FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 20, 2018
Contact: media@cwsglobal.org | 202-733-5151
MEDIA ADVISORY:
ILHAN OMAR, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, REFUGEES, AND FAITH LEADERS SPEAK ON WORLD REFUGEE DAY
Press conference highlighted historically low refugee arrivals in the U.S.
Washington, D.C. – Today, in commemoration of World Refugee Day, Minnesota State Rep Ilhan Omar and Members of Congress joined refugees and faith leaders on Capitol Hill to highlight the stark decline in refugee arrivals in Fiscal Year 2018 and need for the U.S. to uphold its commitment to welcoming and protecting the vulnerable.
Below are highlights from their remarks. A full video of the press conference can be viewed here.
Diane Randall, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers)
“With a record number of refugees around the world, welcoming the stranger is no longer just an ideal. It must be the reality we practice. Faith communities across the globe share the core belief through our text and traditions that people of faith have always been at the forefront of welcoming refugees and sojourners into our homes.”
Congressman Randy Hultgren (R-IL-14)
“We want to make sure that every person can have a home, where families can be together, where they can raise their children, and have hope for a bright future… Just like my own great-grandparents saw when they came to this great country from Sweden over 120 years ago. I’m grateful that we are, have been, and will be a refugee nation.”
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA-33)
“Welcoming refugees is not just the moral and humane thing to do, but also good for our national security. Last year, over 68 million people were displaced. We need to do much better as the United States to welcome refugees. Over the last 4 years, we’ve averaged about 70,00 resettled refugees per year. This year we are only on pace for 20,000. That’s far too low. I look forward to working with Congress to ensure we continue to be a welcoming place for refugees.”
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07)
“This issue of refugees has always been a bipartisan issue in the United States of America. We are at a time in this country that if you watch the news one could think that refugees and immigrants are a drain on our society… I believe that our society is attached to a proud history of being a country that has welcomed people from all over the world, who are fleeing some of the worst conditions you could imagine… When we hear about [these situations] we have to allow our hearts first to break, and in breaking, open.”
State Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN)
“While I got the opportunity to come to the U.S. and think about running for office, [my childhood friend] relocated to another refugee camp when the old one closed, got married and had six children. Her children would never know the opportunity of being born into a country of their own, or having a permanent home. I want you all to think about what happens with people who have lives in refugee camps, and once one closes, relocate to the next one, the kind of hopelessness they’re living with. When we invest in the hopes of people who have lost everything, we give them the opportunity to contribute to our societies.”
Uyen Nguyen, Refugee from Vietnam
“We were left floating in the middle of the ocean, in the tropical sun, with no water, no food… At 41 years old, my mom held my one and a half year old sister and watched her die from dehydration and starvation.
There’s no greater despair for a parent than to sit there helplessly watching your child dying, and not be able to do a single, damn thing… This is the face of refugees, from yesterday until today, and don’t let them tell you otherwise.”
“Two decades after being resettled, I have two graduate degrees, a small business, and a career in science and investing, and a lot of volunteer work under my belt… Yes, I work very hard, but that’s not the whole story. It’s also because I benefited from a system that actually helped the vulnerable, from people who were willing to help me…”
Deborah Jane, Refugee from Uganda and acid attack survivor
“My children were approved to travel to the United States in February of last year, in 2017, but because of the government’s Muslim and refugee ban I have been unable to reunite with them. Their case is still at a standstill… I cannot tell you how difficult it is to be parted from your children, children that you gave birth to, children that you raised and nurtured, that you love.
“I have been receiving treatment for my injuries here. I recently had my fourteen surgery, but I have no family here. My only comfort in these difficult times is the memories of my children and the rare times I speak to them on the phone. My question for the Congress, and for my own Senator Portman… If they say that they care about family, why are they keeping our families away from us? If they say they have family values, let them help us reunite with our families, including my own.”
Imam Talib Sharif, Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque
“Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, all of them, were in a place where they needed to seek refuge… Our book the holy Quran, Chapters 9, 8 and 17, all throughout, addresses this as a very serious issue and tells us how to respond, because Almighty God reminds us that all of us come here, we have need, no one comes here independent of anybody else, we all have a need.”
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation
“Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught, ‘In a free society… Some are guilty, all are responsible.’ We are all responsible for this nation, once a world leader in refugee resettlement, now slamming its door shut ever more only as the crisis grows greater. Speaking as an American Jew, this is especially alarming – echoes of the 1930s, when refugees fleeing Nazi Europe found no lamp by this golden door.”
“Let us not be satisfied with 20,000 – that is not American, that is not godly. Let us not be satisfied with simply ending this horrific policy of [family separation], because the rest of it is still not godly and still not American.”
Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), a coalition of 25 U.S.-based non-governmental organizations, is dedicated to refugee protection, welcome, and excellence in the U.S. refugee resettlement program. RCUSA.org
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