“Shall oppressed humanity find no asylum on this globe?” These haunting words, first spoken in 1801 by President Thomas Jefferson in the face of fresh xenophobia gripping our nation, continue to condemn our nation’s unwillingness to provide sanctuary to those in need. The current administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy has separated young children from their families with no plan to reunite them, continues to imprison asylum-seekers and seeks to deny immigrants due process. As politicians denounce President Trump’s actions on cable TV and organizations rush to provide support and relief to undocumented immigrants, many Americans want to know what they can do to help during this humanitarian crisis.
1: Protest. You can find out who your national Representative is here, and you can find a call script here.
You can find immigration protests near you through this site. Here are a few things you that should know before you go.
2: Donate. If you are financially able, monetary contributions are needed by many deserving organizations. The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) is a Texas-based non-profit working to reunite families and provide children with legal counsel in immigration court. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a national organization which is raising money to defend immigrant parents who have been separated from their children. Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) partners with major law firms to ensure that no child appears in court alone. There are countless other organizations doing wonderful work to help reunite undocumented families and help them gain asylum. However, be careful not to donate to phony organizations. You can utilize Charity Navigator to guarantee the impact of your donation.
3: Volunteer. If you have legal experience or speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche, the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) can utilize you in McAllen, Texas to help families currently detained. Please note that this organization is unable to pay for your travel or lodging.
You can also volunteer locally. Catholic Community Services (CCS) needs refugee mentors for their Refugee Resettlement program who can dedicate spend 2-3 hours a week for 4-6 months helping a family acquaint to life in Utah. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) needs volunteers who can do anything from helping at the Sunnyvale Farmers Market to being a friendly helper at their offices.
4: Organize Donation Drives. The Times recently published still-life photos of everything immigrants bring when crossing our southern border: a dirty change of clothes, mostly used toiletries, a well-worn wallet, a bruised banana, an empty water bottle. These individuals fleeing gang violence, political unrest and financial stagnation are starting their lives over with almost nothing. You may have the personal resources to supply a person with everything they need on their feet, but by taking the time to work with others to collect these items, you are cultivating a culture of inclusion and charity within your community.
Items need by the Salt Lake CCS for their immigrant and refugee resettlement program can be found here.
5: Register Yourself or Help Others Register to Vote. Americans have the opportunity to choose our political leaders each November. If you are angry about the current state of our country, make sure you are registered to vote and take the time to vote. You can also remind those around you to exercise their enfranchisement. Do not vote based off of party lines, spend the time to research each candidate and vote for individuals who you believe will best represent your values at the local and national level.
RS • Jul 26, 2018 at 2:43 pm
There is something much easier to do if you really care about Undocumented Immigrants and refugees. how about you take them into your own home? most democrat who is calling for it has more than one house, they don’t need that much bedroom so why not just take them in?
and also, in my personal opinion, I think most people don’t care about them unless they committed the crime, legal immigrants who are in states with visa and green card will be deported if they committed DUI and other crime, so why are we treating them differently?
Arthur Lubocce • Jul 23, 2018 at 11:43 am
Election 2018: Open Border Socialist Delusions—and Reasons for Hope
Arthur Schaper
7/23/2018 12:01:00 AM – Arthur Schaper
The Democratic Party has become the new socialist party. What does that say for our nation’s future? House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy could not hold back his outrage at how self-destructive and left-wing the Democratic Party has become. Their rising stars seem more like falling meteors, or like the arrogant Icarus with wax wings rushing toward heights of glory. These younger, brainless socialists didn’t learn much in high school, and they certainly never found out how the myth of Icarus ended. They haven’t lived through the hard times and privations brought on by government mismanagement. A field trip to Venezuela would change their minds about the soul (and stomach) of man under socialism.
Yet this penchant of redistribution of wealth seems to afflict the young—and the rich, mostly because they want the levers of power. Some young idealists have all the money, and they don’t plan on losing any of it. Another part of their grand, secular utopian fantasies rests on the erasure of borders and the promotion of a global, one-world government. Think of John Lennon’s “Imagine”, and the key verse that haunts the rest of the song:
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
Ignoring the bad grammar, let’s look at the bad political philosophy. Nations are not just God’s idea, but they remain a good idea for individuals of common interests (language, culture, legacy) to assimilate and assign themselves within the grand scheme of things. Borders reduce conflict, just as good fences make good neighbors. Speaking of fences, Colombia has a big beautiful wall keeping out the starving Venezuelans. So does Mexico, Israel, and China. Sorry, sorry socialists: walls work.
The rearing head of the socialist left has no interest in these petty verities, however. They want one world, no borders, no wall, and sanctuary for all. Of course, they chant for these demands while safely nestled in their safe spaces. They have their doors, their walls, and their gated communities bought and paid for by their well-connected moms and dads. They don’t worry about private security, since they have hired guards, too. Then they find out about the rest of us little people, the uneducated masses.
We don’t know what’s in our best interests, so all those rich, well-endowed socialists want to make the world a better place for us—and they will do it by force, even if it means a boot in our faces forever. Does this stark hypocrisy surprise you? Bernie Sanders owns three homes. Millennial Socialist superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grew up in uber-preppy Westchester County, New York then carpetbagged to the Bronx to take Joe Crowley’s House Seat. Such is the socialist mindset. Men, women, and society will thrive where equality of results and diffusion of differences becomes the attainable goal—and that means open borders and “Abolish ICE!”.
Of course, these anti-social dreams have wax wings, and they are waxing more precarious by the day. Social media has made it all too easy for the same despised masses young and old to behold what socialist policies do to a country. Open border policies have ruined Europe, and they have destroyed the European Union experiment. That’s one piece of good news—the end of the border-wary European Union.
There’s more good news despite this open borders-mass migration upheaval, but let’s dispense with the bad news first.
In California, voters will have the choice between wannabe leftist fossil Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein (who couldn’t get a water bill passed in Congress), and the uber-leftist state senator Kevin De Leon for United States Senate. The California Democratic Party has embraced every left-wing, open-border, pro-illegal platform imaginable, including the abolition of ICE. And they endorsed De Leon instead of the incumbent: unusual, unprecedented, and unsettling. California has served as a vanguard for left-wing lunacy, in large part because of the massive university systems indoctrinating professional graduates, but also the unimpeded influx of illegal aliens: call it the “porous border to graduate school pipeline.” This is America’s future if we don’t take a stand.
Now for the good news.
In Tennessee, the state legislature banned sanctuary cities, which includes state requirements for local jurisdictions to work with ICE. This reform became law without the governor’s signature. It’s a red state, though, so that victory is kind of expected.
It gets better.
In long-time blue state Oregon, concerned citizens collected enough signatures for a statewide initiative to repeal their Sanctuary State law. In spite of the determined left-wing tilt of the state (Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican governor in over three decades), residents are fed up with the illegal immigration lawlessness. They repealed drivers licenses for illegal aliens by initiative in 2014. They will strike down sanctuary state this year, too.
In Massachusetts, another uber-liberal Commonwealth (or Commie-wealth according to outraged critics), the state legislature passed the annual budget, minus a key talking point among the ravaging left-wing activist base: no sanctuary state provisions. Governor Charlie Baker may have torn down the wall between men and women when it comes to accommodating gender dysphoria, but the lively primary challenge on his right for re-election has forced him to see right on immigration. No sanctuary for illegal aliens in Massachusetts—at least for the time being. This is huge, especially considering that Democrats have a supermajority in Beacon Hill and could have easily overridden a veto.
Even in California, there’s hope. Don Rosenberg, a parent whose son was killed by an illegal alien, is sponsoring another initiative to repeal the sanctuary state law passed by Kevin De Leon, and also repeal drivers licenses for illegal aliens, end the automatic voter-motor law (which has enabled illegals to vote!), and compel cities to comply with ICE detainers.
Even though open border socialist lunacy has become the rage, it’s facing a steady defeat across the country. The Democrats are going hard left but will endure devastating losses on Election Day.
Phelan Hobbs • Jul 23, 2018 at 10:08 am
What about reporting them to ICE?
Matt S • Jul 23, 2018 at 9:30 am
Thanks for helping me not to donate my money to the school yet again this year. Undocumented Immigrants = Illegal Immigrants. Can you please be a responsible journalist and not promote a false narrative.