California is not proving to be the Promised Land that some new Afghan-Americans had expected, and they say something should be done about it.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the nearly 3,000 Afghans being resettled at U.S. taxpayer expense in the California cities of Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose, and Turlock, are not happy with their experience so far. These “refugees” (actually most are “humanitarian parolees,” a more easily established category that has no real requirements) are being aided in resettlement by an NGO called the International Rescue Committee, whose field office is in Turlock (pop. 73,000). Although the IRC is receiving $2,275 to get each parolee settled, the Afghans say prices and rents are high and they are confronted with problems that only ordinary American citizens should have to deal with, including such tedious details as having to show proof of income, a good credit score, and a co-signer to rent an apartment.
In general, the Afghans complain that they’re not getting the red carpet treatment they had expected.
And to make matters worse, there’s only one mosque in all of Turlock.
The imam of that mosque told the Chronicle: “Don’t just bring the refugees and dump them and say you should survive on (your) own. This is unethical.”
Apparently, what would be ethical would be to extract more tax money from the humble citizenry and give it to multi-million-dollar outfits like the IRC (whose CEO pulls down a million a year), who will then be able to maintain the newcomers in the lifestyle they had expected.
For more, see the San Francisco Chronicle.