TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by The UN Refugee Agency

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 11 December 2015, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

UNHCR welcomes news of the arrival in Canada last night of the first group of Syrian refugees under a recently announced humanitarian programme which will provide a new life for 25,000 Syrian refugees. This first group of 163 refugees arrived from Lebanon by Royal Canadian Air Force jet.

Canada has acted swiftly to implement this initiative, which was announced in late November. UNHCR is continuing to work with the Canadian authorities in identifying vulnerable Syrians for settlement in Canada. The refugees’ welcome to Canada will be underpinned by its well-recognised community integration programmes.

The Canadian programmes are a practical expression of support to Syrian refugees and demonstration of solidarity to those countries in the region hosting more than four million Syrian refugees. The difficult situation for Syrian refugees continues to deteriorate, with increasing numbers living below national poverty lines.

UNHCR encourages other states to engage in these programmes. They provide critical support for refugees currently hosted in countries neighbouring Syria. To date some 30 countries have pledged a total of more than 160,000 places for Syrians under resettlement and other humanitarian admissions schemes. UNHCR estimates 10 per cent of the 4.1 million registered refugees in countries neighbouring Syria are vulnerable and are in need of resettlement or humanitarian admission to a third country.

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

By Michael Moore

Friends,

This past Friday I sent a letter to Governor Rick Snyder, our governor here in Michigan. Earlier in the week he had joined with 25 other governors in telling the President that they would block Syrian refugees from settling in their states.

(Reed Saxon / AP)

Will you join me in defying this act of bigotry?

Their actions are unconstitutional, and worse, immoral. I am going against this “ban” by offering to give up my apartment in Traverse City, MI, to Syrian refugees who are currently seeking entry into our country.

Here is the letter I sent to the governor:

Dear Gov. Snyder:

I just wanted to let you know that, contrary to your declaration of denying Syrian refugees a home in our state of Michigan, I myself am going to defy your ban and will offer MY home in Traverse City, Michigan, to those very Syrian refugees you’ve decided to keep out. I will contact the State Department to let them know I am happy to provide a safe haven to any Syrian refugee couple approved by the Obama administration’s vetting procedures in which I have full faith and trust.

Your action is not only disgraceful, it is, as you know, unconstitutional (only the President has the legal right to decide things like this).

What you’ve done is anti-American. This is not who we are supposed to be. We are, for better and for worse, a nation of descendants of three groups: slaves from Africa who were brought here in chains and then forced to provide trillions of dollars of free labor to build this country; native peoples who were mostly exterminated by white Christians through acts of mass genocide; and immigrants from EVERYWHERE around the globe. In Michigan we are fortunate to count amongst us tens of thousands of Arab and Muslim Americans.

I’m disappointed in you, Governor Snyder, for your heartless and un-Christian actions, and for joining in with at least 25 other governors (all but one a Republican) who’ve decided to block legal Syrian refugees from coming into their states. Fortunately I’m an American and not a Republican.

Governor, count me out of whatever you think it means to be a Michigander. I look forward to welcoming Syrians to my home and I wholeheartedly encourage other Americans to do the
same.

Michael Moore

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The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

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P.S. By the way, my 700-sq. ft. apartment in northern Michigan is a little small, but it’s got cable, wi-fi and a new dishwasher! Also, no haters live on my floor! Stop by any time for a hot chocolate this winter.

I’m not kidding about this. I’m making my apartment in Michigan available, rent-free, for six months to a year until the Syrian family gets settled and is doing well on their own. My family came here from Ireland in the 1800s. I know what it was like for them. There was bigotry and harassment — but there were also those who held out a helping hand. That I would have the chance to do the same thing for a new family of immigrants 150 years later is an honor. (Besides, legend has it that St. Patrick was originally from Syria/Lebanon — so I’m just passing on the green!)

I’ve written to Secretary of State John Kerry informing him that my home is available to place a Syrian couple. I’ve also asked him to please speed up the process of admitting these refugees (it’s taking 18 to 24 months right now, and that’s unacceptable).

I’m asking anyone who can, anyone who has spare rooms in their homes or an empty apartment, cottage, or whatever, to make it available for Syrian and Iraqi refugees for between six months and a year while they’re being settled in the U.S. If you can do this, would you please sign up on the #MyHomeIsOpen registry. Your name and contact info will be kept private and will only be shared with the appropriate refugee agencies sanctioned and overseen by the Obama administration and its participating NGOs. They will contact you when they have refugees that they’ve vetted and need to be placed in homes.

THIS is what we want the “American way” to be from now on. No more war, or interfering in other people’s lives, no more turning our backs on the messes that we’ve created.

Thanks for joining with me in this effort. We are, indeed, our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. I can think of no better way to celebrate Thanksgiving and the holidays this year than by helping those who are suffering from the mistakes that have been made in our name.

All my best,

Michael Moore

Great-grandson of refugees and immigrants

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article by Aliyya Swaby, New Haven Independent (reprinted according to provisions of Creative Commons)

After Indiana’s governor refused to take in a family of Syrian refugees, New Haven’s Chris George immediately agreed to help. The family— pawns in a national post-Paris ideological argument—has arrived in town. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy met with the family upon its arrival in New Haven Wednesday. The governor—who welcomed the family here after Indiana’s governor turned it away—held a press conference at New Haven City Hall after the meeting to make a larger point about an “overreaction” in the country to the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Press conference of Connecticut Governor Malloy

“Not every American and not every American governor is the same,” Malloy said he told the family, whom he described as “good people.” “… I assured them that not only was I welcoming them, but I was proud that they’ve come to the US and come to CT. I told them that people in the United States are generous and good people but sometimes things happen elsewhere that cause people to forget about their generosity and forget about their native warmth and spirit.”

George, executive director of resettlement agency Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) on Nicoll Street in the East Rock neighborhood, said he didn’t hesitate before agreeing to accept the family of three.

IRIS had already been in the spotlight once Syrian refugees began to arrive at New Haven’s doors at the start of the war; it has settled 22 Syrian families so far. (Click here to read a story about that.) Now George and the organization are in the middle of a heated political debate about whether the U.S. has a duty to help people seeking security from terrorism and violence in their own countries.

The federal Department of State allocates refugees to nine organizations across the country, which each distributes cases to about 30 or 40 small nonprofits—about 350 total, including IRIS.

The family—a father who used to run a used-clothing store, his wife, and their 5-year-old son—had waited three years in Jordan to come to the U.S. after being exiled from Homs, Syria. The family had intended to head to Indianapolis Wednesday. But Republican Gov. Mike Pence said he would not allow them, forcing the local Indianapolis resettlement agency to scramble to look for another placement. Connecticut Gov. Malloy, a Democrat, has taken a national stand in favor of continuing to accept Syrian refugees in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Republican governors and Congress members have called for a halt to allowing Syrian refugees in the country after it was learned that one of the Paris attackers had spent time in Syria.

Malloy compared the “hysteria” of Republican lawmakers to U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II. He also noted that the attackers in Paris lived in France and Belgium. “No governor, no member of Congress, no leader of the Congress has said we should stop allowing people from France of Belgium from coming into the country,” Malloy noted.

“We’re bigger than that as a nation,” Malloy said of calls to keep out refugees. “We’re better than that as a nation.” He also said the federal government has spent more than a year vetting the families allowed to enter the country.

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The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

Readers’ comments are invited on this question and article. See below for comments box.

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“Of course we said yes,” Chris George said of the request to accept the Syrian family, recalling the chain of events in his office Wednesday morning. “We welcome all refugees regardless of religion, race, nationality.”

His split-second decision brought a flood of reporters and camera crews to the organization Wednesday—wanting to know more about why he said yes and whether they could speak to the family.

The family had not yet arrived Wednesday morning, George continued to say as he took calls from national and local outlets. IRIS staff had not yet talked with them and did not know if they would be willing to speak to anyone.

Ashley Maker (pictured), IRIS community liaison, said many refugees are worried about family members still in their home countries who might be endangered by them speaking to press. “We want to protect them,” she said.

Fewer than 2,000 Syrian refugees have been admitted into the U.S. since the start of the Syrian war. Panic increased once investigators found a Syrian passport at the site of one of the attacks, though it was not clear whether it belonged to an attacker, victim or someone else.

About 60 percent of all governors, most of them Republican, have said they won’t allow refugees to resettle in their states. President Barack Obama pushed back against those security concerns at a press conference early Wednesday.

Although legally, governors cannot bar refugees from settling in their states, they can ask the State Department not to send them refugees and withhold state funds for those who do arrive.

George called the urge to blame Syrian refugees for recent terrorist attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris last week uninformed and unpatriotic.

The U.S. government goes through an extensive vetting process over the course of several months before allowing refugees into the country—including background checks, face-to-face interviews, checks with intelligence agencies and biometric scans to securely establish identity.

“If at the end of that, there are still some questions, the refugee is not getting into the country,” George said.

If people understood how “robust” that screening process was, “they would not worry,” he said. “They are politicizing a program, they are posturing. Honestly they are un-American.”

This family is the fifth family IRIS is working to resettle this week, Maker said. Usually, the agency’s staff have “two weeks lead time” to find refugees permanent housing with a landlord and fully furnish it, allowing them a more fluid transition, she said.

But in this case, they found temporary housing for them and will work over the next two weeks to find permanent housing, Maker said.