The Congolese sisters were weary but smiling as they took their first steps in their new country at O’Hare International Airport. They are two of the last refugees to trickle into Chicago following last week’s presidential order suspending the national refugee program.
"We are happy," Geogette, 32, said through an interpreter. "We want to look for a job and school."
Edwina, 26, simply touched her palm to her chest several times.
Despite the Trump administration’s 120-day ban on new refugees, entry was permitted this week for 872 who were already in transit because denying them would cause "undue hardship," according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.
Geogette and Edwina, who came Wednesday, were among those final arrivals. As young girls, they’d fled violence and civil war in their native Democratic Republic of Congo and spent the past 18 years in a refugee camp in Zambia. They were scheduled to come Tuesday to Chicago but were delayed in Dubai.
"We’ve been holding our breath every step of the way," said Jessica Schaffer, director of Hebrew Immigration Aid Society Chicago.
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Left behind were the sisters’ parents and younger siblings, who were approved for resettlement but had not yet bought airplane tickets. With the U.S. refugee program stalled, any kind of family reunion for them is in limbo.
Last week’s executive order also banned entry from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and barred Syrians from travel to the United States indefinitely. The Trump administration and others who support the measure consider these restrictions crucial to properly vet migrants and protect the nation from terrorism. Many opponents have denounced the order for damaging the nation’s reputation abroad as well as unfairly separating family members.
Refugees already undergo lengthy background checks and security screenings that take at least 18 months prior to approval, according to the U.S. Department of State.
"Certainly these two women, and all of the folks we work with, have been waiting years, sometimes decades, to arrive," Schaffer said. "And to know that process has now been stalled by this executive order, it’s just heartbreaking."
Caring for the stranger
Wearing jackets and sharing one small piece of luggage, the sisters were welcomed to their new home with flowers and balloons — and thick winter coats — by about two dozen volunteers from a north suburban synagogue and church that jointly sponsored them.
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The week has been an emotional roller coaster for those sponsors, who raced to furnish and decorate a local apartment when they learned the sisters narrowly made it. They plan to pay their rent and help the sisters acclimate to the culture and customs of their new homeland — everything from navigating bus routes to writing a resume.
"It’s very much at the core of our tradition to make sure that we are taking care of the stranger, making sure that we are looking out for the vulnerable of society," said Rabbi Paul Cohen of Temple Jeremiah in Northfield. "Because we know what that’s like from very early on, from Egyptian slavery all the way through history. We know what it’s like to be oppressed, persecuted and to be exiled."
Vic Doucette, a volunteer from St. Francis Xavier Church in Wilmette, also said his Catholic faith prompted him to help folks he’s never met from across the globe. He said he’s skeptical of the Trump administration’s plan to give immigration priority to religious minorities — typically Christians — in those restricted Middle Eastern nations.
"We wonder about how that’s going to affect other people who aren’t Christian," he said. "I would help anybody."
A teddy bear
An empty two-bedroom apartment in Skokie has been fully furnished for three weeks, awaiting a Syrian family that was scheduled to arrive Feb. 6.
A little teddy bear sits atop one of the beds, intended for a 10-year-old boy.
"It was cleaned and readied with love and anticipation," said Pastor Kevin McLemore of Epiphany United Church of Christ in the North Center neighborhood, which had volunteered to host the refugee family. He said many volunteers were excited to help guide the family in "all of the frustrations and all of the joys that come with anyone navigating a new place."
The mother, father and two sons have been awaiting resettlement since 2013. Their arrival, however, has been stalled indefinitely with the executive order.
Congolese sisters Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune
Congolese refugee Mwege, 65, is greeted by her sister Shakalili Kininga, right, upon Mwege’s arrival at at O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 on Wednesday, February 1, 2017.
Congolese refugee Mwege, 65, is greeted by her sister Shakalili Kininga, right, upon Mwege’s arrival at at O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 on Wednesday, February 1, 2017.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Thursday afternoon, two more Congolese refugees arrived at the O’Hare international terminal. Mwege, 65, and her son Mukamba had been living in a refugee camp in Uganda for about five years. They had already been traveling when the new immigration restrictions took hold but were able to arrive just in time, according to officials with their resettlement agency, RefugeeOne.
Mwege will be reunited with her daughter — who had just been released from the hospital after giving birth — and seven grandchildren. They were all resettled as refugees in the United States in 2015 and live in Chicago.
Mwege and Mukamba initially will live in that Skokie apartment once intended for the Syrian refugee family.
Congolese refugee Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune
Mukamba, a Congolese refugee, thanks Hussein Affey, left, a community outreach worker with Refugee One, after Mukamba and his mother, Mwege, arrived at O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 on Wednesday, February 1, 2017.
Mukamba, a Congolese refugee, thanks Hussein Affey, left, a community outreach worker with Refugee One, after Mukamba and his mother, Mwege, arrived at O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 on Wednesday, February 1, 2017.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
"We’re thrilled that the space is going to be used," McLemore said. "It mitigates some of the pain and sadness around that empty apartment."
The Associated Press contributed.
eleventis@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @angie_leventis
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