Give me your tired, your poor,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Jordanian-born 26-year-old Khadeeja lives with her three daughters and son in a shelter for battered women in New York City. This is the only place that would take them in. Her husband was detained and deported two months earlier for working illegally and not having proper documentation for more than five years; she has not heard from him in two months. Having no home address when she filed her refugee papers two weeks ago, she had to give that of the shelter.

Several fruitless attempts to find help from within her own community have left her desperate for any means of financial or housing assistance. Khadeeja and her children sleep in tight, maroon-colored cots next to the countless other homeless persons. Abandoned and not fully understanding the economics of the United States or the housing market, Khadeeja is an anomaly in the Arab-American world: she is a homeless Arab immigrant with no current paperwork or English training.

Notions of America entertain fascinations with the metropolis alongside the suburban-big-white-house-picket-fence image. The average Arab American comes to this country for several reasons – making money and escaping oppression are two evident explanations. But would an unsuccessful Arab immigrant stay in the country to avoid going back to his homeland, or to prove himself worthy in the United States?

Khadeeja could borrow or have money wired to her so she could return to Jordan. Her response? “I came here with my husband to be free from the tribes, I came here and now my children are young and Americans, I came here to live and not be tired or poor anymore. Look at me now.”

Some numbers may spin a perspective here. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, some 37 percent of New York City inhabitants are foreign-born immigrants as of 2006. The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that of the 8.2 million New Yorkers, 41,855 persons are homeless.

New York City also has a very tight housing market with a general vacancy rate of 3.09 percent, and a 1.38 percent rate for advertised apartments under $500. If the average monthly salary in the Arab world is approximately $50, then there should be no wonder why finding housing in this city can be quite intimidating for immigrants.

Arabs are rarely included in surveys regarding affordable housing in New York City. Many surveys discuss the African-American, Latino and Asian populations, but rarely is the Arab-American community mentioned. This lack of research means that insignificant data is recorded concerning immigrant Arab homelessness in the tri-state area, the causes, and the individuals affected. Furthermore, the issue of homelessness is rarely discussed even among the Arab-American community, partly due to cultural considerations and because it is a relatively foreign concept, for a new immigrant community.

Many people make financial donations to mosques and churches for the rehabilitation of a religious property, but rarely do we hear the Imam or priest discussing Arab homelessness as a reason for charity. At a recent Khutba[Islamic sermons] in Manhattan, the Imam talked about children, women and the elderly suffering in nations overseas from where immigrants have fled, and made a request for donations. But would a request be made for those Arab immigrants suffering in shelters in America?

While many religious institutions hold food shelf hours, they do not leave their doors open throughout the night. I explored several churches and mosques in the city on various days, at around 10 p.m., only to find their doors closed. In the Baltimore-Washington area, there are only two shelters for Muslim women. One house, al-Mumtahinah Home, can hold up to 12 persons and caters to Muslim females.

How often is a homeless shelter erected for the Arab-American community? For example, the Zakat Organization does an immense amount of volunteering, hot meal coordination, and food shelf donation in the Chicago area, but does not have a central shelter for the homeless. In fact, a simple Google search turned up no homeless shelters in New York City that catered to Arab immigrants.

Many immigrants arrive in the United States with inadequate English training and little or no understanding about the housing market. Khadeeja only began depending on herself after her husband left. For her to understand simple renting concepts, English is a must. Additionally, the concept of a contractual renting agreement is new and relatively unfamiliar to those who are foreign because the laws are simply different. In many Middle Eastern countries, rent is paid on a yearly basis, and rarely on a monthly year-abiding contractual basis. Couple this with those who are incapable of gaining work, or like Khadeeja’s case, are pending immigrant case reviews or have husbands who have been deported, and disaster has struck. The nation is facing a dire prevalence of Arab immigrant homelessness in urban centers across the nation.

Khadeeja’s three-year-old daughter, Safiya, touches my arm with her small hand and asks me if I have come to take them home. The shelter smells like alcohol-soaked cloth and looks like the unfriendly white and beige walls of a hospital lobby. “Where do you think home is Safiya?” I playfully ask the child with Khadeeja in my periphery. She shrugs her shoulders and stares at me with sparks in her two bright eyes as a teardrop rolls down her mother’s face. Safiya thinks I am taking them somewhere but I am not.

There is nowhere to really go at this point. Embarrassed at her situation, Khadeeja has cut her family off from others who knew her and is home-schooling the eldest children in religion and Arabic at the shelter. Because she was undocumented until her immigration application two weeks ago, Khadeeja fears going to places where she might be caught. According to her, part of the reason she won’t consider returning to Jordan is because she fears something happening to her at the border. Ultimately, she is afraid of the U.S. government not granting her refugee plea, even if it takes up to six months for the case to be seen by an adjudications official or judge.

After 9/11 all immigrants in New York City were required to register even if they held other forms of traceable identity such as a social security card or a driver’s license. This policy left many uneasy and several immigrants retreated back to their countries instead of staying in America. Fears that immigration paperwork would be denied created an underground movement that resulted in many people “working under the table” to make a living.

Such is the case of Khadeeja’s husband, who was caught illegally working a kiosk in Manhattan selling hotdogs and grilled meat products. His deportation took no longer than three months. He was unable to gain his green card papers after having been in the nation for more than 10 years.

Seeing no reason for his wife to learn English, Khadeeja was never exposed to shopping venues or had to deal with a single bill. The children speak Arabic and English fluently, although they speak Arabic to her. She now has a better understanding of English, but is not strong enough to communicate in a work place properly, or even understand the mechanisms of public transport.

Is her situation hopeless? Dr. Shahid Sheikh, executive director of the American Educational Research Institute in New York City, writes that “the exodus of Muslim men has left thousands of broken Muslim families with young children without a breadwinner.” Pending refugee status approval, then Khadeeja can begin the application for employment authorization. Until then – these cases can take up to six months to be recognized because of the backlog at USCIS – she has nowhere to go and no money to help.

She doesn’t even have an address.

Khadeeja refuses to accept illegal work since her husband was caught on illegal work charges. Furthermore, she is ineligible for financial aid for affordable housing and does not understand the system. Khadeeja and her children will spend the next several months homeless because of her current immigration status which renders her helpless.

Names have been changed to protect the participants’ identity.