Refugees and Asylum Seekers
The United States has a longstanding tradition of welcoming individuals from around the world who are seeking protection and refuge. But recent U.S. policy has grown increasingly hostile toward asylum seekers and refugees. Instead of turning vulnerable individuals away, the United States should maintain its global reputation as a leader in refugee resettlement and humanitarian protection. Doing so not only upholds American values but sustains and strengthens our communities. Data from the Council shows that refugees and asylees make tremendous contributions to our economy as earners, taxpayers, and consumers. Learn more about the contributions and challenges of asylum seekers and refugees below.
It Is Legal to Seek Asylum
As thousands of asylum-seeking parents were separated from their children in recent months, the Trump administration actively portrayed them as law breakers who must be prosecuted and punished for coming to the United States. Left out of the narrative is one well-established fact: it is legal to seek asylum. The… Read More
Trump Administration Misses the First Deadline to Reunite Children With Parents
After being order last month by a federal judge to reunite the thousands of children it had separated from their parents under the “zero tolerance” policy, the Trump administration said it would not meet the first court-mandated deadline to reunite all children under the age of five. This admission coincided… Read More
Liberian Immigrant Serves Montana by Becoming Mayor of Its Capitol
Wilmot Collins knew nothing about cold weather. A Liberian, he had spent his life in sub-Saharan Africa. Now, at age 30, he was escaping civil war and moving to Montana, where his wife had spent a year during high school. So when a relative gave him two pairs of long… Read More
Filipino Immigrant Trains Lawyers to the Benefit of Montanans
Eduardo Capulong’s father, a prominent politician in the Philippines, had already endured one imprisonment when the family found their house ransacked by police and military forces one October evening. It was 1979, seven years after Ferdinand Marcos—notorious for torturing and killing his opponents—had imposed a martial-law dictatorship. “We fled here,”… Read More
DHS Secretary Nielsen Meets with Immigration and Human Rights Groups for First Time, Reiterates Trump Administration’s Misinformation and Sidesteps Family Immigration Crisis
Leaders of several immigrant and human rights organizations were invited for the first time under the Trump administration to meet with Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. Read More
Nationwide Immigration Rallies Send A Strong Message: All Families Belong Together
Hundreds of thousands of marchers gathered on June 30, 2018 to protest the Trump’s administration policy of family separation. Activists organized nearly 800 marches in all 50 states, from major traditional immigrant gateways such as New York and California to newer receiving communities in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and North… Read More
The American Public Deserves to Know the Truth About Family Separation
The forced separation of children from their parents by U.S. government officials has created a human rights disaster. Children—some just a few months old—continue to be housed in tent cities, shelters, and foster care while their parents desperately await word of their children’s whereabouts. In some cases, parents are deported… Read More
America Is Building Detention Camps for Immigrant Families in 2018
After an unprecedented public outcry last week, President Trump signed an executive order signaling an end to the government’s horrific practice of separating immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. While the government-sanctioned separations appear to have stopped—at least for now—the Trump administration now appears to be… Read More
Business Leaders Rebuke the Government’s Family Separation and Imprisonment Policies
Criticism continues to mount for the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy and practice of separating and imprisoning migrant families along the U.S.-Mexico border. While the administration clumsily shifts its narrative around the policy, business leaders took action against what Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi? called an “immoral” and “unfathomable” practice. Read More
Here Is the Latest on President Trump’s Family Separation Policy
President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday in response to public outcry about family separation – a horrific policy that has led to the forced separation of over 2,000 minor children from their parents. Though the order discusses an end to the callous form of family separation that has… Read More
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