On August 21st, CWS Durham is teaming up with Judea Reform, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Hillsborough, and Triangle Interfaith Advocates for Refugees and Immigrants to host a story-sharing and advocacy event focused on reuniting refugee and immigrant families. Come hear members of our community share their own stories of family separation and reunification, and learn what we can do to begin to advocate for families impacted by current U.S. policy!
Check out the link to the Facebook event and the event description below:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1869516069761567/?active_tab=about
“We all love our families and want to be together in safety: Immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees and those of us living in the country in which we were born, all seek to live in a safe environment with our loved ones – including our children, our partners, our parents.
Please join us to hear the stories of individuals from around the world. We will discuss the experiences and take first steps to help refugees, asylum-seekers and other immigrants reunite with their families.
The harsh reality is that US immigration policy makes it very difficult for immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking families to reunite. For people from Latin America who aren’t super wealthy, it is almost impossible to legally immigrate to the United States. As the Trump administration implements a “zero tolerance policy” arresting asylum seekers, separating parents from children, we now know that the government is unwilling to follow US and international law to hear the cases of asylum seekers fleeing pervasive violence of a scale that most Americans cannot imagine.
We now know that the same administration dramatically reduced the cap on the number of vetted refugees it is willing to accept, and that it is on track to admit less than half of the target number. This means that people who managed to leave wretched refugee camps thinking their children, their spouses, their parents would soon follow, are now in a country with little hope of ever again seeing their loved ones.
America: Land of Immigrants
It doesn’t have to be this way. Most people in this country are descended from immigrants or refugees, whether our family members came on the Mayflower fleeing persecution, or sometime after that seeking a better life. Most of our ancestors came singly and worked hard to make a life so they could have family members follow them.”
Hope to see you there!
