WASHINGTON, DC - In commemoration of World Refugee Day, Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) will join Members of Congress, Minnesota State Rep. Ilhan Omar, refugees and faith leaders to talk about Congress’s bipartisan commitment to welcome and protect refugees.
STATEMENT OF
Diane Randall, Executive Secretary
FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL LEGISLATION
REP LIEU, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, REFUGEES, AND FAITH LEADERS SPEAK ON WORLD REFUGEE DAY
House Triangle
June 20th, 2018
Welcome everyone – and Happy World Refugee Day! I am Diane Randall, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. FCNL was founded by the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, to lobby Congress and the administration for U.S. policies that advance peace, justice, and good government. Since our founding in 1943, amid the World War II refugee crisis, FCNL has held a deep concern for refugees and all individuals who are forcibly displaced from their homes.
With a record number of refugees around the world, welcoming the stranger is no longer just an ideal — it must be the reality we practice. Faith communities share this core belief across texts and traditions – and people of faith are and have always been at the forefront of welcoming refugees and sojourners into our homes.
Every year on World Refugee Day, June 20, we celebrate the power, resilience, and joy that resettled refugees bring to their everyday lives and our communities. We mark the courage of all those who are forced to leave their homes around the globe. We remind ourselves of the work still to be done to protect refugees, and recommit ourselves to mitigating forced displacement due to war, poverty, or climate disruption.
Today, I stand with leaders from interfaith traditions, members of Congress and elected officials, and former refugees who have become leaders in their communities. We stand together to urge the Trump administration to invest in vigorous refugee resettlement at home and protection abroad. Resettling refugees permanently in the United States and ensuring that refugees are protected globally is an essential piece of shared security across nations and peoples.
Our nation has historically led the way when it comes to permanent refugee resettlement, yet the Trump administration set a record low goal of admitting only 45,000 refugees this year. This alone is unacceptable. Even worse, however, more than halfway through the fiscal year the United States is only on track to resettle 20,000 refugees. This is abdication of our moral responsibility.
We stand united in our call to urge the administration to meet this year’s goal to resettle 45,000 refugees, and to establish a goal of resettling at least 75,000 refugees next fiscal year.
Congressional leadership is key to ensuring the administration meets this years’ goal for refugee resettlement. We are grateful to all our elected officials who have joined in this critical call to consciousness. When given the opportunity to rebuild their lives, former refugees fully invest themselves in their new worship communities, businesses, schools, and civil society. We will hear from some of those voices today and celebrate their leadership and presence here.
I hope you will join us—to raise your voices in support for refugee resettlement and protection – to urge our elected leaders to step up and welcome more refugees to our shared nation.