Refugee arrivals to the U.S. have reached their lowest level in four decades putting our nation's entire system of community-based refugee resettlement at risk. At the same time, the Trump administration is imposing a “zero tolerance” policy on our southern borders, separating more than 2,000 immigrant children from their parents.
As a member of the Peace Corps Community for Refugees, will you take a few minutes over the next week to voice your opposition to the Trump’s administration’s policies to your local members of Congress?
Here’s an easy way to do this. Tell both your Senators that you oppose Ronald Mortensen’s nomination as assistant secretary of state for refugees and migration, a vital position shaping America’s immigration policy and our humanitarian response to the refugee crisis.
A fellow at the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, Mortensen is one of the nation’s harshest critics of immigration reform even attacking Republican Senators John McCain and Marco Rubio, the Mormon Church, and evangelical leaders who support reform. This nomination is further evidence of the Trump administration’s systematic campaign to dismantle the network of community-based non-profits (once over 320), mostly faith-based organizations, which have resettled refugees since the Refugee Act of 1980 became law.
To learn more about Mr. Mortensen, see this carefully researched Atlantic Magazine article:
How easily can you tell your Senators? By going to their websites and stating your views or sending them letters by regular mail. A faster way? Just click-on the link below, fill out your personal information, review and adapt the sample letter, or write your own, and hit “Send.” Your letter will automatically go to both Senators. You'll even get an immediate response confirming that your letters were sent. (The National Peace Corps Association generously provided this service.)
Here’s the link to a sample letter for members of the Peace Corps community: https://bit.ly/2JBBGQG
Also, please consider writing a short letter in opposition to President Trump's policies on immigration and refugee assistance and his nomination of Mortensen to your local paper. For specific instructions on how to send your letter, google the name of your newspaper and the words "How to submit a letter.
Thank you and best wishes,
Don
Don Drach, RPCV/Liberia
on behalf of Peace Corps Community for Refugees
