I’m sure it was scary for my refugee friend last Wednesday. We will call her Nadia. She’s about 7-1/2 months pregnant. She was pulled over by a police officer for stopping at a green light. Nadia was trying to find her way somewhere and was a little confused as she drove. She called me on her cell phone very shaken up and afraid. The police officer had apparently pulled her over and sat in his car behind her checking out her tags. He sat behind her for some time and had not spoken to her. She began to get very concerned and called me.

The temperatures were very hot Wednesday; probably in the mid to upper 90s and extremely humid. Nadia sat in her hot car waiting on the police for a while before she called me. She was now afraid and wanted to know what she should do. Fortunately, for Nadia, she could speak English and could have a conversation with me. She came to America and entered either the 8th or 9th grade and was pushed along in high school to graduate by the schools even though she wasn’t truly learning at the level of her classmates. She was expected to go forward to college but, like many refugees entering the American school systems at this age, she just wasn’t college ready and couldn’t meet the expectations that were required. The length of her time here in America had taught her a lot but there are still so many societal norms that she just does not get.

I comforted Nadia and told her just to sit still and stay on the phone with me. I informed her that she should NOT try to leave. After a period of time, the police officer came to her. She set the phone down, but I could hear him speak to her. The officer was impatient with Nadia. He asked for her insurance card and ID. She didn’t have her insurance card in the car (but she really does have it). He took her ID and must have walked back to his car. Nadia spoke to me on the phone and I again comforted and tried to encourage her to stay calm. She hung up with me. We spoke again later that day in person.

Nadia says the police officer didn’t believe she was who she said she was. Her two ID’s differed (work and TN ID). They each had a different spelling of her last name. This was because one of the ID’s had gotten the spelling from her Social Security Card which had her name spelled wrong on it. She would need to get the Social Security Department to fix it. Her last name, Mohammad is very common in her country. There are several spellings of this name. I have seen it spelled Mahamud, Mahomud, Mahamed and Mohamed. (One of the reasons for this might be because in Somalia the spelling of things isn’t as important as the pronunciation of the word. Many words have multiple ways of spelling it, including a persons name.)

Nadia said that the police officer asked her when she was born and she felt “scared” (worried) about it. She was given a January 1st birthdate with the appropriate year by refugee officials. Most Somali and other area refugees are given a January 1st birthday when they enter on to the US. (I think the UN gives them this birthday.) But, Nadia actually knew her real birthday. (It was in April, I think). It seems that when non-English speaking refugees are seen by the UN for documentation the UN authorities or helpers are not always patient enough to wait for a translator. It is true that many refugees truly do not know their exact birthdate and record keeping isn’t the norm in all cultures. But, some do know their birthdate and are either not asked, or aren’t given the opportunity to share the information correctly. Perhaps the UN is in a hurry or there truly are not opportunities for the correct information to get documented at the refugee camps. Whatever the case, Nadia struggled to answer the police’s question. Something about the officer’s behavior made her feel as though he didn’t believe her, and this terrified Nadia.

(I know of one young girl who’s birth year is way off. She is actually like 23 but her documents say she’s 32 or something. I thought she looked and acted younger!)

Nadia says she was sitting in her hot car, pregnant for 1-1/2 hours. She begged the officer to just go ahead and let her go but he took his time and questioned her a lot. I’m sure the police officer was trying to do his job. It was unfortunate for Nadia that she was in the situation she was in.

Asha’s Refuge will work to help build better relationships between refugees and police officers. Many war-torn refugees have had terrible experiences with armed men in uniform. They are often extremely terrified and unsure of how they should appropriately respond. Police officers are often caught in sticky situations with refugees as they work hard to keep our city safe. The language and cultural barrier can be quite awkward and scary at times. We trust that we will be able to find many friendly neighborhood police officers who will be happy to encourage and educate our friends from other countries. We are thankful for the men in uniform who are working hard to protect us and we want to help them wherever we can.