Articles
4/18/19, New York Times: Militia in New Mexico Detains Asylum Seekers at Gunpoint
“We’re just here to support the Border Patrol and show the public the reality of the border,” said Mr. Benvie, 43, who recently came to New Mexico from Minnesota. He said the organization plans to remain on the border until the extended wall proposed by President Trump is built or Congress changes immigration laws to make it harder for migrants to request asylum.
4/17/19, The Hill: Arizona mayor declares emergency over feds dropping migrants off in community
4/17/19, Vox: These immigrants contribute $4.6 billion in taxes. Trump’s trying to strip their legal status.
4/17/19, New York Times: What Is Asylum and Who Can Seek It? Explaining Trump’s New Restrictions
4/17/19, Immigration Impact: The Trump Administration Plans to Incarcerate Some Asylum Seekers Indefinitely
4/17/19, New York Times: HUD Moves to Limit Public Housing Aid for Undocumented Immigrants
4/16/19, Washington Post: ICE deported the spouse of a soldier killed in Afghanistan, attorney says
4/15/19, The Nation: Progressives Are Trying to Reclaim Religious Freedom in Court
“We weren’t denying that we did what we did,” said 21-year-old Zaachila Orozco, one of the convicted defendants. “We were trying to prove that there is a larger reason for why people like us are doing what we’re doing in the desert.”
In raising this defense, the humanitarian aid workers turned to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the law that has allowed Hobby Lobby stores to avoid paying for contraception coverage in employees’ health insurance. It’s a law that for many has become synonymous with anti-LGBT discrimination and a conservative Christian moral agenda; five years ago, Katha Pollitt argued in The Nation that it was time to repeal it altogether. But many of the volunteers with No More Deaths, a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church, are acting on their religious faith. Shouldn’t they get the same protections as Hobby Lobby?
4/15/19, Reuters: Denials of U.S. immigrant visas skyrocket after little-heralded rule change
4/15/19, Episcopal News Service: Episcopalians continue humanitarian response along Southwest border
4/13/19, San Diego Union-Tribune: ‘Called to the Wall’ Religion Caravan Gather at the Border (slideshow)
4/13/19, NBC San Diego: Love Caravan Walks to Border to Show Compassion for Immigrants (with video)
4/13/19, Daily Mail: Refugee girl fled Iraq, almost died on a boat to Australia and is now a doctor in Melbourne
4/12/19, Washington Post: A snapshot of where migrants go after release into the United States
4/12/19, Watauga Democrat: High Country Multi-faith launches new ‘love your neighbor’ campaign
4/12/19, IRAP Press Release: Government and Central American Families Reach Historic Settlement, Paving the Way for Children to Reunite With Parents in the U.S.
4/12/19, New York Times: Rule Keeping Asylum Seekers in Mexico Can Temporarily Proceed, Court Says
4/12/19, Slate: Supreme Court to Hear a Case That Could Put Countless Immigrants at Risk of State Arrest
Manny’s story is a common one, and the Supreme Court recently announced it would hear a landmark case centered on situations like his. Next term, the court will hear whether states can use information found in an I-9 to criminally prosecute those in Manny’s position, despite a federal statute that suggests they do not have that authority. The court’s ruling will have an enormous impact on the countless undocumented people in this country who use another person’s Social Security number to procure employment.
4/8/19, NPR: Coyotes’ Boomtown: Picking Up The Migrant Trail On The Way To The U.S.-Mexico Border
4/4/19, The Intercept: ICE is Teaming with North Carolina Republicans to Fight Pro-Immigrant Sheriffs
3/28/19, Iowa Public Radio: Trump Administration’s Refugee Limits Leave Meatpacking Plants Struggling To Find Enough Workers
3/26/19, CBC News: ‘The most metal thing I’ve ever done’: Metalheads sponsoring Syrian refugees
Opinion
4/17/19, New York Times: For Refugee Children, Reading Helps Heal Trauma
Ms. Dajani says We Love Reading and programs like it offer examples of an intervention that helps to fill the gap in psychological and social health services — without reinforcing the power dynamic that all too often prevails between nonprofit organizations and communities they aim to serve. “If you’re designing for refugees, you should have refugees with you at the table,” Ms. Dajani said. “And make sure that the power dynamics at that table are equal.”
That’s a shift that many see as long overdue in the humanitarian world in general. For working with traumatized populations, it is particularly important.
4/15/19, New York Times: I Left El Salvador to Protect My Family. It Didn’t Work.
4/15/19, New York Times: Trump’s Nominees: Too Much Even for the Die-Hards
4/12/19, New York Times, Letter to the Editor: Fixing Immigration, Dispelling Fear
Publications
April 2019, Migration Policy Institute: Policy brief: Mitigating the Effects of Trauma among Young Children of Immigrants and Refugees: The Role of Early Childhood Programs, by Maki Park and Caitlin Katsiaficas.
This issue brief explores the types of trauma that may affect young children in immigrant families within the US context, what the effects of those experiences may be, and what can be done to protect children against them. Among these opportunities: promoting the systematic use of mental health screening tools that are appropriate both for young children and for use across cultures, and boosting collaboration between ECEC providers, health services, and organizations that work with immigrants to ensure that young children and their families are referred to needed services in a timely fashion. Available at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/mitigating-effects-trauma-young-children-immigrants-refugees
Immigrant Futures Forum: Designing a Welcoming Economy (webinar)
Experts from Canada and the U.S share research, local experience and great ideas for how cities can leverage the potential of immigrant talent and contribution to benefit both newcomers and receiving communities. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-JzD8xzlHk&feature=youtu.be
LGBTI Asylum Seekers and Refugees from a Legal and Political Perspective, Güler, Arzu, Shevtsova, Maryna, Venturi, Denise (Eds.)
This book addresses the ‘three moments’ in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers’ and refugees’ efforts to secure protection: The reasons for their flight, the Refugee Status Determination process, and their integration into the host community once they are recognized refugee status.