North Dakota's first Syrian refugee family arrives in Fargo
FARGO — After enduring the blasts of bombs landing within 100 yards of his home in northeastern Syria, after fleeing across the border into Iraq, after spending three years in a refugee camp, Jamal Tmr's family has finally found some peace and stability.
Tmr, his wife and seven children, ages 1 to 12, touched down in Fargo on Aug. 19. They had flown more than 15 hours from Iraq with stops in Amman, Jordan, and Chicago.
"The flight over the ocean, that was just kind of endless," Tmr said, speaking Kurdish through a translator. "The kids, they were just not patient at all."
With energy to burn, Tmr's children were running down the aisles of the plane. "They were very excited for this trip," he said.
It was a life-changing flight for 31-year-old Tmr and his family members, who have become North Dakota's first Syrian refugees. The family is among the 10,000 Syrians that President Barack Obama pledged to admit to the U.S. this year.
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At the time, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota (LSS), the nonprofit group contracted by the federal government to resettle refugees here, said bringing Syrians to the state would not make sense because there's not an existing Syrian community and the refugees would not be reunited with family.
However, Tmr's family is ethnically Kurdish, and they have Kurdish relatives from Iraq who live in Moorhead. Given this fact, LSS says Fargo is a good fit for the Syrian family.
"This is a family reunification case," said LSS CEO Jessica Thomasson. "We have a strong Kurdish community in Fargo-Moorhead. We have since the early '90s."
The decision of where to place refugees is made by the U.S. State Department, not LSS. And while Thomasson doesn't know for sure, she said she would not be surprised if LSS was asked to resettle more Syrian refugees in North Dakota. "But I don't know that we expect it to become a large part of our work," she said.
In a statement, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said his office learned Wednesday, Aug. 31, about the family's arrival, but he did not come out against their placement in Fargo.
"We expect and have been assured that all refugees are receiving a thorough background check and health screening prior to settlement," he said.
For readers of the article that are not familiar with the geography, Fargo is across the Red River from Moorhead. It's like one city.
Being Kurds and the best fighting force against ISIS that the US has in the area, I would hope that they would be welcomed.
Thank you kavika for the info and I couldn't agree more. I too also hope they are welcomed with open arms, minds, and hearts.
The other thing now is that the Syrian Kurds have come under attack by our ally, Turkey...
This is going to turn into a CF, we are supporting the Syrian Kurds and Turkey is an alliy. Hmmmm who is going to get screwed. You can bet it will probably be the Syrian Kurds.
Of course it is the Kurds who will continue to pay the price. It's a dilemma that will eventually fester into something bigger, and we had best be ahead of the curve in dealing with it.
Me too NWM, me too.