WASHINGTON (RNS) — Over the sounds of building equipment dismantling inauguration-related viewing stands and different constructions in entrance of the White Home, faith-based advocates for refugees labored to make their voices heard Tuesday (Feb. 4) in Lafayette Sq..
“ Gracious God, we collect on today in order that we’d bear witness to your love for all individuals,” prayed Bishop William Gohl Jr., of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “and that you’d assist us to be the ethical conscience and voice of this nation once more, reminding every one among us that we’re immigrants who’ve discovered our strategy to this place.”
The group of about 100 was protesting President Donald Trump’s suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which vets refugees for entry into america and works with refugee resettlement businesses, the vast majority of them faith-based, to assist these refugees for the primary 90 days.
Some who had protested on behalf of refugees originally of Trump’s first time period stated they had been experiencing a way of dejá vu. “I’m inspired, whereas on the similar time discouraged, to see that a few of our indicators have returned,” the Rev. Sharon Stanley-Rea, director of the Washington workplace of Church World Service, a corporation that resettles refugees, responds to disasters and works on poverty and starvation points, stated on the protest. Held aloft had been indicators quoting the Gospel of Matthew and the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah; others stated “Chilly Coronary heart, Frozen Funds,” and “Cease Hate, Love Refugees.”
Stanley-Rea instructed the meeting that greater than two-thirds of Church World Service’s nationwide workers had been furloughed, together with 100% of the Washington workplace workers.
“ Yesterday, due to the furloughs, (caseworkers) needed to cancel appointments to assist kids enroll in class, postpone alternatives to help with authorized companies, halt connecting a baby with urgently wanted psychological well being companies, delay possibilities to assist somebody get a Social Safety card and never assist somebody apply for advantages who has been a sufferer of human trafficking,” Stanley-Rea stated, her voice breaking at occasions.
Refugee advocates rally to assist america Refugee Admissions Program, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (RNS photograph/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
Izhar, a furloughed Church World Service staffer who declined to share his final identify to be able to shield household exterior the U.S., instructed RNS he got here from Afghanistan to the U.S. looking for asylum as a result of his work with U.S. Military contractors made him a goal of the Taliban.
Whereas he’s been unable to convey his household to hitch him, Izhar has labored with Afghan, Ethiopian, Cuban and Asian refugees. “ I used to be very joyful once I began working with the refugees, as a result of I’ve gone by means of all of the issues they want, all of the assist they want morally,” he instructed RNS.
He stays involved about Afghan refugees who’re caught in Pakistan, the place, he hears, they’re going through kidnappings, focused killings and harassment by police. Citing an Afghan discovered lifeless by suicide who reportedly felt deep despair about delays in resettlement in Canada, Izhar stated these ready to get into the U.S. typically face devastating results of delays.
Different advocates spoke out in opposition to the Trump administration and allies’ focusing on of faith-based immigration work.
An outline of a refugee being held by Woman Liberty, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (RNS photograph/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
“ For goodness’ sake, sufficient with the slander, the insults, the lies directed towards religion communities and others which can be welcoming refugees and serving to these in want,” stated John Slocum, govt director of Refugee Council USA, which organized the vigil with Interfaith Immigration Coalition and Northern Virginia Mates of Refugees.
Over the previous few days, Elon Musk, the billionaire main the Division of Authorities Effectivity and proprietor of X, has accused faith-based support teams, together with Church World Service and varied Lutheran support organizations, of criminality. Final weekend, Vice President JD Vance falsely characterised the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops’ resettlement of refugees as serving to “unlawful immigrants,” whereas questioning whether or not they had been motivated by their “backside line.”
Danilo Zak, director of coverage at Church World Service, instructed RNS that the assaults are “a part of the misinformation that’s being unfold about what refugee resettlement businesses do and what these federal funds are for. And I feel it’s actually vital to grasp that we’re offering these funds on to refugees and people in want.”
Though the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has acquired bipartisan assist prior to now, Republicans haven’t publicly protested Trump’s shuttering of this system or his allies’ denigration of faith-based support. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, was greeted at Tuesday’s rally by shouts like “I’m so proud you’re my congressman” as he took the bullhorn and known as Trump’s resolution “ to slam the door shut on refugees” a “ betrayal of America and our values.”
“No one slammed the door shut within the face of the Trump household from Germany. No one slammed the door shut within the face of Melania Trump, who obtained an O-1 and EB-1 visa for extraordinary capacity,” Raskin stated. “No one slammed the door on Elon Musk, who got here from racist, apartheid South Africa, who got here right here on an F1 scholar visa,” he continued, referring to a Washington Put up report that Musk had labored illegally within the U.S. originally of his profession.
The Rev. Sharon Stanley-Rea, middle, stands with different furloughed Church World Service workers whereas talking in assist of america Refugee Admissions Program, Feb. 4, 2025, throughout a rally close to the White Home in Washington. (RNS photograph/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
Jenifer Smyers, who labored within the Workplace of Refugee Resettlement within the Biden administration, instructed the attendees, “We rebuilt (the refugee program), and we will rebuild it once more.” She continued: “It’s our humanitarian crucial. This nation is best, it’s stronger when our insurance policies replicate our values.”
After the rally, Smyers instructed RNS that dismantling this system was unhealthy technique. “After we’re speaking about overseas coverage, once we’re speaking about nationwide safety, once we’re speaking about diplomacy, a number of that’s deeply influenced by what occurs to people who find themselves displaced, as a result of displacement causes instability.”
Jessi Calzado-Esponda, a Cuban American refugee, spoke about her love for the U.S. and the alternatives she had been afforded on this nation after leaving her household behind in Cuba. “When individuals checked out me, they didn’t have a look at an invader, they checked out a baby,” she stated. “I feel that we’ve to convey that again.”
“There’s nothing extra American than welcoming refugees,” Calzado-Esponda stated.
The Rev. Anne Derse, a deacon at St. John’s Norwood Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, left the group with a mission: “ Along with calling your whole representatives each single day and demanding that we resume the funding that they’ve unjustly lower off, please see should you may also help a (refugee) household.”
