Jenny Yang & Refugee Resettlement

Since the United States pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021, 76,000 Afghan refugees have been brought to the United States for resettlement. On this episode of 20 Minute Takes, Nikki Toyama-Szeto chats with Jenny Yang, Vice President of Policy & Advocacy on Refugee Resettlement for World Relief on what it means to extend hospitality to (and receive hospitality from) refugees and displaced peoples in our communities.

You can find her on Twitter @JennyYangWR.

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Transcript

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (00:11):

On this episode of 20 Minute Takes, we talk with Jenny Yang. She's the vice president of World Relief, Advocacy and Government Relations. Jenny walks us through some of the ways that she's seen Christian communities engage with immigrant communities and refugees, and she unpacks for us some of God's invitation in the midst of this unfolding story.  Jenny, thank you so much for joining us on 20 Minute Takes

Jenny Yang (00:40):

It's good to be with you, Nikki; always fun to talk with friends. 

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (00:44):

The first question that I have to ask you is -  you travel around the world and around the country talking about immigrants and refugees, and you speak at conferences and at meetings, and somehow you always manage to find the best food while everyone else is eating their box of lunch. I think this might be the most important question I ask you on this podcast, how do you figure out and find these food treasures nearby the places where you are?

Jenny Yang (01:12):

Well, that is a mission I have- whenever I travel, I actually travel to eat. I am a Yelp elite member.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (01:22):

Really

Jenny Yang (01:22):

Over 800 reviews and counting over like many, many years. I love to check out small businesses, fun restaurants, hole in the wall places, wherever I go. And I've had some amazing food. If you're ever going to a city where you don't know where to eat, just follow me on Yelp or ask me. I'm like a food evangelist. I will tell you exactly where to go and exactly what to order. That’s funny- I will always try to sneak out and get something good to eat. 

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (01:53):

I mean, I know I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but Jenny Yang seems to know the best place. And it might be dirt cheap, but it always has something local to the community, or some dessert you've never found, or something like that.

Jenny Yang (02:07):

Yes. And I actually write Yelp reviews not so much for other people, but for myself.  So that if I ever go back to a city and I want good food, I'll remember all the things that I really loved and the places that were really good to eat at. It's a hobby of mine I would say. Growing up my mom always cooked really well, and my husband and I both really enjoy good food. So we'll always try to eat good food wherever we are. And my sons, I feel like they're kinda a little like some foodies too, cause they appreciate good food. Mini foodies doing that.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (02:40):

That's so great. Now, is that connected at all to the work that you do with vulnerable communities, with immigrants and refugees?

Jenny Yang (02:48):

I feel like so much of food is a part of identifying with and demonstrating your culture. And I know at least in the Korean culture that so much of our conversations and identity is tied to our food because when you actually look at Korean food, a lot of it is root based vegetables. It's preserved, and a lot of that was because Koreans had to preserve their food during times of extreme poverty and more. Kimchi, even though now it's on a lot of menus, a lot restaurants back in the day they preserved cabbage because that was the way that they could eat their vegetables.  I think so much of food is tied to culture. Any community I go to, so much of the flavor for the local community you can understand through food. It's a fascinating experience and there's a lot of cities with diverse communities where you can know that diversity through the food.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (03:48):

I love that. It's like what you can learn about Korean culture.

Jenny Yang (03:52):

I would talk about food forever, so I'm so glad you’re asking me about food. This is my favorite topic to talk about. Not my ultimate favorite, but one of my top favorites.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (04:01):

That's fantastic.  I too have appreciated kind of the entry into a culture through its food, but also through how people socialize or connect around a table.

I know for a lot of folks, one of the things that's been happening recently is they have had more engagement with Afghan refugees in their communities. And I know that's been part of your story too. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the things that you're discovering as you're welcoming your neighbor into your community?

Jenny Yang (04:33):

I live in Baltimore where there's a good refugee community here. Years ago I volunteered with an Iranian refugee family, and then after that with a Syrian refugee family, and I just started volunteering locally. I did a volunteer training where they're trying to connect us to help set up an apartment for Afghans that are coming. Just in Baltimore city, we're slotted to receive around 400 Afghan refugees. The major need right now is around housing because a lot of them are living in temporary hotels because they actually have large families many times. It's hard to find 2, 3, 4 bedrooms just to have this whole family actually stay together. I signed up to do an apartment setup, so I'm hoping to do that in the new year.

Once the families get out of these hotel situations, it'll be easier to interact with them and start trying to serve them in some way. We're helping to do an apartment setup, but it's really challenging because in the United States we evacuated over a hundred thousand individuals, but then about 60 to 70,000 of them came to the United States. For many weeks, they were at these eight military bases across the country. Over the next three or four months, they're all going to empty out of the bases and go into local communities. So we're seeing, in terms of numbers, us receiving the same number that we've received over the past four years. They're now being resettled over the next three to four months. The impact on local communities is significant.

Even in Baltimore, we do not have a lot of affordable housing. That's probably the biggest challenge is just finding housing for a lot of these individuals. And you have on top of that, families who have experienced significant trauma, loss, and family separation. They're trying to find housing and jobs while also dealing with a trauma of having been evacuated and also leaving their families behind.  There's a lot of need in the community. But I would also say that the Afghan community that we've been working with have been tremendous leaders in translating and in providing culturally appropriate clothes and even food. It's been great to see that community mobilizing, but I think there's continuing need for more community members and churches to really come in and fill the gap because there will be those needs in the next few months to come.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (07:14):

Just the concentration of people coming in this short time. Is there a particular thing that you think that churches or Christians in the community might be particularly helpful? Maybe something that they might not be thinking of.

Jenny Yang (07:29):

Because it was such a cultural touchpoint in our country, I mean everyone knew that we had to do something to evacuate these vulnerable people. And so a lot of them are coming. When I was traveling in November I saw several Afghan families that were trying to navigate flights. Some of them seemed like they were lost in the airport and didn't know which planes to get on. Being able to smile at them and try to help them out went a long ways. I remember when I was leaving the airport, the mom looked over and she just smiled at me. Up until that point, she was really stressed out because she had two young kids with her. They didn't know where their luggage was coming out.

They were waiting in front of the plane when it was coming out of the baggage claim and they didn't know where to go for that. I think just little things like that. And actually when we got there, there was an older couple that was volunteering. They had made signs and were going to help walk with this family through that process. I really encourage any church, or yourself individually or your family to sign up.  Just Google “refugee resettlement agency” in your city and see if there are any agencies that you can partner with. Normally you have to be trained as a volunteer and then they'll tell you which specific volunteer opportunities that they're looking for. A lot of agencies even just need donations because for every refugee family, if you set up an apartment you're required by the government to provide specific things.

Mattresses, silverware, plates, cups, bowls, brand new sheets, clothing, like all of this stuff that is really basic for an apartment setup we need to provide for every single family. We've had Amazon wish lists, with people just ordering stuff and delivering it to our offices, which has been super helpful. I would just say the ongoing relationship building. In Baltimore, we don't right now have an opportunity to volunteer directly with these families because they're in transitional housing, but eventually and in many relief offices, you can have the opportunity to volunteer. Whether that's picking up at the airport or helping some of these families fill out job applications, or helping learn English. These are all needs that a lot of the African families will have.

I would say even for myself that volunteering with refugees in Baltimore city has really been not just me giving, but me receiving so much. I've had the best food I've ever had cooked for me by this Iranian family that I was becoming friends with, but also just this incredible experience of knowing what their culture was like and what their experiences were like. Many of them just love their country that they came from, but really could not stay there. They love America, but they miss so many things about their homes that for many of us, it's hard to imagine what that could be like. It's wonderful opportunities of mutuality to both give and receive.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (10:38):

That's fantastic. What are some of the misconceptions or misunderstandings that Christians have when they are thinking about immigration or thinking about refugees?

Jenny Yang (10:52):

When you actually look at U.S. history, you see that there's the ongoing concerns around refugees and displaced persons oftentimes is around enough security and cultural concerns. A lot of folks will be really concerned that they weren't properly vetted when refugees are actually the most highly vetted individuals to come into the U.S. They all have a face to face interview with a Department of Homeland Security officer and then have to go through all the biometric screenings and everything that you would anticipate an individual needing to go through to safely come to the U.S. I think another misconception is, I know when a lot of Syrian refugees were coming in the U.S. five, six years ago there was a huge concern that they were Muslim. There was a huge backlash that they were going to implement Sharia law and things like that.

It really was unfounded. For a lot of Americans who believe in religious freedom, the opportunity for even Muslim people to worship freely in this country with safety and security shouldn't be exclusive to just Christians. I found that fear of Sharia law and of Muslims to be a little concerning to me. That was another concern that I think a lot of people had around specifically Muslim refugees that were coming in. A lot of people just have cultural concerns that you have people who look different than you, eat different foods than you, speak a different language, and a fear that that's going to mean you're displaced or that you're uncomfortable in your own communities. That fear is unfounded because when you look at our history, there's always been backlashes against the newcomers, right?

Whether it was the Germans, the Irish, the Italians, or the Chinese, it just continued in waves. Now the iteration is maybe immigrants from Latin or Middle Eastern countries. We have to recognize that a history to remember that we as humans have not changed and how we treat oftentimes people that are different than us, but it doesn't mean that the motives for why they're coming is any different. Many of them are still coming to pursue what our ancestors and our families themselves pursued, albeit it's in a completely different system now. 

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (13:17):

It's always been the reaction that folks who are here have to whoever the latest newcomer is.

Jenny Yang (13:26):

Yes, that's definitely right. I really do think for a lot of people who get to know refugees and immigrants on an individual basis, they don't assume the worst thing about that person. You get to know them and you, probably like them, learn from them- you appreciate that relationship. It really opens the door for people to not making assumptions about whole groups of people or perpetuating stereotypes, which are very harmful. All of that I think is very important, but it is rooted in proximity and in relationships with people.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (14:04):

How is it that your Christian faith informs or fuels your engagement with immigrants and refugees?

Jenny Yang (14:15):

My faith is the foundation from which I operate in this world on any issue, including on immigration. I grew up in an immigrant home.  I'm the daughter of immigrants, but immigration was never a policy issue to me until I started working at World Relief. I started realizing that some of the most vitriolic people against immigrants were white evangelical Christians. Wow, why is that the case? It was born out in research and surveys that found white evangelicals more than any other group, whether they're Hispanic Protestants, black Protestants, white Catholics, or non religiously affiliated were the most anti-immigrant or the most likely to think that immigrants were a burden. The reason I found that thinking problematic is because I know my family, I know tons of immigrants, and there's no way that we're a “burden” on this country.

In fact, we embody American values. We're entrepreneurial, family oriented, and hardworking. That really rubbed me the wrong way, knowing that was the common Christian response. When I went back to the Bible and I started reading through Genesis to Revelation, I realized through a whole new lens that the whole story of scripture is ultimately a story about migration.  Abraham was the first person who was called by God to leave his homeland and to go to another land that God would show him. He didn't know where he was going, but the fact that he moved was a testament to God's faithfulness in his life. God proved himself to be faithful through Abraham's migration story. The same with Joseph who was a victim of human trafficking. He was sold into slavery and God rescuing him was a testament to God's faithfulness in his life.

And even Ruth, who was a Moabite woman, a migrant worker who was so good at her job, cleaning the produce in the fields, that when Boaz noticed her. Even Jesus himself was a Middle Eastern refugee. I often like to say that we are followers of a brown skinned, Middle Eastern refugee. People don't connect the Christmas story to migration and persecution, but that was central to the Christmas story because right after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had to flee into Egypt in order to save his life. There's so many connections in scripture to migration. In fact, what you see when you see these connections is that migration is fundamentally a spiritual and theological issue. I actually think that God uses the movement of people to accomplish his missional purposes in life. When there's communities of people who have never heard about Jesus moving and being scattered to Christian heavy communities, this is an opportunity for us to share the gospel. Or if there's persecuted believers who cannot worship freely in their home countries and are migrating to communities and other countries where they can worship freely, we have an opportunity to receive them and to learn from them, and to be shaped in our discipleship by other believers who are persecuted.

It's not just an opportunity to share the gospel, but to receive the gospel as well. And that can really only happen through migration. It's beyond just a political issue or policy issue, it really is a biblical issue. I think the more that Christians can have that foundation from which to think about a very complicated issue, I think the better off we’ll be both in our narrative and also in our relationship building as well.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (17:50):

That's so compelling. I've never thought about migration being the vehicle through which God has intended to reveal His story and to reach His people. 

Jenny Yang (18:00):

It's all over the Bible. As you think about the New Testament and how the gospel spread, it was through persecution- that's the only reason it was able to move through people. There's a lot there, but definitely there's a richness to that narrative.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (18:20):

Even as you hopped, skipped, and jumped through some of those stories and these different characters, you could see direct parallels with the different folks who are facing the same dynamic or they're on the move for similar reasons. I appreciate the way that even our current day makes scripture alive in a new way. Do you have a sense as to what is the long term dream that you dream of with regard to immigration or immigrant communities or refugees here in this country or beyond?

Jenny Yang (18:52):

I feel like there's definitely a need for Christians to engage in ministry and continue to build relationships with immigrant families and newly arriving immigrants. I hope that our communities will shift from just doing direct service work to advocacy and see the need for systemic and structural changes in their laws and systems. Yes, we can help one person and another person, but if they're all caught up in a bad system, we need to change the system. Right now we have millions of people that are living in our country undocumented. We have dreamers who are young people who came to this country, not knowing they were here illegally, who are caught up in a system in which oftentimes they can't go to college or are in fear of being deported.

Our laws need to change and recognize the fact that many of these people want to get right with the law, but don't have the opportunity to do that. The fact that many of these families have been here for over a decade and have really planted roots in this country. The majority of endowment immigrants have been here for longer than 10 years. My hope, my dream is that we will eventually get to this place where we put so much pressure on Congress, that they can actually have the political courage to pass some kind of immigration reform. This has been a goal from Democratic and Republican administrations, and it just hasn't happened.  I think getting that systemic change and that relief legally for people in this country will go a long ways to remedying the fear that people live with on a day to day basis, and  giving us the hope that we have to really integrate immigrants into our communities a lot better then we have been.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (20:33):

As I hear you talking, what I hear you saying is this is policy, but the policy means that people won't live in fear anymore, right? That people have this freedom to sort of live out their life with these protections. You talk about how folks have been working on this for a while. I know you've been at that table and having these conversations for a long time. I do hope that folks will hear this and will receive that as an invitation for the Christian church to jump in with more enthusiasm and force as we try to be hospitable and welcome those that God has brought into our communities. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us on 20 Minute Takes. We're grateful for the work that you're doing and hope to talk to you again soon.

Jenny Yang (21:20):

Thank you so much. It was great to talking with you.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto (21:29):

20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action. Our music was created by Andre Henry and our show is produced by David de Leon. I'm your host, Nikki Toyama-Szeto. If you want to find out more about our work, visit the website at christiansforsocialaction.org