Hi. I normally just lurk on reddit for random interesting things, but I set up an account just for this post. I have a favor to ask. I'm a human services director in Indiana, and I had a Pakistani national and his 8 year old son walk into one of our offices. He's here on a medical visa because his son is almost blind, and his doctors are, according to him, very close to a treatment or cure. His wife and daughter were turned away at the Canadian border. He's been staying with some family of his wife's, but they are telling him he needs to find another place to live. According to him, they think it is his fault that his wife was turned away because he is the one who made the decision to go through Canada. Because he's on a visa, he lacks a social security number, which eliminates a lot of the help I would normally provide. There are temporary shelters that will house men, and they will house kids, but not dads with kids. Most won't take him because of his non-citizen status. I've left a message at the closest mosque and a small Islamic relief organization, but they are not responding. My staff have called ISNA in Plainfield, but they haven't responded either. This guy is a Muslim, I don't know how devout or anything, and I'm trying to plug him in with resources and assistance that are going to be better suited to handle his family's needs.
Are there any of you in Indiana who have resources through your mosques to help him find stable housing? He wants to work, he's asked about a work visa because the money he brought from Pakistan is running out. Full disclosure, I've never laid eyes on the guy, I'm getting information from my staff, and I'm likely going to drive over there tomorrow to talk with him. But I'm at a loss, and I really want to help this guy out. My staff tell me his son is a very polite young man, and he seems pretty broken, and is frustrated with the complete lack of help that he can get because of his non-citizen status. Honestly, were he a citizen, I'd probably already have him in a fairly stable shelter for the time being, but there isn't any help for him from the programs I work with. Any assistance he gets is going to have to come from what a community is willing to do for him and his son.
I'll answer any questions you have, but admittedly I don't know much more than I've said here. I'm going to speak to him tomorrow and further assess the situation.
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