State surveillance and Afghanistani refugee vulnerability
This news is deeply concerning. According to a story in the Washington Post, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is launching a survey with malicious intent to identify Afghanistani immigrants who “may be in vulnerable situations.”
Interestingly, the program is designed for only 800 people. Why that number? Well, it’s unclear. That number may be a cover for an intention to conduct a larger survey and gather more information.
According to the Post, the questions that will be asked of participants include detailed information about family members, occupation, language spoken, and immigration status.
The Post writes: “ORR, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”
Shawn VanDiver the president of #AfghanEvac has said to the Post that "he was told by a US official there were worries by some within the federal government that the data collection could be used for future deportations."
For the past few days, I have spoken with a number of Afghanistani refugees, they were all alarmed by the ORR survey news. They asked me what to do if they received a phone call from an unknown number or received an email. In order to provide them with a proper answer, I consulted with a refugee attorney.
His recommendation was: “Do not respond to the phone calls. You are not required to fill out any forms or complete surveys on the phone.”
These kinds of surveys that collect detailed information about family members, occupation, A number, language spoken in the home, and, more importantly, legal status are not neutral; they are rather tools of state surveillance. Afghanistani refugees are already in a tenuous situation; some are in a more precarious condition than others, and yet surveys like this one which is already deemed threatening, intensify their fear and alienation by the host society.
Questions about their level of assimilation for refugees who arrived here five years ago and who are mostly still in legal limbo are irrelevant to their well-being since that is apparently the intent, but the repercussions of this sinister program that the planners are blind to are long-lasting ones. That is a deep distrust of the institutions.
As I have mentioned earlier, some members have already reached out to me and expressed their worries. This will definitely have a negative impact on Afghanistani refugee communities and increase collective anxiety across the US.
