Refugees: not a burden; a blessing

Dear Editor,

 When I think about refugees, I think about my friend "Raymond". Raymond was an asylum-seeker from Liberia. He was a teacher for 23 years, as well as a Bible translator and a pastor. In Liberia, he was beaten and threatened with death by rebels who did not like what he was preaching. Raymond was granted asylum by the United States, and he later became a United States citizen. He was a member of my church, he worked for our local refugee resettlement agency, he was a dedicated community volunteer, he was a lifelong learner, he made it his mission to help other newcomers. He was a poet. His presence enriched our community. He was not a burden to our community–he was a blessing.

From when the Refugee Act of 1980 was enacted through 2016, the "cap" set by presidents for the number of refugees to be admitted annually to the United States has on average been 96,000 people and was never set lower than 67,000 people. Today, following the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, that number is zero, and thousands of people with stories much like Raymond's have been turned back. Many have nowhere else to turn. Many refugees have spent years living in camps, waiting, hoping, and praying for the opportunity to come to America to find safety and to build a new life. Most have had their lives torn asunder by war – they have had to flee their homes, their communities, their livelihoods, their homelands. They have suffered violence, they have lost friends, loved ones, parents, children.

Global Refuge (globalrefuge.org) got its start in 1939 as the National Lutheran Council when World War II refugees from Germany and Eastern Europe needed help. Today, they are one of the groups helping refugees from war-torn places like Ukraine and Afghanistan. "Refugees have long been welcome in the United States, though the numbers rise and fall," said David Duea, CEO of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, one of the groups suing the Trump administration for suspending the refugee program and withholding funding. "We've done this work at LCSNW since after World War II, through the Vietnam era, the Afghanistan evacuation, to the present day. We know there will be ebbs and flows. But this is the first time a President has shut down the system without notice, abandoning thousands of families who'd received invitations to start new lives, and thousands who've barely had a chance to start. We trust justice will prevail."

You can find ways to get involved and take action at globalrefuge.org, cwsglobal.org, worldrelief.org, hias.org, or websites of other refugee-serving organizations across the country.

Jennifer Williamson

Dodgeville, WI