Mahija Menon, a United Nations resettlement associate has been visiting Boise for about month to learn about ways to improve the refugee resettlement process back home in Malaysia.
Mahija Menon, a United Nations resettlement associate has been visiting Boise for about month to learn about ways to improve the refugee resettlement process back home in Malaysia.
Mahija Menon, a United Nations resettlement associate has been visiting Boise for about month to learn about ways to improve the refugee resettlement process back home in Malaysia. Her last day was May 21; she was here as part of the American Council on Young Political Leaders program.
Menon works with the International Rescue Committee on refugee resettlement. This allows her to see the end stages of the process of resettlement. In Malaysia, Menon worked with refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia, but redirected refugees to other countries.
“Malaysia sends them to the countries that are willing to take them because Malaysia is a really small country. And unfortunately, we're just not taking in refugees,” Menon said. “So countries like the U.S. are very graciously accepting asylum seekers.”
According to Menon, Malaysia is not as welcoming towards refugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency, a UNHRC card is supposed to guarantee basic human rights and that physical needs are met, including a right to work. However, Al Jazeera reports that since Malaysia has not signed the UN Convention on Refugees, refugees are considered illegal immigrants and have no right to work or send their children to school.
According to Menon, the resettlement process takes a minimum of two years from the time of arrival in Malaysia to resettlement in the U.S. She hopes to use the things she's learned with the IRC to make the process in Malaysia more efficient. She is also applying for a grant focusing on improving migrant policy in Malaysia.
“It's unprecedented, like the amount of refugees coming into Malaysia fleeing Myanmar, " Menon said. “So my project will be centered around trying to find another way to get people resettled.”
One of the ways Menon is studying to make immigration more efficient is through the policy introduced in January by the Biden Administration, known as community sponsorship. The idea behind the program is that instead of organizations like the IRC handling every aspect of resettlement start to finish, communities approved by organizations like the IRC will take over some of the resettlement process. Currently, the IRC does everything from picking up refugees from the airport, to cultural orientation, and helping refugees find jobs and housing.
“A through Z is done by the IRC, but community sponsorship gives different community groups the opportunity to take on that role,” Menon said. “It's less burdensome on the IRC, because sometimes the IRC is just overloaded.”
Menon said that working in Boise has been a great experience, and that working with the IRC has been “eye -opening”.
“The passion that I've witnessed is second to none … they go above and beyond,” Menon said.
Menon said that the news she sees depicts America as less friendly towards migrants, so seeing how each employee was personally invested was impactful.
“Speaking with normal people on the street about the IRC, it seems like a lot of people are familiar with the IRC and the work that they do, which is a very stark difference from Malaysia,” Menon said.
While in Boise, Rep. Dustin Manwaring (R) and Rep. Brooke Greene (D) showed Menon around the capitol building. Menon will finish her last week of the program in D.C. before returning to Malaysia.
