Advocate: Recent Trump orders are part of 'broad attack' on immigrants

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Our top story today, some immigrants in Minnesota have questions after a recent series of Trump administration orders related to immigration. Those decisions included halting all asylum case decisions, plus pausing issuing visas for people from Afghanistan. That's after last week's shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national who was granted asylum this year.

Here to help make sense of everything and how it's affecting Minnesota is Jane Graupman. She's the executive director of the International Institute of Minnesota. Thanks for being on with us today, Jane.

JANE GRAUPMAN: Thanks, Nina. Happy to be here.

NINA MOINI: This is really important. And things seem like they're really evolving all the time right now in the work that you're doing. Can you first just explain for folks who don't how your organization works with immigrants in Minnesota around specifically pursuing asylum?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yes. So the International Institute of Minnesota is an organization that's been in St. Paul for over 100 years, so providing services to immigrants really broadly. So we help people with immigration services. We help people find work. We have a very robust health care pathway. We've employed over 4,000 new Americans in health care in our state.

We help people with education, learning English, really, a broad range of services to help people really integrate as quickly as they can and something that people are very eager to do. Many of the folks that we serve have been living in refugee camps for decades, many of them two decades, three decades. So when they arrive to Minnesota, they're very eager to get an education, to contribute, and to go to work and be part of the community.

NINA MOINI: How big of a role does pursuing asylum play in your work? I want to give our listeners an idea of how that process works.

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yeah, so asylum is a part of the work that we do. We don't do a lot of asylum cases. Our other agencies in the Twin Cities do that work. But asylum is a process that-- and I know that we're going to be talking about Afghans as well in this context.

But asylum is something that when someone gets to the United States, they go through a lengthy legal process, of course, very thorough vetting, applications, interviews with immigration judges. So it's a very long process. It takes years and years for people to get through that process.

And I think most folks-- probably about 30% of people get approved for their asylum cases. It's a very high threshold that people have to meet to get asylum in the United States. And the vast majority of people don't meet the threshold.

NINA MOINI: President Donald Trump said that the shooting, again, of those two National Guard members in Washington, DC-- he called it a terrorist attack and criticized the Biden administration for enabling entry to the US by people from Afghanistan who had worked with American forces. Can you explain that system that granted some of these Afghan new arrivals to the US this asylum? What was this program supposed to be? And what's your understanding of where it leaves that community now?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yes. Well, I mean, let me first say that the death of Sarah Beckstrom was a tragedy. And anyone that commits that act should face the full force of the law.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely.

JANE GRAUPMAN: And I'm sure this person will. But I think important to step back. Afghans have been arriving to the United States and into Minnesota for decades, many, many decades. So that's not a new program. And Afghans have been coming under what's called a special immigrant visa, SIV, a special immigrant visa.

And that Visa is designated, really, with the support of the US military. Afghans were vital to the role that the military had in Afghanistan, helping them detonate landmines, helping them-- they were drivers for the US military, interpreters, and many, many other things. So they were really critical for our mission there.

And so the US military felt very strongly that these folks had helped them. And by that very fact, their life was at risk if they stayed in Afghanistan. And there have been people killed just because they helped the US military. So it's been a program that's been around for quite a long time. And it's been very, very successful, not just for Afghans. There's other people from other countries that have come under the SIV program.

I think this gentleman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, I believe, came here as under the humanitarian protections and under Operations Allies Welcome, which was a program that started right after the US evacuation from Afghanistan in August of 2021. So a lot of Afghans actually were settled into US army bases here, and they were vetted before they arrived. And then they were in the military bases for three to four to five months.

They were also screened there. And so that's how those folks arrived. And then they were eligible to apply for asylum in the United States, which it sounded like he did do and was approved recently in the last, I think, six months for asylum.

NINA MOINI: So what are you telling people, Jane, right now, clients that you all are serving about this process, perhaps if theirs is now halted? People might be looking at losing status altogether. What do you think are going to be some of the unfortunate consequences here in your line of work?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yeah, I mean, I think it's just important to say that no group of people should be held accountable for the actions of one person. I mean, that really isn't the country that we are. And so I would say just even to step back and say, right now in our country, it's a very hard time for immigrants. There really has been a broad attack on immigrants in our country.

And I think really important for listeners to know that even though Donald Trump campaigned on deporting illegal immigrants, there's also a lot of attacks on legal immigrants, people that even have their US citizenship, who have sworn an oath to the United States Constitution and to defend our country also. And people take that very seriously. They've had to denounce citizenship in their own country often to do that. So really important for people to know that.

And so it's just in general right now a very hard time for immigrants and for Afghans who have been arriving recently under this SIV program that I mentioned. Folks that have helped the US military, they have been arriving. And we've resettled some of them, families, many children. And they're doing great. They're going to work. They're supporting our community. And so it's very scary for immigrants at large, I'd say. That's true, and also for Afghans now that that program is going to stop.

NINA MOINI: And just in the last week, a lot of immigrant communities in Minnesota have faced threats to their legal status, the Somali community, the Korean communities, as there's so much changing at once and leaving people in a bit of a limbo. Where does your organization go from here? How are you approaching all of these changes to make sure that people are still able to stay in the US, especially if they're afraid to go home for legitimate reasons?

JANE GRAUPMAN: Yeah, that's a great question. And again, just to say that it is a very scary time for people that are even here with their US citizenship. So I think we have immigration attorneys here. We have other legal staff that help clients that are here in legal status, but making adjustments. People that are here came as refugees maybe first and now are getting their green cards.

We help some people with their asylum process, helping people get their legal permanent status that's known as a green card. The institute's very proud. We're one of the largest folks that help new Americans become US citizens. Helped almost 1,400 people become US citizens last year.

And that work is more important than it ever has been because once you have legal status in the country, you have a green card, or you are a US citizen, it doesn't mean that ICE can't pick you up, we're learning, but you do have a legal pathway and legal rights. And I think that's the thing that's really scary to see, is that people in legal status are being put into detention. They're not getting any legal representation. Families don't know where they are. People can't contact them. And so legal services are really more important than they ever have been.

NINA MOINI: All right, Jane, thanks so much for coming on the show. Appreciate your time.

JANE GRAUPMAN: Pleasure. Thank you, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That was Jane Graupman, the executive director of the International Institute of Minnesota.