Non-Profits Step Up to Help Undocumented Refugees

The New York Times has done a follow-up report spotlighting a few of the many non-profits that have stepped up to help hundreds of undocumented immigrants seeking asylum that were caught by ICE and then subsequently dropped off, sometimes at bus stations, sometimes at the nearest homeless shelter, to fend for themselves.

Says the Times, "one way or another, once the migrants have been dropped off by discreet white Immigration and Customs Enforcement vans in border towns across the Southwest, they are no longer the federal government's problem."

What this means, in practical terms, is that once these families and individuals are dropped off, they are on their own while waiting for their cases to go through immigration court. 

The Times reports that "as the number of migrant families in recent months has overwhelmed the government’s detention facilities, the Trump administration has drastically reduced its efforts to ensure the migrants’ safety after they are released. People working along the border say an ever larger number of families are being released with nowhere to stay, no money, no food and no means of getting to friends and relatives who may be hundreds or thousands of miles away."

So there is a "growing network of charities, expanding along the border from California to Texas. Dating back well into the Obama administration, when the surge in migrant families began, these churches and other nongovernmental organizations have strung together millions of dollars worth of assistance to help keep migrants off the streets and speed their reunion with family members in the United States."

To be fair, this patchwork approach to helping undocumented immigrants didn't start with the current administration in Washington. However, it is the current administration's policies that have exponentially worsened the situation.

Reports the Times: "Undocumented migrants are held initially at Border Patrol and ICE facilities as their claims for asylum are registered. Previously, government agents would help coordinate plans for their release, contacting family members in American cities and helping secure transportation, even sometimes paying for bus tickets. When charity-operated shelters were full, government agencies sometimes held them a little longer, until they could be transferred."

But these practices, known as "safe release" ended in October because ICE has been overwhelmed at the sheer number of undocumented migrants seeking asylum.

The US system of handling immigration and refugees has been broken for decades. But those on the front lines, offering services to families and individuals point out that "the government has abandoned its moral responsibility to make sure they are released safely.

Under President Obama, the government also had no infrastructure to provide services to newly released migrants; instead, it relied on a cooperative relationship with private shelter operators. Now, the shelter operators say, that cooperation has become fraught."

So, as the current Congress begins to reexamine how the US treats immigrants and refugees, this network of non-profits is being strained to continue serving as the need increases. 

The good news in all of this is that we can directly help by providing monetary support. In the New York Times article, three organizations providing services to undocumented migrants were mentioned. Here are their websites, each with donation options:

Annunciation House (in El Paso)

Jewish Family Services of San Diego

Catholic Charities of McAllen, TX

And for extra credit here is an excellent blogpost by Karen Gonzalez on the subject of immigration and our conversation around it.