Welcome.US helps refugees, such as Afghans and Ukrainians, settle in the U.S.

Welcome.US helps refugees, such as Afghans and Ukrainians, settle in the U.S.

Transcript¹

A year after President Biden announced plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, NPR's A Martinez talks to Cecilia Mu?oz, a former Obama White House official, about how Afghan refugees are faring.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One year ago today, when President Biden was still fairly new in office, he addressed the nation from the White House. He spoke² about the U.S. war in Afghanistan - a war that had begun on October 7, 2001.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home.

INSKEEP: They did, but the Taliban reclaimed³ control of Afghanistan, and the Biden administration had to organize a chaotic⁴ evacuation of U.S. citizens and more than 76,000 Afghans. How are they doing now? A Martinez spoke with Cecilia Munoz. She served in the Obama White House as the head of the Domestic Policy Council and is now a senior adviser⁵ at New America and co-chair of welcome.us. A began by asking her about the status of the Afghan newcomers.

CECILIA MUNOZ: The vast majority are in communities, living in new homes, and, you know, navigating⁶ school systems and learning English if that's a thing that they need to do, and new jobs. About just over 10,000 of them are still in temporary housing, so that's a challenge that we are still all grappling with. But they are here, they are largely in communities, and there are organizations and good people all over the country helping⁷ them make a new start.

A MARTINEZ, BYLINE⁸: And it's one thing just to leave your country and move somewhere else. But considering the circumstances in which they had to leave - I mean, what was there, and in a rush, too. I mean, that's like a double whammy there.

MUNOZ: Absolutely. Really coming with, in many cases, literally⁹ nothing but the clothes on their backs or very little in the way of possessions. They - you know, they didn't - were not able to plan a move. So, you know, the volunteers, the organizations, the - you know, the people who are standing¹⁰ up to support them are doing things like moving mattresses¹¹ and...

MARTINEZ: Yeah.

MUNOZ: ...You know, collecting kitchen utensils¹² and helping with clothes, as well as learning English and jobs and all of the things.

MARTINEZ: Yeah. And I understand the Afghan refugees have 90 days of support from the federal government once they leave their military bases, and that the 90 days are approaching for many of them. So, Cecilia, what does that mean for them? I mean, what do they do? Where do they go?

MUNOZ: Well, it means that there's some very limited financial assistance, which is supposed to help with, like, a first month's rent or, you know, some of the expenses of moving into a new home. Everybody understands that it's not nearly enough, and that's why, you know, what welcome.us does is sort of expand the existing infrastructure¹³ to make sure that we can do right by these new neighbors of ours and make sure that they get off to a good start.

MARTINEZ: And your organization will soon be announcing over $5 million in funding for 141 organizations helping to settle Afghan refugees. How significant is that number, and how will the money be used?

MUNOZ: We already distributed $8.6 million almost a month after welcome.us was formed, and this is the next tranche of funding, which is going to more than 100 community-based groups. And in some ways, the beautiful thing about it is that it was raised from lots and lots of people around the country. You know, the wealthy individuals gave as much as a million dollars, and regular folks gave as little as $5, and together it's millions of dollars that is supporting groups that are largely volunteers who are doing their part. And it's - this is why I think of it as the most hopeful work I know. This is regular Americans standing up to be good neighbors.

MARTINEZ: And what are those needs? So where is that money going to go?

MUNOZ: So it's supporting organizations all over the country - groups like the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition¹⁴, which is a community-based group in Wisconsin that is helping people with English, helping them with their sort of cultural competency. There's a group called Veterans Bridge Home in North Carolina, where volunteers are, you know, doing everything from grocery delivery and helping with transportation to setting up new homes and providing cultural advice. So this is really sort of a homegrown community effort all over the country, and these resources are supporting these hardworking groups.

MARTINEZ: Now, the Biden administration announced they're going to be accepting 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. How is your organization preparing to aid those Ukrainians?

MUNOZ: Well, this is actually very important. Welcome.us came into being to help, you know, Americans - regular folks - access opportunities to provide a welcome, and Afghans have created the first big opportunity to do that, but the goal was really always to help migrants of all - and newcomers of all kinds. So we are now preparing - with the Ukrainian diaspora and in partnership¹⁵ with the government - to create the same kind of welcome for the Ukrainians who are going to come. And, again, the heartening thing is that Americans from all walks of life are stepping up and saying, we want to help. We're watching what's happening. We know that we can provide a welcome, and that really reflects the best of who we are.

MARTINEZ: You mentioned all those numbers, Cecilia - 75,000 Afghan refugees, 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. That's 175,000 people. That's not counting the refugee cap of 125,000 that the Biden administration has agreed to enter - to let enter from other countries. Is the U.S. government prepared for this? Are organizations just like yours - are you guys prepared for this?

MUNOZ: Well, you know, there are nine refugee resettlement organizations which, for many years, have done the hard work of resettling people. This is about seven times the number of people that they usually help in a year, so that's why welcome.us got created - is to honor the capacity that we have and to expand it to get new organizations engaged in the work of helping resettle newcomers. And so that's - the point that you make about the numbers is exactly why we have to step up and create avenues for regular folks to get involved in this work.

MARTINEZ: And on that, Cecilia, how much of this has to do with time being a factor - in terms of the federal government, depending on who's in charge and depending on the election cycle, being as welcoming to refugees as maybe a different administration?

MUNOZ: Well, look, part of the reason that it's so clear that we need to expand capacity is because the government's capacity and the capacity of nonprofit groups really got decimated in the Trump¹⁶ years. I mean, there's just - that's not a political statement. It's just the truth. And so the need to rebuild has been very clear. And if we're going to rebuild, it seems to me we should be building in a way that's much stronger than we've ever been.

MARTINEZ: That's Cecilia Munoz, senior adviser at New America and co-chair of welcome.us. Cecilia, thanks.

MUNOZ: Thank you.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

12 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

15 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

16 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

17 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

18 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

19 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。