‘Lost Boy’ in Las Vegas, other refugees find help comes early but doesn’t last forever

When he arrived in the United States as a refugee from Sudan in 2001, Biar Atem wanted to seize his new chance by assimilating quickly.

Although he, like other arriving immigrants, received some government help, Atem knew he couldn't subsist on it for long. He and two other arriving "Lost Boys of South Sudan" shared an apartment out of necessity; only with their combined stipends could they afford rent and utilities.

"I recall I got something like $325 a month (in refugee cash assistance)," he said. "If you look at it, that's like the bare minimum. A single guy living on his own wouldn't be able to find an apartment for that."

Atem was one of about 30,000 "Lost Boys" who walked barefoot to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. The State Department brought 4,000 of them to live in America in 2001, and 37 settled in Las Vegas.

"I spent 13 years in a refugee camp supported by the United Nations before I came here, and life was really tough," Atem said. "When I came here, I really wanted to become self-sufficient."

Government aid for refugees like Atem who arrive in Southern Nevada is limited and finite. Monthly cash aid is $450 or less for refugees who qualify, lasts only up to eight months and expires when they get jobs.

The State Department's Reception and Placement program and ancillary programs administered by the Health and Human Services Department's Office of Refugee Resettlement help newly arriving refugees. All of the programs are federally funded.

The State Department resettles people referred to it by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees through agreements with nine domestic agencies. Some of these agencies have religious affiliations but aren't allowed to proselytize.

Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada administers local benefits for both the State Department and Office of Refugee Resettlement programs.

An investment in assimilation

At first, Atem said, his Catholic Charities case manager ferried him to government offices, including the Department of Motor Vehicles and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and prepared him to work, teaching him how to complete job applications and directing him to places refugees could find jobs.

About a month after arriving, Atem got a job as a janitor at The Venetian.

The domestic agencies and the State Department place refugees around the country based on things like the availability of jobs and housing, whether a population from the refugees' homeland lives in the community and whether family members are there already. Carisa Lopez-Ramirez, vice president of immigration and migration services for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, said reuniting families is a priority.

Twenty-eight countries worldwide accept refugees for resettlement. In 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees submitted the files of 103,890 refugees for resettlement consideration. Last year, the United States took in 73,000 of 103,000 resettling refugees, the largest number of any nation.

In an email, a State Department official said the Reception and Placement grants to the nine resettlement agencies are $2,025 per refugee and are the same in every state, for every nationality. The resettlement agencies received $185 million from the State Department in fiscal 2015, the official said.

Lopez-Ramirez said Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada in 2014 received $6 million from the State Department and Health and Human Services programs to place 2,200 refugees throughout the valley.

She said her agency, through partnerships with local apartment complexes, arranges housing for the refugees and then stocks the dwellings with basic furniture, toiletries and cleaning supplies. Each refugee receives a housing voucher of up to $100 for seasonal clothing, she said.

Through the State Department program, each locally arriving refugee gets $1,000 of a $1,125 allocation to help cover basic needs during the first 30 to 90 days of arrival, Lopez-Ramirez said. The remaining $125 goes into a flex fund to help refugees who might need emergency help paying for utilities or other basics.

Beyond the $1,000 grant, the refugees get limited monthly cash assistance through the Office of Refugee Resettlement or the state Welfare Division, Lopez-Ramirez said.

Families with children would be referred to the division for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families aid. Individuals and childless couples would get Office of Refugee Resettlement cash aid administered by Catholic Charities — $335 a month per individual or $450 per couple a month for up to eight months from the arrival date.

Once these refugees get jobs and begin earning income, they lose this help, Lopez-Ramirez said.

It's important to remember, she said, that these refugees arrive mostly with nothing, or next to nothing — often no more than a few changes of clothes and their personal documents. Even with some monetary help, arriving in a new country is unsettling and difficult.

"Just imagine what it's like when you have to move to a different apartment or a different home," she said. "Now take a step forward and imagine what it would be like if you're not allowed to bring anything with you but a backpack."

Willing to work, eager to succeed

Because of the Affordable Care Act, the refugees are eligible for Medicaid, Lopez-Ramirez said, and they get help learning English through a Catholic Charities program. The agency assigns case managers to help the refugees assimilate.

Once in America, these immigrants, many of whom waited for years for placement and lived in refugee camps, work quickly to support themselves, said Michelle Mittelstadt, communications and public affairs director for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

In a June report, the institute said that from 2009 to 2011, a higher percentage of refugee men ages 16 and older held jobs than their U.S.-born counterparts, 67 percent versus 60 percent. Refugee women were as likely to work as U.S.-born women, 54 percent, the report said.

Atem worked his way up and educated himself. In the 14 years since his arrival, he earned an associate degree from the College of Southern Nevada, a bachelor's degree in accounting from UNLV and a master's of business administration from Regis University, which used to have a local campus.

He's now an auditor for Las Vegas Sands Corp., as well as the founder of the South Sudan Center of America and a Nevada delegate to the Refugee Congress.

Atem's story probably wouldn't surprise Mittelstadt. She said refugees have experienced hardship and are driven to succeed.

"Most of these refugees probably have not been in the workforce if they're coming from refugee camps. And likely their children have had interrupted educations, if they've had educations at all," Mittelstadt said. "So it obviously takes them a little while to find their footing in their new society. But research demonstrates that they do."

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