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Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Catholic Community Services calls for unity following ‘hate crime' at Salt Lake City mosque
SALT LAKE CITY () — Catholic Community Services Utah (CCS) and Masjid Al Noor (Noor Mosque) have called for unity and understanding following what they described as a 'hate crime' at Noor Mosque in Salt Lake City. On June 3, a man was caught on video attaching a flag with split designs of the Israeli and American flags to Noor Mosque. No one was harmed and no property damage was reported, but it was reported to Salt Lake City Police and the FBI. In a press release from Aden Batar of Catholic Community Services and Dr. Salman Masud, former president of the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake, they wrote: 'While no physical damage was done, this incident was clearly intended to provoke and intimidate our congregation, and we believe it should be investigated under bias crime statutes due to its targeted nature and context. The act has understandably caused distress in our community—particularly among our congregation of international students, many of whom already live with a sense of vulnerability.' PREVIOUSLY: Man hangs Israeli and American flag on mosque in Salt Lake City The release praised Utah for its spirit of hospitality as a place where people of all faiths can coexist peacefully, and they called to reaffirm a commitment to 'dialogue over division' and 'connection over suspicion.' 'We believe strongly that houses of worship should not become fortresses, but rather sanctuaries of reflection, welcome, and conversation,' the press release said. Noor Mosque is going to be hosting a community open house and interfaith forum with the goal of encouraging 'bridge-building and mutual understanding' in the coming weeks, though they have not set a date yet. 'We invite our neighbors of all backgrounds to stand with us in affirming the values of dignity, peace, and justice for all,' CCS wrote in the press release. Catholic Community Services calls for unity following 'hate crime' at Salt Lake City mosque Utah man pleads guilty to attempting to hire hitman while behind bars in 2020 Senator Lee responds to the Trump-Musk feud Chrysler at 100: Plans for a bold comeback Wyoming state senator proposes eliminating property taxes Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DHS terminating temporary protected status for Afghanistan, what it means for Utah
SALT LAKE CITY () — The Trump administration is ending temporary protected status for Afghan refugees, meaning they may be forced to go back home. Utah took in hundreds after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021. The Catholic Community Services here in Salt Lake City works to assist the refugees. 'We've been helping between, I would say 200 to 400 Afghans every year,' Immigration Program Manager and attorney for Catholic Community Services, Alyssa Williams, says. Remains found in Salt Lake confirmed to be University of Utah student who disappeared in 1973 Now, the Trump administration says conditions have improved in Afghanistan. To the point where the refugees no longer need protected status. 'That's not something that the Afghans that we have here believe is true,' Williams says. The announcement on May 12th from the Department of Homeland Security included the following quote from Secretary Kristi Noem. 'This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,' said Secretary Kristi Noem. 'We've reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation. Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country. Additionally, the termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security. Reviewing TPS designations is a key part of restoring integrity in our immigration system.' Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Police ramp up education for rural teens ahead of deadliest time on Utah roads Williams said that it's not a surprise, and she sees the situation very differently from Noem. 'I think that they are shocked that anybody would call this a security situation in Afghanistan, something that's improving, and we're usually seeing that it's deteriorating,' Williams explained. Williams believes that not many refugees in Utah will be sent back due to their application statuses. 'A lot of people have moved into a green card application or an asylum application to be able to get a more permanent status because they've been able to express that terror and that fear of the current Taliban government,' Williams says. Can't go forward, can't go back: Afghan refugees stuck in Qatar wait for a way forward The International Rescue Committee responded to the termination of temporary protected status for Afghanistan. Since 2021, the IRC has provided case management, housing, employment support, and legal services for around 12,000 Afghan children and adults in the US, helping them reunite with family, receive critical legal protections such as TPS and asylum, pursue a path to citizenship, and gain or maintain employment authorization. The IRC remains committed to providing these vital services for individuals who have fled conflict and persecution and seek to rebuild their lives in the US. We urgently call on the US government to reconsider this harmful policy change and maintain this life-saving humanitarian protection for people from Afghanistan. The International Rescue Committee's statement The termination will go into effect on July 12, 2025, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Utah refugee resettlement program finds self-sufficiency amid federal funding cuts
Catholic Community Services' refugee resettlement program raised $1.5 million to keep assisting refugees amid federal cuts. (Courtesy of Catholic Community Services) It takes Aden Batar, the director of migration and refugee services at Catholic Community Services, at least a couple of minutes just to list all of the ways the refugee resettlement program he runs assists refugees coming to Utah. The program's goal has always been clear — to allow refugees to reach self-sufficiency amid extraordinary circumstances. The initiative has been alive for more than 45 years in the state, but after the Trump administration took charge this year, it was left without its most substantial funding source, federal funding — at least temporarily. The organization announced on Monday it will continue operating with the help of private donations amounting to more than $1.5 million. That's more than half of what the federal government funded before President Donald Trump signed an order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and freezing resettlement funding. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Utahns moved fast after Catholic Community Services announced in early April it was winding down its refugee resettlement program, which annually assists about 600 families in securing housing, jobs, school enrollment, health care, and provides mentorship to teach American laws, English, and other immigration resources. 'The families were coming from all over the world in every war that happened in the world, like, for example, the most recent war in Ukraine, Afghanistan, in Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, many parts of the world,' Batar said. If the organization is able to raise $1 million more, it would allow them to transition to a smaller, self-sustaining program to keep on working on the mission for the next four years, Batar said. 'We're going to continue to support the families that we have that have come the last two years, and we're going to continue to support the families by providing the necessary services that they need,' Batar said. 'We want them to keep their housing. We want them to have a job so they can pay their bills.' The work of his office starts after the Department of Homeland Security grants entry to migrants fleeing conflict, providing the essentials, like a furnished home in anticipation of their arrival and food and later giving them tools to thrive in the country. 'While the program will operate at a reduced capacity, its core services—and the impact on the lives of those we serve—remain as vital as ever,' the organization wrote in a blog post. 'This transformation ensures we can uphold our mission while adapting to a changing national landscape.' Even with the abrupt freeze in funding, the organization hasn't turned anyone away. However, the program still took a big hit and had to lay off 50% of its staff. It's still uncertain whether the Trump administration will resume the admissions of refugees, with the executive order issued on Jan. 20 stating that it 'suspends the (U.S. Refugee Admissions Program) until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.' Within 90 days of the order, however, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State are required to submit a report to the president advising on whether to bring back the refugee admissions program. But, that deadline already passed on April 20, and Catholic Community Services can't wait for the funding to come back to keep its doors open, Batar said. There are roughly 70,000 refugees in Utah and the majority of them went through this program, he added. 'They are all productive members of our society. They successfully integrated into our community. They have jobs, they have businesses, they're doing really well. So the program is a life-saving program, and we would like this program to continue,' he said. 'We are appealing to our administration to open this program again, and so we could serve as many refugees as we can.' The organization is also asking the community to help raise the funds to continue the critical services that have helped thousands of refugees settle in the state for decades, Batar said, and to Trump to look at the issue from a compassionate point of view, and to allow the admission of new refugees in the country. 'We are here to help them. Our community wants to help them,' he said. 'But the administration has to allow the refugees to come.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A Utah agency rented apartments, bought food for refugee families. Now they're on hold
Farhiyo Ahmed looked forward to going for a walk. The pregnant Somali refugee would let her parents watch her four kids, under age 8, while she took a little time for herself. But now they're not coming from a refugee camp in Kenya where they have spent much of their lives and where the 24-year-old Ahmed and her 26-year-old husband, Ali Aden, were both born. On his first day in office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump suspended all refugee resettlements within the U.S. for at least 90 days. Ahmed's parents and brother were scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on Jan. 16 but the devastating Southern California wildfires canceled their flight. Four days later, Trump issued his executive order. They sold or gave away everything they owned, including their goats, in anticipation of coming to America. They bought winter clothes that they can't wear in the heat of Kenya. They're back at the refugee camp trying to make do. Through her Catholic Community Services of Utah case manager Abdifatah Wanow, a Somali refugee himself, Ahmed said the bad news left her stressed and with a headache. She's still feeling that way now. Ahmed and Aden and their four children, ages 7, 6, 5 and 2, resettled in Utah last June. The kids were excited to see their grandparents again. Ahmed hoped they could live in the same apartment complex. She made a traditional Somali meat dish that takes weeks to prepare that she wasn't able to share with them. 'I miss all the happiness,' Ahmed said in Somali, with translation from Wanow. They weren't the only refugee family in Utah that had their hopes for reuniting with their loved ones dashed because of Trump's order. Catholic Community Services, one of the two refugee resettlement agencies in the state, had rented an apartment and notified family members of their relatives' arrival only to learn their flight was abruptly canceled the day after Trump took office. 'We had to break that heartbreaking news to their loved ones who were waiting. We even bought some of the family food for that evening they were going to come,' said Aden Batar, director of immigration and refugee services for Catholic Community Services of Utah. Batar said Community Catholic Services lost 'several thousand dollars' paying first and last month's rent and buying furniture for a family that didn't come. The resettlement pause has created 'a lot of chaos,' he said. 'We don't know at this point when the refugee arrivals will resume. Many of the families that are here are so scared. A lot of them don't want to talk to the media because they're afraid ICE will come and knock on their doors,' Batar said. One of the program's clients was recently stopped by ICE and didn't have his identification documents, he said. Agents let him go but told him to keep his papers with him from now on. 'There's a lot of fear the people are facing,' Batar said of refugees. 'The ICE agents that are going out in the community, they don't know the difference. Anyone who looks different they're stopping and asking for their legal status.' During his first term, Trump cut annual refugee admittance caps to a historic low of about 15,000. That led to funding cuts that crippled or closed some U.S. resettlement organizations. Former President Joe Biden restored the program that resettled more than 100,000 refugees in fiscal year 2024, reaching a 30-year high, USA Today reported. Last September, Biden signed the Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2025, with a goal to admit 125,000 resettled refugees to the United States starting Oct. 1. About 44,000 entered the country before the executive order, according to HIAS, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees, per USA Today. From last October until January, Utah had resettled about 250 refugees and was expecting another 300 to 400 through the end of September, Batar said. 'The program is well-coordinated and well-organized. We've been doing this for many years. It's not overwhelming the system. It's not overwhelming the community,' he said. 'But now the (Trump) administration is saying the refugee resettlement is not aligning with American interests. I don't know where that is coming from because we've been doing this program since the '80s.' This week, several individuals and refugee resettlement organizations, including Church World Service, HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest asked a federal judge in Washington state to restore the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, per USA Today. They allege the indefinite suspension is unlawful and is causing irreparable harm. Batar said Catholic Community Services intends to care for refugees, which includes transportation, housing, food, health care and job training, even if the federal government doesn't reimburse the organization. 'This is going to be creating a lot of disruption of our services but we'll continue serving people because the refugees don't know where else to go,' he said. Ahmed and Aden and their four — soon to be five — children arrived in Utah after a seven-year wait. Trump's first-term caps on refugees kept them from moving in 2017 and it was another three years into the Biden administration before they resettled in 2024. The family lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Millcreek. Worn leather sofas covered in blankets and a large screen TV on a table are the only living room furniture. A bicycle rests in a corner. The kitchen table only has a couple of chairs. The white walls are bare. Aden works at a refugee center where he is also learning a trade. He called Utah 'nice' and doesn't mind the snow. The three oldest children attend the local elementary school. They're learning English and practicing writing the alphabet. During our visit, Ahmed called her younger brother, Shuri Ahmed, who lives in Logan, on a video chat. 'I'm so sad because I miss all my family,' he said, through the fractured screen on his sister's cellphone. Ahmed said through Wanow that she's new in the country and doesn't understand how things work when it comes to refugee resettlement. She doesn't know if her parents will ever make it to Utah. Maybe she'll find out in 90 days.
