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Boston Globe
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Episcopal Church says it won't help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US
Episcopal Migration Ministries has long resettled refugees under federal grants. Rowe said that about two weeks ago, the government contacted it and said it expected the ministry to resettle some of the South Africans under terms of its grant. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,' Rowe said. 'Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the US federal government.' Advertisement Another faith-based group, Church World Service, said it is open to helping resettle the Afrikaners. South Africa's government has vehemently denied allegations of discriminatory treatment of its white minority residents. 'It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,' Rowe said. 'I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.' Advertisement He also said many refugees, including Christians, are victims of religious persecution and are now denied entry. He said the church would find other ways to serve immigrants, such as those already in this country and those stranded overseas. The move marks the end of a ministry-government partnership that, for nearly four decades, has served nearly 110,000 refugees from countries ranging from Ukraine, Myanmar and Congo, Rowe said. It's not the first high-profile friction between the Episcopal Church and the government. Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington drew Trump's anger in January at an inaugural prayer service in which she urged 'mercy' on those fearing his actions, including migrants and LGBTQ+ children. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa includes churches in South Africa and neighboring countries. It was a potent force in the campaign against apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, an effort for which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Another faith-based refugee agency, Church World Service, says it is open to serving the South African arrivals. 'We are concerned that the US Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,' Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO, said in a statement. Advertisement He added that the action proves the government knows how to screen and process refugees quickly. 'Despite the Administration's actions, CWS remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services,' he said. 'Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion.' The Episcopal ministry and CWS are among 10 national groups, most of them faith-based, that have partnered with the government for refugee resettlement.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Episcopal Church says it won't help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US
The Episcopal Church's migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church's longstanding 'commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.' Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the step Monday, one day after 49 South Africans departed their homeland, bound for new homes in the United States. Episcopal Migration Ministries instead will halt its decades-long partnership with the government, Rowe said. President Donald Trump opened a fast-tracked refugee status to white South Africans, accusing their government of discrimination, even as his administration abruptly shut down the overall U.S. refugee program. The South Africans jumped ahead of thousands of would-be refugees overseas who had been undergoing years of vetting and processing. Episcopal Migration Ministries has long resettled refugees under federal grants. Rowe said that about two weeks ago, the government contacted it and said it expected the ministry to resettle some of the South Africans under terms of its grant. 'In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,' Rowe said. 'Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.' Another faith-based group, Church World Service, said it is open to helping resettle the Afrikaners. South Africa's government has vehemently denied allegations of discriminatory treatment of its white minority residents. 'It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,' Rowe said. 'I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.' He also said many refugees, including Christians, are victims of religious persecution and are now denied entry. He said the church would find other ways to serve immigrants, such as those already in this country and those stranded overseas. The move marks the end of a ministry-government partnership that, for nearly four decades, has served nearly 110,000 refugees from countries ranging from Ukraine, Myanmar and Congo, Rowe said. It's not the first high-profile friction between the Episcopal Church and the government. Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington drew Trump's anger in January at an inaugural prayer service in which she urged 'mercy' on those fearing his actions, including migrants and LGBTQ+ children. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa includes churches in South Africa and neighboring countries. It was a potent force in the campaign against apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, an effort for which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Another faith-based refugee agency, Church World Service, says it is open to serving the South African arrivals. 'We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement," Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO, said in a statement. He added that the action proves the government knows how to screen and process refugees quickly. 'Despite the Administration's actions, CWS remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services," he said. 'Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion.' The Episcopal ministry and CWS are among 10 national groups, most of them faith-based, that have partnered with the government for refugee resettlement. ___ Associated Press writer Tiffany Stanley contributed. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Associated Press
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Episcopal Church says it won't help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US
The Episcopal Church's migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church's longstanding 'commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.' Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the step Monday, one day after 49 South Africans departed their homeland, bound for new homes in the United States. Episcopal Migration Ministries instead will halt its decades-long partnership with the government, Rowe said. President Donald Trump opened a fast-tracked refugee status to white South Africans, accusing their government of discrimination, even as his administration abruptly shut down the overall U.S. refugee program. The South Africans jumped ahead of thousands of would-be refugees overseas who had been undergoing years of vetting and processing. Episcopal Migration Ministries has long resettled refugees under federal grants. Rowe said that about two weeks ago, the government contacted it and said it expected the ministry to resettle some of the South Africans under terms of its grant. 'In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,' Rowe said. 'Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.' Another faith-based group, Church World Service, said it is open to helping resettle the Afrikaners. South Africa's government has vehemently denied allegations of discriminatory treatment of its white minority residents. 'It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,' Rowe said. 'I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.' He also said many refugees, including Christians, are victims of religious persecution and are now denied entry. He said the church would find other ways to serve immigrants, such as those already in this country and those stranded overseas. The move marks the end of a ministry-government partnership that, for nearly four decades, has served nearly 110,000 refugees from countries ranging from Ukraine, Myanmar and Congo, Rowe said. It's not the first high-profile friction between the Episcopal Church and the government. Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington drew Trump's anger in January at an inaugural prayer service in which she urged 'mercy' on those fearing his actions, including migrants and LGBTQ+ children. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa includes churches in South Africa and neighboring countries. It was a potent force in the campaign against apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, an effort for which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Another faith-based refugee agency, Church World Service, says it is open to serving the South African arrivals. 'We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,' Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO, said in a statement. He added that the action proves the government knows how to screen and process refugees quickly. 'Despite the Administration's actions, CWS remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services,' he said. 'Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion.' The Episcopal ministry and CWS are among 10 national groups, most of them faith-based, that have partnered with the government for refugee resettlement. ___ Associated Press writer Tiffany Stanley contributed. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Star
05-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
American values are threatened by the American president
AS the Trump administration disappears immigrants into foreign prisons and sees this as a source of American strength, I think back to when my dad was disappeared, why he came to America and, indeed, why I exist. My dad's journey through war and concentration camps teaches me that authoritarianism does not strengthen a nation and that, notwithstanding Elon Musk's warning that empathy is 'the fundamental weakness of Western civilisation,' it has been one of our national strengths – and that because of our president, it is now in peril. My father's family was Armenian. During World War II, my family members were living throughout Eastern Europe and were secretly involved in a network that was spying on the Nazis and transmitting information to the West. The Gestapo uncovered the network, and my dad's heroic cousin Izabela was arrested in Poland in 1942 and sent to Auschwitz, along with her daughter, Teresa. Izabela died in Auschwitz, and Teresa was subjected to medical experiments by the Nazis. My father and other immediate family members were arrested as well for being part of the spy network. But they were detained in Romania, where officials and the police – the 'deep state' – shielded them from the Gestapo, so they were imprisoned for a time but survived. (Bribery helped.) Izabela's son-in-law, Boguslaw Horodynski, a Pole, oversaw the spy network and survived the war. But the Soviets, seeing a freedom fighter as a potential threat to the emerging Communist bloc, arrested him and dispatched him to a labour camp in the Siberian gulag. Romania's prime minister personally asked Josef Stalin to show mercy. But Stalin wouldn't budge. Perhaps this is the prism through which Stalin saw Boguslaw: He's an immigrant in Romania, he's potentially a risk to national security, and due process is a silly concept that would slow us down, so we're sending him to a prison in another country. Sound familiar? By this period, my dad had seen multiple relatives like Boguslaw disappeared or murdered by Nazis or Communists. He was determined to escape to the West. So in 1948 he swam across the Danube River to Yugoslavia as a first step to the West – and then was disappeared himself into a concentration camp, then an asbestos mine and finally a remote timber camp. But a young French diplomat, Robert Morisset, stationed in Belgrade, found out about my dad and wrote a letter to Yugoslav authorities on his behalf. That saved his life, for my dad was released: Thank God for Western diplomats willing to speak up about human rights. Even in Communist labour camps, America shone as a beacon of liberty. So although my dad spoke no English, he dreamed of finding a path to get there. He made his way to France, and in 1952 the Cameron family in Portland, Oregon, working through Church World Service and the First Presbyterian Church in Portland, sponsored my dad to come to America. He arrived by ship in New York, and his first purchase was a Sunday New York Times to teach himself English. My dad was dazzled by America. He made his way to Oregon, where his first job was at a logging camp – where the loggers ate steak! He was thrilled to hear Americans speak freely, to learn about due process of law, to see how universities were cherished. He revelled in a land where people weren't randomly tarred as enemies of the people, where the government didn't disappear people off the streets. To my dad, fleeing genocide and repression, America seemed extraordinarily accepting of diversity. Immigrants were accepted, and so were competing opinions. His landlady returned his rent. 'I'm not going to charge a refugee,' she said. 'You need the money more than I do.' My dad recognised America's imperfections, of course, for those ideals are more lofty than our sometimes grubby reality. Yet I've seen how they inspired my relatives imprisoned in Eastern Europe and people just like them in places like Venezuela and El Salvador. Yet now American values are threatened by an American president. The Trump administration deported – it said by mistake – Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Despite an apparently unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court ordering the facilitation of his return, White House officials have shrugged. Another immigrant, Ricardo Prada Vásquez, a Venezuelan, simply vanished into the system – until my Times colleague Miriam Jordan wrote about his case. I watch all this, and I think about what is threatened today, including those values that, like a lighthouse in a raging storm, drew Ladis Kristof to these shores and made him a (heavily accented) American patriot until his death in 2010. It can take many generations to build a great edifice admired around the world and just days to destroy it. And President Donald Trump is a wrecking ball. So, Mr President, a plea: If you want to make America great again, let's start by respecting the rule of law and ending the practice of disappearing people into distant dungeons. — ©2025 The New York Times Company Nicholas Kristof is an opinion columnist for NYT. This was first published in The New York Times.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Upheaval at Inter-American Foundation slashes critical aid in Haiti, report says
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Thousands of Haitians have lost access to resources including seeds, loans and medical care after the Trump administration began to dismantle a U.S. foundation that helped the troubled Caribbean country, according to a new report issued Friday. Church World Service, a U.S.-based aid organization, said the Inter-American Foundation had 27 grants with partners across Haiti worth more than $10 million that targeted nearly 82,000 people. 'Cutting these programs, especially in this way, is cruel,' said Joel Malebranche, director of international programs at Church World Service. 'Farmers counted on American support, and we're now turning our backs at the start of the planting season. The report shows that these actions are going to lead to more children facing acute malnutrition and in some cases the loss of life.' The report was released the same day that a U.S. judge agreed to block the Trump administration from dismantling the Inter-American Foundation, an autonomous agency that distributes grant money to community development groups in the Caribbean and Latin America. But the upheaval at the foundation that began earlier this year already resulted in an estimated 500 to 600 Haitians being denied medical care each month; in some 14,500 Haitians losing access to seed loans, tools and other services; and in 40% fewer loans being available, according to the report. 'That harm can't be undone,' said Alex Morse, deputy regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean at Christian World Service. 'There's no alternative for a lot of these families.' He said that despite Friday's ruling, concerns remain. 'What we've seen this administration do with other similar court rulings, they restore the program…but they still don't send the funding,' he said. Some 230 workers across Haiti have already been laid off, with 17 organizations forced to lay off their entire staff, according to the report. The report, which was based on a rapid analysis, stated that it was difficult to determine the depth of impact that the dismantling of the Inter-American Foundation would have on grantees in Haiti. The grants helped farmers by providing them with seeds, tools and training in a country where some 2 million people are on the brink of starvation and nearly half of its more than 11 million inhabitants face high levels of acute food insecurity. The grants also helped provide routine health services and care for patients with serious illnesses and emergencies in a country where more than 4,200 people have been reported killed from July to February, and another 1,356 were injured, according to the U.N. In addition, the grants helped finance loans, especially for women in rural areas, the report stated. The dismantling of the Inter-American Foundation, coupled with the closure of USAID, has many worried about the future of Haiti, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid. Morse said Church World Service is trying to identify other organizations who can provide help across Haiti, especially in its northwest region, which has struggled through droughts and intense flooding. Haiti is mired in political turmoil and wracked by violence unleashed by gangs that control at least 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Gangs also have pillaged other regions, recently attacking the central city of Mirebalais, where they stormed a prison and released more than 500 inmates. Meanwhile, there are no commercial flights going to and from Haiti's main international airport in the capital, with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration extending a ban on flights until Sept. 8 following a surge in gang violence.
