Refugees in Minnesota detained and flown to Texas are released with no way home
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At least 100 refugees, who are in the country with legal status, have been arrested, detained and sent to Texas, according to Jane Graupman, executive director of the International Institute of Minnesota.
“They wake up in the morning with eight ICE officers surrounding their house with their guns drawn and trying to convince them to open their door,” she said on Monday’s Morning Edition.
The International Institute of Minnesota specializes in refugee resettlement, English courses, and housing programs. Graupman said that many of the people that the institute represents are vetted through five federal agencies, biometric screenings and medical screenings.
“And this is still happening to them, and there's no transparency about why they're being detained and when they're going to be released,” she said.
Graupman added that they’ve heard reports of refugees from Minnesota being held for weeks at a time after their identification and papers were taken from them, but then released onto the streets of Texas with seemingly no way home.
“They've only been to Minnesota, so they have no idea where they are, and they have no documents, so they can't get an air ticket to fly back to Minnesota,” Graupman said.
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