Faith leaders, members of Congress and others speak out against Executive Order suspending refugee resettlement in Washington, D.C.

Faith leaders, humanitarian organizations, refugees, members of Congress, and resettlement organizations came together in a demonstration of solidarity and compassion through a public action and vigil in Lafayette Square in front of the White House. The event on Tuesday, Feb. 4, opposed the Trump administration’s Executive Order suspending the refugee resettlement program indefinitely.

The suspension is part of a greater strategy from the Trump administration to dismantle the refugee resettlement program. This contradicts the bipartisan 1980 Refugee Act, designed “to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for the admission to this country of refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States, and to provide comprehensive and uniform provisions for the effective resettlement and absorption of those refugees who are admitted.”

Faith leaders, including the Rev. Michael Neuroth, director of the Office of Public Policy and Advocacy for the United Church of Christ, and the Rev. Noel Andersen, UCC minister for Immigration Justice, urged the Executive branch leaders and policymakers to find compassion and mercy for refugees who are in dire need of resettlement and those who have already been resettled and remain in need of core integration services.

Refugees are left in limbo

“As climate change, wars, civil unrest, poverty, and persecution that the U.S. has had a hand in create more and more refugees, we cannot as a nation turn our back on anyone seeking life, liberty, and freedom,” said Neuroth. “Thousands of refugees are now in limbo, including those who assisted U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and have already been cleared to come to the U.S. as refugees. Many who have waited years to arrive in the U.S. have now been denied entry at the last second, putting them in further danger. Let us live up to our highest ideals as a nation and together build a more just and peaceful future.”

Bishop William Gohl, Jr., Delaware-Maryland Synod Bishop for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, spoke to the crowd gathered.

“As followers of Jesus, we feel the urgency of welcoming our neighbor – in this case, the most vetted and legally settled neighbors in our country’s refugee and asylum-seeker system,” he said. “As people of goodwill, we are committed to this work and seeking restoration of resources illegally cut off by Executive Actions.”

Real world consequences

“Our country is stronger when our policies reflect our values,” said Jen Smyers, former Deputy Director of the Office for Refugee Resettlement during the Biden administration. “These actions have real world, life and death consequences. As a mother, I cannot fathom knowing that my family could be together if not for misinformation and fear-mongering for political gain. This refugee ban must end.”

Neuroth agreed.

“No one chooses to be a refugee. As Somali-British poet Warsan Shire puts it, ‘no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land’.  Let us continue to be a nation of compassion, a place of refuge to those in need. Let us live up to our highest ideals as a nation and together build a more just and peaceful future.”

Humanitarian organizations and refugees and resettlement agencies asked government leaders to invest in programs that address both the immediate and long-term needs of resettled families, including access to healthcare, housing, education, and employment opportunities.

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