UP-DATE – He signed the executive order earlier today (Fri, Jan 27). I am imagining the tables of those families who were expecting to be reunited in the coming days and weeks. My heart is broken.
I work as the Jewish educator at Jewish Family Service of Seattle. Yesterday, the director of our refugee resettlement program reported on the human impact of the expected presidential order regarding refugees. It was heartbreaking. We sat at the table, saddened and stunned.
While it is important to state unequivocally that there is a legitimate fear of terrorism in the world, my greater fear is that we will allow the fear of terrorism to erode our basic values, that we will confuse terror with those fleeing terror.
Because our agency works with refugees day in and day out, I regularly hear about the difficult and thorough process of vetting that refugees entering this country must traverse, with additional precautions for those from Syria. This short video gives you a basic idea of the extensive process.
Who exactly would be banned from entering our country?
We have a number of resettled refugees working at JFS, some from the very countries that the executive order would ban. These are real people, some of whom worked with American troops in their countries of origin and who came here because their assistance to us puts their lives in danger in their home countries. There are others like them, and their relatives, who would now be banned.
We heard of local families whose loved ones have tickets in hand, after undergoing the difficult two year process of vetting, at the conclusion of an average of 17 years in refugee camps. If this executive order is signed before their flights leave, not only will they not be able to use the tickets, but crucial documents will expire and they will be forced to begin the process again.
We heard of a family with a one-year old that had clearance to come in December, but postponed because the baby was too sick to travel,. They have tickets for a few days from now. They would be banned if the order is signed.
And it isn’t just new refugees who will be impacted. We heard about the JFS home health care worker – one of our best – who is on a short vacation visiting family abroad, but will not be allowed to return because she is not yet a citizen.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has written the following:
“Empathy, sympathy, knowledge and rationality are usually enough to let us live at peace with others. But not in hard times…The problem arises at times of change and disruption when people are anxious and afraid. That is why exceptional defenses are necessary, which is why …we have to remember that we were once on the other side of the equation. We were once strangers: the oppressed, the victims. Remembering the Jewish past forces us to undergo role reversal.”
We can be our best selves and still protect ourselves from terrorism. The American “table” is big enough to welcome those fleeing terrorism, war and famine..
You can learn more about how to help the refugees here on the JFS blog or on the JFS facebook page. Please advocate – now.
It Takes a Table 