My People Were Refugees Too
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 42 secondsRefugee and Asylum Advocacy Training
Yesterday my wife and I participated in a Refugee and Asylum Action Advocacy Training sponsored by HIAS. America is an idea, and now is the time to welcome the stranger and protect the refugee.
Being referred to by many as an advocate, it was strange sitting in a room at Temple Emanu-El in Westfield. I had to hold myself back from speaking up, jumping the plan, and encouraging everyone to make calls, set up meetings, and advocate.
I had to remind myself that we were attending to represent Temple Sha’arey Shalom. So, I listen and learn.
I am here because I am looking for something to replace my life’s work as I enter the third week of retirement, realizing that the key to being a leader is learning patience and finding a way to be a team player.
Being Jewish by marriage, I keep thinking about how my family history of being a refugee from Ireland fits with the diaspora. If our people were refugees too, the reason they left to come to America is not that important.
America is an idea. Ireland is a great country, but it’s not an idea. Great Britain is a great country, but it’s not an idea. That’s how we see you around the world, as one of the greatest ideas in human history.
Bono
The goals seem easy compared to decades of seeking adequate funding for a place to call home.
The Refugee Advocacy Asks are:
- Keeping the refugee resettlement program open;
- Holding the Administration accountable in reaching its 30,000 Presidential Determination (PD) level for FY19;
- Increasing the PD to at least 75,000 in FY20;
- Maintaining adequate funding for the program; and
- Reviving bipartisan Congressional support for the program and finding common ground with administrative agencies.
The following steps become less clear. Can we move ahead, or do we need to gain support from our temple?
Finally, we agree to continue to meet.
After almost 48 years, I recently lost my wife, Jan Lilien. Like The Little Prince, Jan and I believed that “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” This blog is a collection of my random thoughts on love, grief, life, and all things considered.