“WE'D NEVER ORGANIZED civil disobedience around refugee resettlement before—we’ve never really had to. Refugee resettlement has always had bipartisan support.
But when there was news the administration would again be cutting the refugee resettlement number, a lot of folks—especially from religious communities—felt we had to respond in a way that was different from what we had done before. I mean, how many times can you write a scathing statement expressing outrage, right?
We had 18 people arrested wearing life jackets to symbolize that only 18,000 refugees will be able to find safety in the United States this year. And they were surrounded by 95 people holding pictures of refugees to symbolize the 95,000 refugees who the U.S. has traditionally pledged to welcome.
We also joined a lawsuit challenging the executive order President Trump signed requiring states and localities to provide written consent for refugees to be resettled in their community. We strongly believe local officials should be part of the process of welcoming refugees, but we don’t believe a governor or county official should have veto authority over who lives in their state or city. We have never sued the federal government before. We debated the pros and cons of being involved, but we decided in the end that not to be part of the lawsuit would really be a sin of omission.”
Jen Smyers spoke with Sojourners associate editor Betsy Shirley about CWS' recent work.
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