Central American caravan is “first moral test for Biden”, say activists
RNS Honduran migrants encountered tear gas and were struck with sticks as they pushed through lines of Guatemalan soldiers in their trek to reach Mexico and seek asylum in the United States. They departed from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, early on Friday, but by Tuesday the large caravan had largely dissolved after a dayslong standoff […]
US court blocks Trump executive order allowing state and local officials to refuse refugees
RNS Three faith-based refugee resettlement organizations are declaring “victory” in their court battle to block President Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order allowing state and local officials to refuse refugees. The decision came Friday as Maryland’s 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction blocking the order. Residents in support of continued refugee resettlement hold signs at a meeting […]
Some big, early shifts in US immigration policy expected under Biden
Washington DC, USAP Some dramatic moves on immigration are expected in the early days of the Biden administration. Joe Biden will likely use executive orders to reverse some of President Donald Trump’s most controversial actions, rolling back moves that were a central feature of his administration and important to his base. The Biden administration plans […]
US judge blocks deportation of man detained on church grounds
AP A federal judge in the US on Friday blocked the deportation of an Indonesian immigrant who was detained last month on the grounds of a Maryland church, a space considered a “sensitive location” in which immigration authorities generally avoid enforcement actions. Judge Paul W Grimm instructed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to return Binsar […]
Faith-based organisations express outrage over Trump’s plan to cut refugee admissions to historic low — again
RNS The Trump administration has announced the maximum number of refugees it plans to admit into the United States in the coming year, and once again, it is a historic low: 15,000. In recent weeks, several faith-based organisations involved in refugee resettlement had asked the administration to raise that number to its past average: 95,000. […]
Lutherans ask Trump administration to admit more refugees as deadline looms
RNS Days before the deadline for the US Government to set its annual limit on the number of refugees that can be admitted to the United States, the Trump administration has not yet proposed that number, according to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the largest faith-based organisation in the US dedicated to serving immigrants. If […]
Families separated by new Trump visa order frantic for answers
New York City, USReuters In early March, Poorva Dixit rushed to buy a ticket to India from the United States, her home for more than a decade, after she learned her 72-year-old mother had fallen from her bed and was in critical condition. She decided to leave her two young children and husband in California […]
US ‘Border Church’ and ‘Border Mosque’ team up for prayer service
San Diego, USRNS For more than a decade, the Rev. John Fanestil, a United Methodist minister, has held a Sunday service at Friendship Park, a historic meeting place on the US-Mexico border overlooking the Pacific Ocean between San Diego and Tijuana. While Communion is celebrated each week, Fanestil began the non-sectarian Christian ministry to help preserve […]
US presidential candidates visits woman taking sanctuary in a church; other Democratic candidates voice support
RNS An undocumented woman living in an Ohio church to avoid deportation met with Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro on Tuesday , one of several Democratic White House hopefuls now signaling support for her cause and the New Sanctuary Movement. Castro visited Columbus Mennonite Church in Columbus, Ohio, to meet undocumented Mexican immigrant Edith Espinal ahead of […]
ESSAY: THE US SUPREME COURT AND REFUGEES, FIVE QUESTIONS ANSWERED
In an article first published on The Conversation, KARLA MARI MCKANDERS, of Vanderbilt University in the US, explains how changes to US immigration policies sees it now acting in violation of its own law governing treatment of refugees…