Name: Margaret MacGillivray
Social Justice Group: Refugees
Date of Fieldwork: December 8, 2017
Name of Organization: Office of Refugee Resettlement
Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Bob Carey, Former CEO of the Office of Refugee Resettlement
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did:
We interviewed Mr. Carey about what we can do to help refugees, and about the current refugee situation in the United States.
What I learned:
We learned a lot about refugees during our interview. One important piece of information we got was that refugee families are separated a lot. This is because there are different delays, and children over 21 are considered a separate family. Many refugee agencies try to keep families together, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Bob Carey was actually a white house appointee for the Obama Administration, and left that job on inauguration day when Trump came in. The Obama Administration had set the ceiling, ending at 110,000 refugees every fiscal year. When Donald Trump came into office, he made 3 executive orders for travel ban overturned by courts. The ceiling is now set at 45,000 refugees per year. This made me wish to take action even more, as refugee’s treatment is a growing issue. Mr. Carey has worked in the field of refugees for 25 years, and is still working hard to assist them once they come into the United States. He told us that in the majority of cases, the UNHCR refers cases that are vulnerable. They take your race, religion, nationality, and political affiliation into account, and if you are at more risk, you will be put higher on the list because you could be at more of a risk in your country. Overall, Mr. Carey gave us a better feel for the refugee system in the United States, and helped us to understand what must be done to help. He also refereed us to the Refugee Congress, and since they are a smaller organization, they may have more room to help us.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
I learned that in order to truly be a social justice activist, you must fully understand your topic. For example, when I realized what refugees must go through to get to our country and when they’re in our country, I felt more empathy for them. Before, I was in the dark about the specifics, but the more I knew, the more I wanted to help out. This is the same with any topic – you must become educated on your topic before you can make a change.
