Mary English, an ESL instructor for the Refugee Resettlement Program goes over the days of the week with refugees from Myanmar, Burundi & Cuba. (Photo by Lynne Conner/for Chronicle Media)

“Simply stated, they are here to get a life,” Janet Biljeskovic, says about the immigrants she works with in her role as program director for Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Services.

Biljeskovic, her husband and children, came to the United States in 1994 as refugees from Yugoslavia. She has worked with Catholic Charities since 1998 and took over the resettlement program in 2013. A national refugee resettlement program was established by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 1972. The local refugee resettlement program functions as a lifeline to immigrants, assisting them with educational, financial, occupational and residential opportunities.

“In 2016, we had 70,000 plus refugees coming into the United States. This year, partly due to travel restrictions, we are unsure of how many refugees will enter the U.S.,” Biljeskovic said. “The refugees coming to Rockford in February arrived as planned and we think some refugees will arrive in March, but beyond that we will take it day by day,” she said.

Onix and Hector, refugees from Cuba, work on English lessons in their ESL class. The class is one of the many services offered to refugees in the Resettlement program. (Photo by Lynne Conner/for Chronicle Media)

The higher number of refugees entering the U.S. last year, according to Biljeskovic, was partly due to the crisis in Syria.

“In 2016, 3,046 refugees settled in Illinois with about 372 coming to the Rockford area,” Biljeskovic said. Before coming to the United States, she said, many refugees spend anywhere from 18 months to two years in a refugee camp processing center and undergo a vetting process before being allow to depart for the U.S.

“Representatives from the United Nations conduct the first interviews to see if people fleeing their country meet the criteria to be recognized as refugees. Once the determination is made, then the refugees are referred to the countries that are accepting them, like the U.S.,” Biljeskovic said. “The refugee processing center in Turkey is run by the USCCB and there, the refugees have medical screenings, they are screened by the U.S. State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and officials from the [National] Counterterrorism Center. They do all the background checks before the refugees are cleared for acceptance into the United States.”

Nibras AlJoubori (from left), a receptionist in the RRP, Janet Biljeskovic, director of the RRP and Jean-Claude Nzeyimana, a case worker, look over some donated bed frames. (Photo by Lynne Conner/for Chronicle Media)

Of the top 10 states receiving refugees in 2015, Illinois ranked ninth with 2,658. Of that number, about 300 refugees end up resettling in the Rock River Valley. Biljeskovic said that in recent years, the majority of refugees resettling in Rockford have come from Burma and the Congo.

Keeping families together is another consideration that the staff in Biljeskovic’s office tries to honor. Some refugees resettling in Rockford have other extended family already living here. “We try to take families that have nine or less members, but sometimes they have other family here and we will accept families of up to 12 people,” she said. “We try to keep families together and feel that they will adjust better if they have family members to help them.”

Before a refugee’s arrival in Rockford, Biljeskovic and her staff must have an apartment ready for the refugee and their family. The resettlement office works with local landlords to negotiate affordable rent for refugees. Every refugee who comes to Rockford is eligible for state and federal funds for 90 days to assist in resettlement.  After the 90-day period, refugees can receive help from Rock Valley College’s refugee adjustment services.

Young Burmese girls perform a traditional dance at Refugee Resettlement Program’s annual Refugee Party. (Photo by Lynne Conner/for Chronicle Media)

“I am really, really, really pleased with the landlords in Rockford for holding their rental units for the refugees and for accepting lower rent payments because the refugees are coming here with very little funds,” Biljeskovic said.

Once an apartment is secured for a refugee, there are some furnishing requirements outlined in the contract between the State Department and the USCCB that the resettlement office has to follow.

“Some things that have to be in the apartment are bed frames, bedding, mattresses, a table and chairs and pots and pans. Refugees can buy grocery and clothing with the assistance money they receive,” she said.

Biljeskovic pointed out that donations of furniture, bicycles, personal-care items and cleaning supplies are always welcomed at the resettlement office since federal aid does not cover these items.

She further commended Choice Furniture in Rockford for its work with the resettlement program.

“They bring the furniture, set up the apartment and bring household needs like pots and pans. We pay only for the items and not for set up and delivery,” Biljeskovic said.

The first months in Rockford for refugees are spent attending English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, learning bus schedules and finding employment.

Janet Biljeskovic, director of the Refugee Resettlement Program for Catholic Charities. (Photo by Lynne Conner/for Chronicle Media)

“For the first three months after a refugee arrives, they seek employment through the Rock Valley College refugee services, everything else is done through the Catholic Charities resettlement program,” Biljeskovic said. “During 2016, Illinois was among the top states in the nation for refugee employment. I am also happy to say that, over the last two years, we have had a 97 percent employment rate among the refugees in our local program.”

Advanced Machine & Engineering in Rockford is one of the local businesses that hires refugees from the resettlement program. AME fluid power supervisor, Reimund Storck explains why hiring refugee workers is important for his family’s buisness.

“The owner of our company and my uncle, Willy Goellner, was a refugee from Poland and Germany during World War II,” said Storck. “He came over to the United States in 1958 and started his own business. He is a strong believer in giving people from Europe or where ever they are from a chance to succeed in a new country because he knows how difficult it was to find a job or employment.

“Once my uncle established the company, he hired many immigrants from Poland and he continues that today in hiring refugees from the resettlement program.”

Storck also sees hiring refugees as a way to help eliminate ethnic biases, “My uncle was an engineer and German on top of that, so when he came to the United States it was not easy for him to get into business. My uncle does not like the stigma that refugees sometime get coming from a foreign country,” Storck said.

AME presently employs refugees from several countries, a practice that Storck plans to continue in the years to come,

“We have a gentleman from Iraq and we have several people from Congo working for us,” he said. “The man from Iraq is working in engineering and two other gentlemen from Congo and Burundi are working in one of the product assembly lines.”

Working with refugees from African countries, Storck has seen a unique optimism missing from the American work force.

“I work very closely with people from Congo and Burundi and they have such a nice personality. For all the problems that they have gone through they still have a natural happiness that you don’t often see in workers of the U.S.”

Despite the ever-changing global and political climate surrounding immigration, the Refugee Resettlement Program continues to operate with a clear focus.

“Our goal is to make refugees coming to Rockford self-sufficient as soon as possible,” Biljeskovic said. “We are not here to do for them, our job is to help them and show them how to do for themselves.