In the US, faith-based organisations are concerned about the immigration policy landscape
United States RNS While congressional Democrats are chiding Republican senators for walking away from a compromise immigration bill that restricts asylum, faith-based agencies that work with refugees and asylum-seekers expressed alarm in recent days about provisions of the bill and the turn that the conversation about immigration has taken. “You’re not going to solve anything […]
New US asylum policies after Title 42 “don’t address root cause”, say faith-based groups
RNS The number of crossings at the United States-Mexico border reportedly are down since Title 42 ended last week. But some faith-based organisations tasked with refugee resettlement in the US – many of which also help those seeking asylum in the country – say fixing the country’s broken immigration system is far from finished. They point to […]
US faith-based refugee resettlement agencies denounce new asylum rule
United StatesRNS Many US faith-based refugee agencies have long called for the end of the emergency health rule that allowed the government to quickly expel undocumented immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border. But now that the rule is expiring at 11:59pm on Thursday, 11th May, those same faith-based refugee agencies are denouncing the replacement rules announced […]
US faith-based organisations urge Biden not to enact ‘asylum ban’
United StatesRNS A number of faith-based organisations and congregations are pleading with the Biden administration, in a letter sent on Monday to President Joe Biden and other leaders, not to enact new immigration restrictions. The letter – signed by 165 faith-based local, national and international organisations and congregations – expresses “grave concern” with policies Biden announced earlier this […]
US immigration: What Biden’s latest deal for Venezuelans means for other refugees
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, speaks to representatives of US refugee resettlement agencies about what the US President Joe Biden’s deal focused on Venezuelan migrants means in the wider context…
Ukraine conflict: Polish Catholic community houses refugees as US agencies urge action
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports on how the Polish Catholic community has responded to help some of the millions of refugees who have left Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on 24th February and why US agencies are calling for that country to take greater action…
In the US, HIAS pushes for bill to make Afghans eligible for permanent residency
RNS For months, US religious congregations have worked to help Afghan families evacuated after the 20-year war in Afghanistan secure housing and jobs and acclimate to life in America. But the fate of some 36,000 of those evacuees is uncertain because they are being resettled in the US without a direct pathway to permanent legal […]
Essay: This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for refugee resettlement in the US
US refugee resettlement agency heads MARK HETFIELD, RICHARD L SANTOS and KRISH O’MARA VIGNARAJAH say refugee resettlement has always been a public-private partnership, relying on the generosity of American communities who come together and welcome newcomers…
Advocating for Haitians, US faith groups pressure Biden to end Trump-era measure
RNS Rev Myrlande DesRosiers likens what has happened to Haiti in the past few months to Biblical plagues: the mounting death toll of COVID-19, the assassination of the Haitian President and a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake in August that left thousands dead on the island nation and reduced homes to rubble. And this month, a fourth catastrophe: […]
US agencies celebrate as Biden raises refugee ceiling to 125,000; UN says expulsions of Haitians may violate law
RNS Faith-based refugee resettlement groups are celebrating the Biden administration’s proposal to admit as many as 125,000 refugees to the United States in the coming year, calling the decision a “return to moral leadership”. The news came Monday afternoon as the Biden administration submitted its report to Congress setting the refugee ceiling for the new fiscal year, […]