Lane County likely won’t see many Afghan refugees, but the community prepares anyway
A conversation with Emily Heilbrun of the Refugee Resettlement Coalition of Lane County.
Social media platforms have become places for people to share information and resources as global disasters unfold. On the morning of August 15, 2021, news broke that the Taliban had officially seized Kabul, bringing a chaotic end to 20 years of war and U.S. occupation in Afghanistan. The hasty takeover threw thousands of Americans and U.S. Afghan allies into a frenzy to get out of the country. Within hours, politicians, activists, celebrities and everyday people, including Emily Heilbrun, shared colorful infographics, email addresses and links to websites on how to help these individuals, all of which offered the slightest bit of comfort that maybe they were doing something to help.
Heilbrun, 66, calls herself a transplant despite having lived in Oregon for the last 40 years. From New York originally, Heilbrun came to Eugene decades ago as an intern for Lane County Legal Aid. It wasn’t long before Heilbrun decided to stay in Oregon and opened her law firm where she worked on divorces, custody battles, criminal defense cases, wills and estates. Though Heilbrun was never professionally involved with immigration law, she’s always felt called to it, which led her to become involved with the Refugee Resettlement Coalition of Lane County. Heilbrun has been a volunteer with the coalition since its inception in 2016 and serves as a member of the steering committee.
Having spent the last five years helping resettle refugees and asylum seekers in Lane County, Heilbrun offers valuable insight into the convoluted process that is resettling individuals and families from across the world and integrating them into the community. Heilbrun also explains why Lane county likely won’t resettle many Afghan refugees, despite an overwhelming desire to help from the community, thanks to a unique stipulation for resettlement agencies in Oregon.
How did you feel when you first saw the news?
Heilbrun: Well just devastated. Frankly, I felt angry that our administration, who I’ve generally been supportive of, didn’t do what they could have in recent months when they knew we were leaving Afghanistan. Frustrated that they didn’t do more to help the people who needed to get out with Special Immigrant Visas. It feels like we’ve broken our promise to those people and it makes me feel very angry.
What has this past week looked like for you?
Heilbrun: We want to be prepared if anyone from Afghanistan ends up coming here, but at the same time we know because there’s that need for a local tie, it’s not that likely we’ll see people from Afghanistan coming here. Our housing team has been working hard to try and line up housing options in case someone does come. We have been working on a statewide level, strategizing how we can work together to welcome people from Afghanistan when they eventually get here, what funding we’ll need to advocate for with the legislature. So there’s that level going on as well.
It’s a terrible situation and I know a lot of us have felt very upset and concerned but also helpless because there’s not a lot we can personally do to help people get out now. I’ve been personally writing some letters to the President and our legislature to voice how important I think it is that we do everything we can at this phase.
Can you provide some background information on the Refugee Resettlement Coalition and your involvement?
Heilbrun: Back in 2016 when all of this started, Catholic Community Services (CCS), which is a non-profit organization that’s been active here for a long time, was asked if [it] wanted to become an official Refugee Resettlement Agency, meaning it would receive federal funding to resettle refugees in Lane County. At the same time, there were a lot of other individuals, faith communities and groups in town that were trying to figure out how they could support and welcome refugees here. We ended up having a big meeting and decided that it would make sense to form the Refugee Resettlement Coalition as a community group that isn’t a legal entity but would work in partnership with CCS, the official agency. As a non-profit CCS can hire staff, supervise programs, get grants and administer them and accept tax-deductible donations. The coalition has done a lot of work recruiting and training volunteers and experts in the community who can help, so it’s worked well as a partnership.
I also want to mention that, as an agency, we also support people seeking asylum. That’s not part of an official resettlement agency, but can I give you just a brief history of how that all came about?
Yes, absolutely!
Heilbrun: We are a special kind of refugee resettlement agency that’s called a remote placement agency and that means we’re more than 100 miles from another larger refugee resettlement agency, in this case, Portland. The rule is, people who are settled here have to have a local tie. It could be that a family member is already settled here or a person they know is here, but they have to have that local connection. It limits who we can accept. So the long and short of it is that we weren’t accepting very many refugees but we had the full system set up. So we decided to start serving people who were already here seeking asylum, but we have to fund that privately so we have a grant and we do fundraising.
Thank you for explaining that. Has anyone in Lane County reached out through your organization to inquire about getting help for anyone who is currently in Afghanistan?
Heilbrun: As far as I know, we haven’t yet. Our attorney for immigration legal services has been working to put out the word that we are here and that we can support anyone from Afghanistan who has a local tie. So far we haven’t had anybody come forth identifying themselves in that way, but we are very much open for anyone who does.
What has the desire to help looked like from the community so far?
Heilbrun: In general, not just talking about the Afghanistan crisis, but over the last few years, we have almost a constant call out for people who either have a place to rent or who can house someone one way or another, that has been a big challenge. We have had some people come forward saying they’d be willing to do that. We have had an experience of one individual who took into her home a family who lived with her for two years and it was a great situation. You know that’s unusual, not everyone can do that or feels inclined to do that, but we’ll certainly take that support.
What motivated you to get involved with refugee resettlement and asylum seekers?
Heilbrun: Well it’s always been something that’s called to me, working with immigrants in this country in whatever way they come and with whatever status. My family, going back a couple of generations, has people who immigrated here leaving various situations so I just felt called to work in that area for that reason.
The timeline for these individuals is very unknown, what does the process of preparing for a refugee’s arrival look like, if someone does end up coming to Lane County?
Heilbrun: Part of being a refugee resettlement agency means always being ready. We don’t always get a lot of notice, so our system is already in place. What needs to happen first is finding them housing. The mission of the agency is to help that person or family become self-sufficient to integrate into the community so of course, that means having a place to live and understanding how the systems and culture works.
The housing situation being what it is locally, is a huge challenge. There is not much housing available and it’s really expensive. Plus the challenges for refugees, they don’t have a credit history, they don’t have a rental history locally so landlords may turn them down in favor of someone who looks more appealing to them and that’s a big problem.
With the COVID-19 situation going on, we’re also anticipating most people arriving aren’t vaccinated, I don’t know about Afghanistan in particular but we’re expecting a refugee soon from Sudan and we know he’s not vaccinated because he’s not been able to get vaccinated, so they have to be tested.
Once they’re here, a case manager assesses what their specific needs are and we have a team of volunteer advocates who are assigned to a person or family that work with them on whatever those needs are and that could vary a lot. It could be medical needs, it could be getting kids situated in school, dental needs. We also provide transportation. It’s just a full setup.
What does being involved with this kind of work mean to you personally?
Heilbrun: It gives me the sense that I’m doing something that’s making a difference on some level. My skills are more administrative and organizational so at least I feel on some level I hope I’m making some difference to help the system work to help more people. It feels like important work and something I’d like to spend my time on.
Do you find your background in law helps to some degree?
Heilbrun: I find it provides a good general approach, but I certainly am not an expert in immigration law, but it helps me understand some of the situations going on and understand some of the laws and regulations.
What is your advice to people who may also feel helpless and angry and feel like they want to do something, what would you recommend?
Heilbrun: I think getting tied in on social media or online with organizations nationally that are working on these issues. Let people know where they can voice their concerns and to whom, and think about what they might be able to offer locally whether that’s volunteering as an advocate or a driver or offering to house individuals or families. Other than that it’s difficult, I think we just need to figure out what we can do and stay informed about what’s going on. The danger is that something is big in the headlines for a while, but then it falls off and a lot of people forget about it.
*Correction: An earlier version of this article was titled “Lane County likely won’t see Afghan refugees, but the community prepares anyway.” It has since been amended to reflect the changing nature of the stipulation requiring refugees to have a local connection to Lane County in order to resettle. This stipulation has been reversed, though it is an evolving situation.
This past Sunday and Monday I found myself glued to the TV and my newsfeed waiting to hear more about the thousands of Americans and Afghan allies who were trapped and waiting to be rescued. I realized I hadn’t seen much in the local news about preparations for potentially resettling refugees in Lane County. Out of curiosity, I searched for more information and didn’t see any coverage, I wondered why as it seemed like an obvious local story. I did find the Facebook page for the Refugee Resettlement Coalition and sent them a message asking if there was someone who could speak to me about local efforts and preparations. I was referred to Emily Heilbrun, who I interviewed over the phone on Friday, August 20, 2021. We spoke for about 40 minutes. Emily was a wealth of knowledge on all resettlement activities in Lane County. For more information, you can visit their website http://www.rrclc.org/
For questions about the piece or the reporting process: Bethany Osborn via email: bosborn2@uoregon.edu or phone: 479–422–4804
