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Catholic Charities working to accept more refugees as they await Biden to raise refugee cap
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Refugees fleeing for their lives are trapped in political purgatory waiting on the United States government.
President Joe Biden has promised to increase the cap on refugees allowed into the United States, but has yet to sign off on the order.
It’s a global crisis that’s causing a delay impacting hundreds of families in Louisville.
Rurondo and Josephine Nyanzanika resettled in Louisville in 2013 after fleeing the war-torn Congo, where his father and two siblings were killed.
“We feel really safe here. We came from a place where our relatives died in our face. Were killed. That has not happened here,” Rurondo Nyanzanika said.
They also survived dangerous desperation in Burundi and a refugee camp where food and medicine lacked.
The couple is sick for the relatives they left behind.
“It made me very sad, made me very sick, it was a very bad situation,” Josephine Nyanzanika said.
“Her whole entire family, her brothers, sisters, nephews, everybody they were already approved and it stopped,” Rurondo Nyanzanika said.
Josephine Nyanzanika said her brother Kevin was set to land in Louisville on Feb. 24, but his flight was canceled — and he’s not alone.
“Because the refugee ceiling was still 15,000 and the presidential determination wasn’t signed, we had a lot of cases canceled,” said Colin Triplett, resettlement director for Catholic Charities of Louisville. “I think it was 29 people were scheduled to come and they didn’t, in March.”
Refugees worldwide are caught in political purgatory, and it’s hit home in Kentucky in a way many don’t know about.
According to a Pew Research Center study, the commonwealth ranked in the top five states in the nation for refugee resettlement in 2019 with 1,400. But as President Donald Trump’s administration steadily lowered the ceiling on refugees allowed into the country — a historically low cap of 15,000 — those finding a safe haven in Louisville dwindled from more than 1,200 people a year in 2015 to just 219 in 2020.
Catholic Charities, one of two resettlement organizations in the city, says the move fractured families even more as only some made it over before the rules changed.
“Husbands that haven’t seen their kids since they were little babies, you know, that kind of thing it’s so emotional and to think that kind
Months ago, Biden promised to raise the cap to 62,500 but never signed the declaration. Then last Friday, flip-flopped twice — the White House saying he would not adjust the cap, then saying he would in May but not saying how high.
“We haven’t determined the number and what will drive our determination are the practical questions of whether we can fix the absolutely shattered system that we were left with to process refugees. And then of course, how we ensure that the same office, the Office of Refugee Responsibility, that takes care of those coming in as refugees, also takes care of unaccompanied minors at the border,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
Every day matters for those already approved to move. The 11-step process, with security, medical and personal screenings takes years to complete.
“Those checks expire over an amount of time and once some of those checks don’t line up, then they have to go back and start all over again,” said Triplett.
Leaving people like Josephine Nyanzanika’s brother Kevin in limbo, and his family a world away to wait, wonder and worry.
“Now that it has taken so long, it’s very difficult for me to be hopeful,” she said.
Catholic Charities is still preparing to accept more refugees, but it needs donations. Anything from money or food, to clothes, furniture and toiletries helps.
Items can be dropped off at Catholic Charities’ Migration and Refugee Services, located at 2220 West Market Street in Louisville. For more information and to make a donation, click here.