Right now, Members of Congress are negotiating federal funding legislation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 that will invest in strengthening the U.S. resettlement program and the communities that welcome refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants. This month, Congress will also be considering a number of other priorities impacting the long-term integration of our new Afghan and Ukrainian neighbors, family reunification, citizenship for Dreamers and other immigrant populations, affordable housing and homelessness programs, and reducing reliance on immigrant detention, deportations, and border militarization. The time is ticking as the current funding legislation expires on December 16th. Join us in telling our national leaders to prioritize policies and investments that welcome refugees and asylum seekers, hold the administration accountable to restoring refugee and asylum protections, and invest in our communities.
CONTACT YOUR 2 SENATORS AND 1 REPRESENTATIVE TODAY
Click “Send Email” on the right to be connected to your Members of Congress – and make sure to insert the name of your city or town in the first line!
Sample Email/Script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith/refugee/member of my community], I urge you to attach the following priorities as part of any funding legislation during the lame duck session:
- Provide robust federal funding for the refugee-related accounts within the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, State, and Homeland Security – in any emergency supplemental funding, omnibus funding package, or full-year CR for FY23. More details are available here: https://bit.ly/FY23OmniRequests.
- Support long-term integration of our new Afghan and Ukrainian neighbors by passing the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act, authorizing Ukrainian parolees’ eligibility for REAL IDs, and extending the authorization for Afghan parolees’ eligibility for resettlement services.
- Invest $20 million in the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) alternatives-to-detention (ATD) case management program to ensure certain asylum seekers have access to supportive, trauma-informed, and culturally competent comprehensive case management services.
- Support family reunification by enabling unused family visa numbers to rollover to the next year within each visa category, recapturing unused family and employment based visas from 1992 to 2022, and allowing previous diversity visa lottery winners denied entry by the discriminatory Executive Orders or by COVID-19 related closures and delays to reopen their applications.
- Enact a long-delayed pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and all of our immigrant communities without undermining asylum seekers or other immigrant populations.
- Reduce the investment in immigrant detention, deportations, and the militarization of border communities by decreasing funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement and removal operations and ICE custody; reducing reliance on Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including for U.S. Border Patrol operations and agents – and border technology and surveillance programs; and rescinding previously appropriated, unspent funds for border wall construction.
- Support the highest possible level of funding for HUD’s and USDA’s affordable housing and homelessness programs, including full funding for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program to renew all existing contracts and expand housing vouchers to an additional 140,000 households; $5 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund to preserve public housing, and $5.04 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund; $3.6 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants program to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness; $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions; and $300 million for the competitive tribal housing program, targeted to tribes with the greatest needs. We also urge you to use the end-of-year tax extenders legislation to expand and reform the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to better serve extremely low-income (ELI) households.
Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. The United States has long been a place of hope, where people from around the world can seek freedom, safety, and protection from persecution. More details about my communities’ priorities during lame duck are available here: https://bit.ly/CWS2022LameDuck. My community welcomes refugees and I urge you to do the same.”
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- There are more than 100 MILLION people who have been forcibly displaced—that’s the highest number in history. It’s past time we provide the support that our global neighbors need! In FY23, we must prioritize welcoming our refugee and asylum seeking neighbors.
- All people deserve a safe place to call home. Congress, it’s time to decide what our nation’s priorities are! We must provide robust funding in FY 2023 to support our refugee neighbors.
- Right now, members of Congress are negotiating federal funding for FY23. We must support our neighbors in search of safety and hold the Biden admin responsible for restoring refugee and asylum protections!
Additional Resources:
- CWS Lame Duck Priorities (December 2022)
- Value our Families (VOF) Lame Duck Letter 2022
- Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) FY 2023 Refugee Funding Priorities
- National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC): Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding Letter
Thank you for taking action, and please share this alert with your networks!