‘They can bring so much’

Despite barriers, Afghan evacuees are helping relieve Wisconsin’s labor crunch

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Ali Akbar Gholami arrived in the United States last September with little more than his work ID. He had no time to gather much else as the Taliban took over the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, prompting the U.S. to airlift him and 76,000 Afghan nationals to safety.

But Gholami — who speaks fluent English, studied civil aviation for two years and previously worked at Kabul International Airport — brought skills and a work ethic that American employers desire amid a tight labor market. That’s particularly the case in Gholami’s new home state of Wisconsin, where the unemployment rate has dipped below 3 percent, pushing employers to boost salaries and benefits to attract talent.

Gholami, 23, arrived in Green Bay in October 2021 after flying to Qatar for security vetting and then to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. His priority upon arriving in Green Bay: find a job before his initial three months of federal resettlement aid ran out.

“We just start from zero. That’s why we need more money to pay the rent and send some money back to Afghanistan to our parents,” says Gholami.

He initially trimmed meat at a local JBS Foods plant before finding a new job with BelGioioso Cheese. Now he earns $24 per hour packing mozzarella blocks into boxes from 3 p.m. through midnight or later at the company’s plant in Appleton.

But Gholami faced a challenge: Without a car or driver’s license, how would he commute between his Green Bay apartment and the plant? It’s a roughly 19-mile route inaccessible by bus.

He is among at least 838 Afghan evacuees now living in Wisconsin. These newcomers can make communities more vibrant and ease the labor crunch as Wisconsin’s birth rate plunges and its population ages. The same could be said of future refugees from elsewhere, including Ukranians fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.

Many employers have expressed interest in hiring Afghan evacuees, says Bojana Zorić Martinez, director of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’ Bureau of Refugee Programs.

“There are a lot of employment opportunities all across the state,” she says.

But businesses won’t benefit, economic development officials say, unless Afghans can find transportation and overcome other workforce barriers that affect non-immigrant workers as well. Some evacuees need training in English, others need access to affordable child care.

Federally contracted resettlement nonprofits have helped Afghans find housing and jobs, but they aren’t equipped to address all employment barriers.

“Having a new population of Afghan immigrants is just another opportunity to help bolster our workforce,” says Missy Hughes, secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

She adds that employers must understand their workers’ traumatic experiences and help them succeed.

“Businesses have to be a part of this resettlement. They can’t just be a recipient of this human being,” Hughes says.

In Gholami’s case, his new employer loaned him money to buy a car. Volunteers are filling other gaps. Mike Ruminski, a Green Bay-area man, has helped Gholami and seven other Afghan evacuees obtain their driver’s licenses, enroll in English classes, and connect with job specialists.

Ruminski also bought two computers so that Gholami and his three Afghan duplex mates can use the internet to set up their new lives and connect to families back home.

Ruminski teasingly calls the four Afghans in the duplex “The Beatles” — a nod to their youthfulness and friendship forged under the same roof in Green Bay.

“The one thing that keeps me here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is the people of Green Bay, Wisconsin,” says Muddassir Saboory, Gholami’s duplex mate and former airport coworker. “Because I meet lots of nice, nice people here.”

‘Transportation is a critical need’

On a sunny morning last February, Gholami exited the Green Bay DMV service center with excitement: He had passed his driving test.

Ruminski was waiting, having lent Gholami his 2009 blue Toyota Prius for the test after helping him train for two weeks.

The two met months ago at a local YMCA. Ruminski is a longtime Bay Area Workforce Development Board director and a self-employed health insurance advisor who previously trained commercial truck drivers. He offered Gholami and seven other Afghans roughly 12 to 16 hours of training each and access to his car so they could get their licenses.

Gholami practiced driving on weekends and between work shifts. Ruminski guided him on traffic laws that don’t exist in Afghanistan, such as how to navigate roundabouts.

Transportation “is a critical need for people trying to become self-sufficient,” Ruminski says.

That’s true across Wisconsin, where many low-income people and those with disabilities lack transportation. Americans spend on average 19 percent of their income on cars, which many communities have prioritized over public transportation, walking and biking.

Transportation is also one of the biggest hurdles for Afghan evacuees in Milwaukee, says Sheila Badwan, vice president of the Milwaukee chapter of the Hanan Refugee Relief Group. The Milwaukee region hosts the state’s biggest Afghan cohort, with more than 380 resettled as of April 20.

Some use the Milwaukee County Transit System, and English-speaking Afghans assist those still learning the language.

But a lack of public transit between the city of Milwaukee and surrounding communities leaves those working outside of the city struggling to find rides.

“They don’t want to sit at home. They want to work. They’re hard workers,” Badwan says. “How do they get to their jobs?”

In Green Bay, some companies send vans, arrange carpools, or find other options to transport Afghan employees between home and work, workforce officials say. Among them: JBS Foods, which has hired 26 resettled Afghans at its Green Bay beef plant — including Saboory, 25, who works an interpreter.

Still, employer-led options don’t help car-less Afghans get to the grocery store and run other errands, says Matt Valiquette, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board.

Gholami says BelGioioso helped him carpool until he could obtain a driver’s license and buy a 2006 Honda Accord. He paid $7,000 for the car using a $2,000 loan from Ruminski and another $2,000 loan from BelGioioso.

More jobs than people

Green Bay’s 126 resettled Afghans are accelerating northeast Wisconsin’s racial and ethnic diversification, where people of color are driving the bulk of population growth. Ruminski has long volunteered with groups that have helped refugees and other immigrants settle locally. He is humbled by the Afghan evacuees’ courage and initiative.

“None of these guys have ever complained about their situation…They all got on a plane back in Afghanistan — they didn’t know where that plane was going to go,” he says.

Former President Donald Trump limited immigration — including refugee resettlement — during his presidency in the name of protecting American jobs. That sentiment may linger among Trump’s fans in Wisconsin.

But Ruminski and Hughes, of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., counter that Wisconsin needs refugees and immigrants to help fill thousands of open positions statewide.

“We have many more job opportunities than we have people,” Hughes says.

According to a 2021 report by Forward Analytics, the research arm for the Wisconsin Counties Association, “Without natural growth, the only way to grow or even maintain the state’s population and workforce is through migration.”

Refugees are typically eager to secure jobs. Despite the trauma they carry, refugee employment rates closely track with those of other immigrants in the U.S., according to a 2020 Journal of Economic Perspectives study.

Local communities just need to offer “a little guidance” to make sure they thrive, Ruminski says.

Hoping to stay

Whether the Afghans can stay depends upon securing permanent residency. While each has permission to live and work in the United States, their temporary status leaves them vulnerable to future deportation.

Nearly 37,000 evacuees could qualify for a Special Immigrant Visa, while some of the remaining 36,400 might qualify for asylum, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.

That requires navigating a backlogged immigration system. Putin’s war in Ukraine could add more pressure; thousands of fleeing Ukrainians have arrived to the U.S. border with Mexico, and Biden — who has pledged to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees — has granted them 18-month protected status.

The Biden administration aims to expedite asylum reviews. But a shortage of immigration lawyers leaves many Afghans on their own to slog through the process, says Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Barbato estimated that 400 to 500 Afghans in Wisconsin are seeking asylum. Few nonprofit law firms are equipped to help, and private attorneys can be expensive, she says.

All four of the Green Bay “Beatles” are applying for asylum. That means proving the danger of returning to Afghanistan.

Saboory says the Taliban viewed his work as an airport safety officer with suspicion and has targeted family members in Afghanistan. “The Taliban sees me as an enemy, and they say they see me as an American slave.”

After Saboory left, Taliban officials searched his parents’ apartment and punched his father in the face when he refused to disclose his son’s whereabouts, Saboory says. His asylum application includes a photo of his father’s bruised eyes.

“I feel very bad to use my father’s picture for my case,” he says. “I know my life is in danger and my family is in danger because of me.”

Ruminski hopes to find pro bono attorneys to accept asylum cases from Afghans in the community, which can otherwise cost $4,000 per person.

In February, Ruminski accompanied The Beatles to a Job Center of Wisconsin event, where they set education and career goals.

They followed up with a trip to McDonalds — to celebrate those goals and new driver’s licenses.

Saboory wants to become a dentist. Gholami aims to return to aviation. Ruminski says at least three other evacuees are eyeing commercial trucking — an industry facing a shortage of 80,000 drivers nationwide.

“They can bring so much. We just have to embrace that, foster that and care for that,” Ruminski says of those ambitions. “It’s an investment in the future. And quite frankly, it’s the humanitarian thing to do to — to bring diversity into our citizens’ lives.” 

Wisconsin Watch is the news arm of the nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.