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If you fly into Northwest Arkansas National Airport and then drive to Fayetteville, you make your way through a rural and hilly portion of the Ozarks. Most people who fly in for the first time wonder where the cities are, and eventually you do find them (in fact massive Walmart warehouses crowd some of the roads leading from the airport on the way to Bentonville), but for part of the drive you see the land as it mostly has been for centuries, sprawling and open with forests and fields in equal measure.
There’s a stop along the way, unremarkable from the road: a barn. It’s actually called “Barn at the Springs,” a moderately pretentious name for a barn in the middle of a pasture, but then, it’s designed to attract business, and “at the springs” lands just about right for tourists and wedding planners.
I’ve officiated my fair share of weddings in this venue. It’s really a lovely space, with ample parking and as the brochures indicate, easy access both from the airport and from the towns that run up and down the Northwest Arkansas corridor.
Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend the Arkansas Immigrant Defense 2024 Convening, which gathered in the barn. Immigrants, immigrant service providers, refugee-related organizations, and dozens of others interested in the state of immigration in NWA attended.
The slate of presentations was broad, including two presentations from national immigration organizations, the Urban Institute and the American Immigration Council. Canopy NWA (with whom I serve as founder and chairman of the board) also presented.
As I sat in the barn watching the presentations, I had a real sense of pride. Our community has figured out how to receive immigrants well. It occurred to me we were sitting along the route most arriving refugees traveled after landing at the airport. Since 2015 we’ve welcomed over 750 refugees to NWA, and are projected to welcome far more at an increasing pace over the coming years. I kept remembering during the course of the day the many times I’ve had the honor to meet families at the airport and help them settle into their new homes.
Arkansas Immigrant Defense, the convener of the event, works at the intersection of the legal and justice issues related to immigration. The host, Léo Tucker, reflected some on the battles we have had to fight over the years to protect immigrants from unjust raids and complex systems that block immigrants from thriving.
But the overall tenor of the event was celebration, and joy. We enjoyed food prepared by a burgeoning Afghan women’s baking group, dance from Aya Afrique, a multi-ethnic dance group, and rich presentations from the orgs.
I thought readers of this blog might appreciate some summary of what was presented.
One amazing presentation was a study of Afghan evacuees’ resettlement by my friend Diana Guelespe. Diana previously worked for Global Refuge, the national organization we work with for resettlement, and it was great to see her again. The last time we saw each other was in Washington D.C. advocating on the hill for refugee resettlement in early 2020, literally the day before the whole world closed down for the pandemic.
The examination of Afghan evacuee resettlement was conducted in order to have better data on outcomes for evacuees, with the understanding it is unlikely a large evacuation of a population like the Afghan one will be the last such evacuation. The goal is care for evacuees and preparedness.
The study (full study linked here) found that the humanitarian parole process as designed slowed evacuees ability to gain employment once here. The solution would be to streamline it. The study also indicated many signs of resilience among asylee communities.
One of the most impressive reports out of this study emphasized refugees themselves as researchers. Researchers with lived experience make a difference.
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Another report, this one from sociologist William Schwab of the University of Arkansas, simply highlighted demographic trends in Northwest Arkansas. NWA historically was settled by white immigrants of European descent, but in more recent years the population has diversified. The largest immigrant population by far is Latino, but not far behind are the Marshallese, who are by and large climate refugees with a special immigration status via a compact with the U.S. government.
All cities up and down the Northwest Arkansas corridor have seen a tremendous shift in demographics (in these reports, I personally think the statistics on Pacific Islanders are under-estimated), and the most representative is the current student enrollment in Springdale, the main town through we I travel when going from Fayetteville to the airport.
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The American Immigration Council presented us with big picture data on immigration in Arkansas. Their goal is to highlight how much of an overall positive economic and social impact immigrants have on communities. Because there are so many negative false myths about immigrants (perpetuated in many ways and right now amplified by the incredibly racist and xenophobic rhetoric of Trump and Vance, among others), the goal of a project like Map the Impact (you can hone in on data particular to your own region) by the American Immigration Council is to simply show, with clear data, how positive the impact of immigrants can be on communities. Here are two slides:
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Finally, there was the Canopy NWA presentation. Although refugee resettlement is clearly related to immigration (an aspect of it), refugees have a different path to the U.S. and a different legal process toward citizenship once here. Many immigration experts in the region may know their own field but less about refugees, so the Canopy presentation focused on offering a big picture understanding of how one becomes a refugee, how one travels here, and what services Canopy provides once they arrived, and outcomes.
I’m thankful for the broad networking that is happening among immigration service providers in our region, and especially thankful to Léo Tucker and Monica Kumar for organizing this convening. I love our many new neighbors and am thankful for the rich tapestry of culture and humanity developing as we welcome immigrants to NWA. I hope story-telling and bridge-building like this can help dispel anti-immigrant myths and remind us that we are truly a nation of immigrants, and as Joe Biden recently said, “That’s why we’re so damn strong.”
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Reflections from a progressive Lutheran pastor in the South.
What an uplifting article and full of information, thanks for sharing that with us. My Grandparents were immigrants from Russia as Germans and settle in Colorado to work sugar beats so I’ve heard stories of the hardship of the language barrier and some animosity towards them. It took some courage to leave their country and family but thank goodness they did and a huge benefit for their family. I’m wishing the same for those who are doing that now, glad there are organizations and people who are supporting them like you Pastor Clint.