Immigration & Refugees
Global Refugee Response - Advance #982540 Justice for Our Neighbors: An Immigration Response - Advance #901285New Hope for Newcomers, USA - Advance #901779Sojourners to Our Land - Advance #982470
Global Refugee Response - Advance #982540
An estimated 26 million people are displaced within their own countries and 11 million more are refugees forced across borders. In recent years refugees have fled from Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Myanmar, Iraq, Sudan, and Liberia. UMCOR responds to initial emergency needs of uprooted people and provides programs through community and/or church based projects that prepare refugees for a productive, self-sustaining life when they can safely return to their own country or resettle in a new home.
Justice for Our Neighbors: An Immigration Response - Advance #901285
The Justice for Our Neighbors Program (JFON) is a model of cross-cultural community building that brings volunteers from congregations together to develop immigration legal services clinics. JFON was created in 1999 as a response to increasingly complex immigration regulations stemming from the far-reaching immigration law of 1996. Additionally, immigration laws and policies developed since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US have had further negative implications for the lives of immigrants.
Participating congregations operate volunteer-based immigration clinics. To initiate a JFON clinic, each congregation must provide space for a clinic and recruit at least ten committed volunteers who will be trained and supervised by a JFON immigration attorney and staff. The JFON program also offers to the local churches and community at large education for mission, outreach, and advocacy.
New Hope for Newcomers, USA - Advance #901779
Refugees arrive in the US with a new hope for a new future. This program works with local churches to help make that hope a reality. The refugees who are approved for the US Resettlement Program include those with the most urgent need for protection inside US borders. Many of them bear the scars of suffering, and while resilient and determined, they reap great benefits from the support and kindness of a local church that is willing to reach out and assist refugees on the road to self-sufficiency.
Sojourners to Our Land - Advance #982470
Many refugees who must escape their persecutors in haste arrive in the US as undocumented persons. They are not approved to come as refugees and they are often without legal documents. They face detention upon arrival in the US and are under different, and often stricter, laws than US criminals. Many are held until a decision is reached either to grant or deny asylum (refugee status). There is no official provision for legal services and this often falls to grassroots community projects.
Sojourners to Our Land supports programs that provide legal services to child and adult detainees, advocate for their rights, and arrange for friendly visitation while they are in detention. This assistance helps these grassroots programs continue their important ministry of hope.
