determination every step of the way. Show that you stand with asylum seekers in Birmingham and across the globe by joining ALIRP in our efforts to support them. To do so, consider volunteering your time, making a financial contribution, or sharing this article with a friend. Every action to remove barriers while seeking asylum is necessary, and we hope you will take action today. *All names have been changed to protect the identities of our partners. Learn More Tenants Without Rights: Situating the Experiences of New Immigrants in the U.S. Low-Income Housing Market National Low Income Housing Coalition: The Problem Access to Safe and Affordable Housing Affordable Rent for Low Income Households: Alabama State Report
The Asylum Process: Background Seeking asylum is a legal process by which people who have fled their home countries can apply for a protected status that allows them to remain legally in the U.S. Those with credible asylum cases must provide evidence to prove that they were either harmed or threatened due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Although the asylum process can provide a pathway to lawful permanent residence for some, and provides the hope of living with safety and dignity for many, the asylum system is largely flawed and inefficient. Asylum seekers must overcome numerous barriers and many remain stuck in legal limbo for years. According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants who arrive at a U.S. port of entry without proper legal documents are subjected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedited removal, “an accelerated process which authorizes DHS to perform rapid removal [deportation] of certain individuals.” A person who is in removal proceedings may initiate the defensive asylum process by requesting asylum as a defense against removal from the U.S. The defensive process takes place in the presence of an immigration judge at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in the Department of Justice. A person who is not in removal proceedings and arrived in the U.S. no more than one year prior may apply for affirmative asylum through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division of the DHS. Both of these processes present numerous barriers for those navigating them. Among the barriers and difficulties associated with the affirmative and defensive asylum processes are backlogged and disconnected systems, difficulty finding a trustworthy attorney, varying rates of asylum approval across the country, access to translators and interpreters, and high legal and attorney costs. Backlogs When individuals apply for asylum via the affirmative process, their application is sent to USCIS and is received by one of only 5 service centers. According to the FY 2021 USCIS Annual Statistical Report, USCIS received 61,800 applications for affirmative asylum in 2021 and processed 38,200 of those applications, meaning 23,600 asylum seekers remain in legal limbo while they wait for USCIS to process their application. USCIS claims that a decision should be made on asylum applications within 180 days after the date it was filed “unless there are exceptional circumstances,” however in July of 2022 USCIS announced significant processing delays with no estimation of a decision timeline. TRAC found that in 2021, the processing and decision times due to these backlogs averaged 1,489 days, or about four years. For the defensive asylum process, there are backlogs in immigration courts under the DOJ. These backlogs were created and worsened by staffing shortages, paper-based processes, and policies and political actions such as increased interior deportations, the Migrant Protection Protocols (also known as “Remain in Mexico”), Title 42, and a large influx of unaccompanied minors and migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua at the border. TRAC’s Immigration Court Backlog Tool indicates that as of November 8, 2022, there are 1,936,504 asylum cases in the backlog, and the average wait time for a defensive asylum decision is 54 months, or about four and a half years. Disconnected Systems An overview of the asylum process will demonstrate the numerous steps and agencies one must go through when applying for asylum. Migrants must navigate U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Department of Justice, which all have their own distinct processes and policies. Navigating complex agencies like these is especially difficult when one is in a foreign country and does not know how the agencies’ processes work. Untrustworthy Attorneys & Fraud In the defensive asylum process, asylum seekers are not guaranteed or provided legal counsel. However, the likelihood of asylum being granted is increased if the asylum seeker has legal representation. This means asylum seekers must find their own immigration attorney, which can be particularly difficult in a new country where one does not have the means to research and find an attorney, let alone a trustworthy one. This leaves many asylum seekers in a vulnerable position that allows dishonest attorneys and unauthorized immigration law practitioners, also called notarios, to take advantage of them by taking their money and harming their immigration cases. Although there are some lawyers associations attempting to spread the word about notarios, as well as some mechanisms to report instances of fraud and scams to the Department of Justice, these reporting mechanisms cannot undo the harm that the fraud has already done to asylum seekers and does not prevent others from defrauding asylum seekers in the future. Varying Asylum Approval Rates Across the Country Depending on the state in which a migrant is applying for asylum, their proceedings could look and end differently. Although courts are intended to be unbiased, one lawsuit filed by several immigrant rights agencies claimed that immigration courts are affected by “pervasive dysfunction and bias.” One example they cite is “the Enforcement Metrics Policy, which gives judges a personal financial stake in every case they decide and pushes them to deny cases quickly.” The 2021 TRAC Report from Syracuse University found that the likelihood of one’s asylum petition being approved or denied in court depended heavily on which state and region in which the asylum seeker was petitioning. For example, in 2021, 65% of all applicants were granted asylum in New York, while only 9% of all applicants were granted asylum in Georgia. In addition to which city the asylum seeker applies in, other factors can also influence the outcome of their case, including their race, nationality, age, gender, and language. The variation of approval rates in immigration courts across the country causes great uncertainty and forces many asylum seekers to make difficult decisions about where to pursue their case. If they have the ability to choose, they must decide between living in a state where they might have a support system but a low likelihood of being granted asylum, or a state where they might have a higher chance of being granted asylum but no support system. High Legal & Attorney Costs Although there is technically no fee to file the asylum application with USCIS, the fees charged by immigration attorneys for filing the asylum application and representing clients throughout the process can range anywhere from $5,000-$20,000. The amount owed to the attorney can depend on the size of the law firm, whether they charge a flat or hourly fee, the client's family size, the difficulty of the case, and the geographical location. Pair this major cost with the 180 day period that asylum seekers must wait before applying for work authorization – not to mention the significant backlogs in EAD processing time causing many applicants to wait up to a year to receive a work permit – and asylum seekers are put in an impossible situation: high fees due and no viable way to pay them. Interpretation services present an additional cost associated with the asylum process. Although federal law requires an interpreter to be present for an immigration hearing if the defendant does not speak English, courts typically only have a limited number of interpreters for Spanish and Mandarin, the most common foreign languages among immigrants. If an asylum seeker speaks a language for which the court does not have an interpreter, the law firm must charge the asylum seeker additional fees to secure the services of a private interpreter both for the one-to-one work between the lawyer and client as well as during court hearings. This issue drives the legal cost for asylum seekers even higher, especially for indigenous migrants from regions like Central and South America who speak local languages and dialects. Breaking Down the Barriers The mission of the Alabama Interfaith Refugee Partnership (ALIRP) is to support refugees and asylum seekers through education, advocacy, and direct support. We envision a world where all refugees and asylum seekers find safety and live with dignity. To make our vision a reality, ALIRP works to remove some of the barriers to seeking asylum by advocating to elected officials for the improvement of asylum application processes and systems. ALIRP also makes an effort to educate the public on these issues to empower individuals and other community groups to join the advocacy efforts. In addition to advocacy and education efforts, ALIRP also provides direct support to asylum seekers in Birmingham to help them navigate legal and financial barriers. We do this by providing our partners with:
Seeking asylum in the U.S. is no easy feat, and those who take on the challenge show strength, bravery, and determination every step of the way. Show that you stand with asylum seekers in Birmingham and across the globe by joining ALIRP in our efforts to support them. To do so, consider volunteering your time, making a financial contribution, or sharing this article with a friend. Every action to remove barriers to seeking asylum is necessary, and we hope you will take action today.
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