As you may have heard, thousands of children from Central America are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents. Most are fleeing relentless violence in search of a safe place. The federal government has assigned care of these minors to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) as many may have legitimate grounds to legal claims in the U.S. This has put a strain on ORR since no new funding has followed these children.
Without additional funding, the vital programs that assist refugees will lose significant funding and capacity–including services at Jewish Family & Children’s Service.
We only have one week to act and we need your help immediately!
Your strong actions are critical in helping us ensure the needs of both refugees and arriving children are appropriately met.
Please take the following actions TODAY:
- Call your Pennsylvania Representative and Senators. Typically the Pittsburgh area is served by Reps. Mike Doyle (202) 225-2135, Tim Murphy (202) 225-2301 or Keith Rothfus (202) 225-2065. Senator Bob Casey can be reached at (202) 224-6324 and Senator Pat Toomey can be reached at (202) 224-4254. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3131 or find your Representatives’ direct office lines on their websites at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov. Tell them:
- I’m your constituent from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I care about refugees and other vulnerable populations. I urge you to increase funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement by $200 million so they can meet the needs of both unaccompanied children and refugees.
2. Write your Representative and Senators. Find their addresses on their websites at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
3. Spread the word through social media. Send messages to your Representative and Senators via Facebook and Twitter, and urge them to increase funds for ORR. Here are some sample tweets for you to use, and feel free to adapt these messages for a Facebook post on the Representatives’ and/or Senators’ Facebook pages:
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@KeithRothfus, @USRepMikeDoyle @RepTimMurphy, @SenToomey, @SenBobCasey, Please increase funding for ORR by $200million so they can meet the needs of unaccompanied children & #refugees.
- @KeithRothfus, @USRepMikeDoyle @RepTimMurphy, @SenToomey, @SenBobCasey, I urge you to increase funding for ORR by $200million to maintain integrity of the US #refugee resettlement program and meet the needs of unaccompanied children #UACs
- @KeithRothfus, @USRepMikeDoyle @RepTimMurphy, @SenToomey, @SenBobCasey, HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement needs more funding for FY14 AND FY15 to ensure unaccompanied children & #refugees receive the services they need & deserve
Please join JF&CS and refugee resettlement agencies nationwide in urging Congress to immediately increase funding to ORR so that the cost of providing care for children at the border is not paid by refugees who enrich communities across the country and in Pittsburgh, and who seek safety and a better life in the United States.
Thank you,
Leslie Aizenman
Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services
Jewish Family & Children’s Service