Winter Solstice Prayer

<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gCAaLUJTMic/X99g_JzH0YI/AAAAAAAAZ0s/YrMlSYR50bc9WoSydKx39SaWNKTBf36jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/icy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gCAaLUJTMic/X99g_JzH0YI/AAAAAAAAZ0s/YrMlSYR50bc9WoSydKx39SaWNKTBf36jQCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/icy.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p>A year of death. Inconsolable sorrow. I descend into the darkness of these last small days. Darker and darker. Pulled by the steady rhythm of a drumbeat I cannot hear. Shuffling the inevitable steps downward without question. This journey I take into the abyss. </p><p>The fragrance of moss, ferns, decay. Scattered pinpoints of light flash. Then nothing.</p><p><span>Take it all. My ego. Its chatter, its harsh judgments, the pain. Burn it all.</span></p><p> Let me rest here in nothingness.</p><p><span><span><span> And rise again anew. When the sun can again find me and make me strong.</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3julBP6eT80/X99h1nuMpyI/AAAAAAAAZ00/f63TNyUHbYU8OPB0aPrb1mgCJ_ZodBUDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3julBP6eT80/X99h1nuMpyI/AAAAAAAAZ00/f63TNyUHbYU8OPB0aPrb1mgCJ_ZodBUDgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/dawn.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></p>Stronger than ever.<br /><span><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br /> <p></p>

Viva

Winter Solstice Prayer

A year of death. Inconsolable sorrow. I descend into the darkness of these last small days. Darker and darker. Pulled by the steady rhythm o...

Soft Rain Five Minutes of the Farm #28

<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_RDo34JWuZM/X6xO1Erxs5I/AAAAAAAAZwE/0PitFStO4hcD_2FLe8erNTj4R_bIH1rxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/goshen%2Bpass.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="517" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_RDo34JWuZM/X6xO1Erxs5I/AAAAAAAAZwE/0PitFStO4hcD_2FLe8erNTj4R_bIH1rxgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h517/goshen%2Bpass.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Driving through Goshen Pass this morning en route to the grocery store</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tDv6hAWBPIE/X6xPCV6umZI/AAAAAAAAZwI/8Svi6ox8_CE6RoDZb4Ln5wr7dFa3eVE3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/fence.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tDv6hAWBPIE/X6xPCV6umZI/AAAAAAAAZwI/8Svi6ox8_CE6RoDZb4Ln5wr7dFa3eVE3wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/fence.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Five Minutes on The Farm #28</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/45QBMTHrGec" target="_blank">Soft Rain</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In case that doesn't open as hyperlink is being cantankerous today: <span style="text-align: left;">https://youtu.be/45QBMTHrGec</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tsLBCIoVenc/X6xTWnlYltI/AAAAAAAAZwg/IVbZYehjAaQ03kGLurho7_Dv-OHVZI1yACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tsLBCIoVenc/X6xTWnlYltI/AAAAAAAAZwg/IVbZYehjAaQ03kGLurho7_Dv-OHVZI1yACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/red.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="b-hbp-video b-uploaded" frameborder="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER-video-692ec76d1f32b7e8-9766" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxRzMyD_elRkllUA7cQmO5DNeyQ0fYcxILgNjJpJZ1aQD9iTdC5EOHR_pETESlPlWnOWGuN_9lN5wx-92nj8OXjyTkUfCRmxqTkXH1J6diJVnVwBoF9duqkX6CNvshNqK6osbw" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Maybe the prob today with transposing videos is Blogger? Well, imagine a mountainside waterfall, rushing down mossy and lichen spotted granite rocks among shiny mountain laurel and red and yellow trees on a foggy November morning. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Hear it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LAy1VyBTTWo/X6xTkoh3boI/AAAAAAAAZwk/7Fti5FWfqWYySeW6adj52i2vSCyAQxthQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/yellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LAy1VyBTTWo/X6xTkoh3boI/AAAAAAAAZwk/7Fti5FWfqWYySeW6adj52i2vSCyAQxthQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/yellow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4HpGWm9yhvk/X6xT8pivRrI/AAAAAAAAZws/xIym8bR3dDYZGy4NYPPn2ymEcVZt0YymwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/farmhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4HpGWm9yhvk/X6xT8pivRrI/AAAAAAAAZws/xIym8bR3dDYZGy4NYPPn2ymEcVZt0YymwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/farmhouse.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Old farmhouse on my property in front of the Springhouse c.1819<br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><br />

Five Minutes on the Farm

Soft Rain Five Minutes of the Farm #28

Driving through Goshen Pass this morning en route to the grocery store Five Minutes on The Farm #28 Soft Rain   In case that doesn't ope...

Election Day (Five Minutes #27) and Slaughter on the Farm

<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CFredji1qQs" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p>I live alone, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. People often sigh and say, “I envy you. It must be so peaceful out there, alone in Nature.” It is not. At the moment I feel anything but peace over being solely responsible for the death of a family of five. A new mom with four teeny tiny, fledgling babies. God knows if there is also a father out there devastated over the carnage. </p><p>The babies were so very new and helpless that they could do little more than lie on their backs, not yet able to walk, barely to turn. Their mouths could only search sweetly and anxiously for their mother’s teat. </p><p>And I slaughtered them. Every last one.</p><p>I had no business going out to the studio in the first place, taunting a seriously injured foot. The route is hilly and uneven, and especially treacherous now with the long soft gopher runs concealed by fallen leaves. </p><p>According to my doctor, I should not have been applying any weight to my foot even on a solid floor, having just had a sizable bone spur mercilessly filed from my ankle bone. </p><p>The surgical site is squishy and swollen. The surgeon had also scraped and scooped away the gristle from the two major tendons that had been deteriorating as they tried to glide over my ankle but met instead a sharp bone shredding and then grating cartilage. This had been going on for over a year. I am a hiker and during that time had traversed miles and miles up and down canyons, and in my daring escapades had turned, twisted and stretched my ankles navigating tree roots and river rocks and leaping chasms. I thought it was a pulled muscle or maybe a stress fracture and while I babied it a bit, mostly I just kept on going. Until it would no longer let me.</p><p>My tendons had been screaming every day since the surgery from the moment I woke. Zingers from sudden missteps had already sent me back to the couch white-faced a couple times.</p><p>But I had much to lose by another rodent infestation and felt like I needed to check on the status of the studio. It would be my only foray for the day, one slow careful navigation across the yard and back.</p><p>I made it there, only twisting my foot badly once. I took a deep breath and entered the space expecting to be enveloped by calm. It was after all, usually a lovely pristine space. But instead I opened the door to a room littered with animal droppings and air reeking of funk, not quite dead animal funk, but something close. There aren’t many places to hide and the blanket chest having been the situs of the last malicious mischief taking place in the studio, I warily crossed the room and pulled open the heavy wooden chest lid. Slowly, I removed the neatly stacked blankets, my arthritic claw-like fingers pulling the plastic-encased blankets up one by one until I arrived at the bottom of the chest. There she was languishing in a pile of scat, chewed plastic, colorful wool felt, smelly blood, and feathers from my peacock costume, nursing her tiny newborns. She looked up at me with deep black beady-eyed terror. She’d have screamed if that was her way. </p><p>Her new brood, well they were darling babies, anyone would have told her. Teeny tiny soft things, absolutely precious, each one, their mini-hearts pounding rapidly against pure white underbellies. with perfect pink lips seeking their mama who had suddenly and surprisingly shifted away from their clinging mouths and the reach of their tiny paws that had been lovingly stroking her.</p><p>I thought quickly, formulating a plan for removal to a safe spot outside. I would pick up the ring of fuzz and transfer the four babies in their soft nest, a nest that included bits of my favorite shawl and soft wool from a blanket just mended from a mouse ravaging it, to a peaceful sheltered spot in the leaves in the woods at the edge of the yard. Then I would reunite them with their mother. </p><p>I began trying to catch Mom. Wild-eyed, she abandoned the tiny ones, pawing the air where she’d been, mouths searching hungrily. And she scrambled across the chest away from my reach. My slow hands followed. It was clear that she would slip out of my fist, and might bite me too, so I tried catching her by scooping her with the a blanker. She eluded my every attempt, back and forth, up and down until finally she successfully escaped over the lid and across the floor. The studio is not that large and not very cluttered, so I figured I could easily find her. </p><p>I turned my attention to the babies. It was not a difficult matter to pick them up part and parcel with the nest, though my uneven steps stressed the integrity of the nest and drove them wee ones a bit apart, they remained in my palm until my foot twisted and gave way. With an anguished scream, I dropped the nest and the little ones who lay where they fell, unable yet to move beyond pawing the air. Well, it was close enough to the edge of the woods and in sufficient shade, so I left them there and went back for Mom.</p><p>First, I had I to collect the two humane traps stored in the basement, long green plastic houses to catch her. It was a long sojourn on my aching foot and took a minute. </p><p>I returned to the studio and looked under the daybed. Nowhere. I pulled out the box with the airbed stored under it. Maybe she was in there. I hobbled over to the door with the box, planning to take it out and dump it near the babies in case she was in there and would come scurrying out. I kept my eye on the box where I’d set it and did a quick scan of the floor under and behind the costume rack. She was not there. Nor was she in the corner behind the radiator. Sill eying the air mattress box, poised to lunge as I had forgotten to close the door, I limped over and fumbled back through the blanket chest. </p><p>For all I know she could have been the very same mouse I had so humanely removed not long before. That damn mouse had not only chewed through several of my favorite blankets but had chewed a hole through the floor to get in to the building. I had mended every last blanket, purchased expensive vacuum-seal bags as well as heavy-duty duct tape which I painstakingly layered to prevent re-entry. Nonetheless I did not hold the new hole in the floor or the minced vacuum-seal bags and chewed blankets or the destruction of my favorite festival shawl and my peacock costume against her, or the past damage either. I was determined to reunite her with her babies if I could find her. </p><p>Which I could not. I f she was not in the air mattress box, I could only hope that her sense of smell was very, very keen and that she would sense their presence forty feet from the studio.</p><p>Nearing the nest that had tumbled from my hand, I dumped the air mattress. She did not scamper out. I peered inside. It stunk, but she wasn’t there. Limping and hopping, I unfolded the bulky queen mattress to uncover fresh, putrid pools of blood in its folds. I moaned. Did she really deliver in the folds of the mattress? This meant another trip to the house for soapy water and rags.</p><p>But first I hobbled over to check on the upturned babies. Each tiny body pulsed with an increasingly frantic heartbeat. Three pairs of delicate lips and and three pairs of exquisite paws searched the air. </p><p>I could not have been more grateful for the fourth baby. He showed no signs of distress. His heart beat steadily and softly. His eyes remained blissfully closed and his smile was confident.</p><p>At that point, I still believed that she might gather them still and create a new nest and home. I stopped back at the studio to renew my hunt for her, but the room was silent. There didn’t seem to be sense in loading the traps with peanut butter. I had no appetite. Surely, she didn’t either. </p><p>But she was overwrought, so I strategically placed the traps where she would probably run. </p><p>I checked back a bit later before the sun set, my ankle screaming at me the entire slow trip over and back, but no luck. All was still silent. </p><p>I checked on the babies. They were struggling and looked much worse. Very desperate. Except the fourth one who remained unperturbed, smiling as sweetly as the Dalai Lama.</p><p>I did not return to the scene of my crime for three days. I could not. By then thankfully there was no trace of the babies. Still, they were tiny things to find in the vast leaf fall of the yard. She’d had plenty of time to get out. Maybe she had found them. </p><p>I would stuff the hole in the floor now with my last Brillo pad. </p><p>Slowly opening the door of the studio, I was hit this time with the rank smell of death. </p><p>I can’t be absolutely certain that it was Mom who had suffocated in the humane trap I had forgotten to unset, but it looked a lot like her.</p><p><br /></p></div>

Five Minutes on the Farm

Election Day (Five Minutes #27) and Slaughter on the Farm

I live alone, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. People often sigh and say, “I envy you. It must be so peaceful out there, alone in Nature.”...

Five Minutes on the Farm #25 September Reverie

<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oU6yEGIv1EY" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oU6yEGIv1EY/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe>

Five Minutes on the Farm

Five Minutes on the Farm #25 September Reverie

Sorry, Mr. Darcy... and Five or uh, ten Minutes on the Farm #26

<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-38bCegPHDtg/X3oHOhTPn_I/AAAAAAAAZrg/o-ZqAFZVLBo9yIQDk964OuoyDYDtOcHMACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/leaves%2Bchanging%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="323" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-38bCegPHDtg/X3oHOhTPn_I/AAAAAAAAZrg/o-ZqAFZVLBo9yIQDk964OuoyDYDtOcHMACLcBGAsYHQ/w462-h323/leaves%2Bchanging%2B1.jpg" width="462" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A pre-winter chill has worked its way into my ankle surgical site...and while I didn't sleep last night either Mr. Darcy, spare yourself the trek through the morning fog. Alas, I cannot meet you.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I_xQuRy9IuA/X3oNtIpqdfI/AAAAAAAAZsA/IGzuq_LYPV0Ax7U3b8S-arrhq-3Oh_htACLcBGAsYHQ/s650/mr%2Bdarcy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I_xQuRy9IuA/X3oNtIpqdfI/AAAAAAAAZsA/IGzuq_LYPV0Ax7U3b8S-arrhq-3Oh_htACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/mr%2Bdarcy.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/1dYv5u6v55Y" style="text-align: left;">https://youtu.be/1dYv5u6v55Y</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">I'll be spending the afternoon with Robert Sapolsky again. </span><span style="text-align: left;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><a href="https://youtu.be/oKNAzl-XN4I" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://youtu.be/oKNAzl-XN4I">Behavioral Evolution II</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And here ya go: <a href="https://youtu.be/4ApaSypk_no">Five Minutes on the Farm #26</a>   (Actually, ten)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>

Five Minutes on the Farm, Viva

Sorry, Mr. Darcy... and Five or uh, ten Minutes on the Farm #26

A pre-winter chill has worked its way into my ankle surgical site...and while I didn't sleep last night either Mr. Darcy, spare yourself...

Five Minutes on the Farm #24 The River

<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RI9fQE3SL2g" width="320" youtube-src-id="RI9fQE3SL2g"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p>

Five Minutes on the Farm

Five Minutes on the Farm #24 The River

 

Anti-Corruption Legislation

<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mElus0a46NI/X0ZyEsyUUII/AAAAAAAAZlg/WrtFGITLsv4m06Jeu0jK24lT-989Jg1pACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/storm%2Bapproaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mElus0a46NI/X0ZyEsyUUII/AAAAAAAAZlg/WrtFGITLsv4m06Jeu0jK24lT-989Jg1pACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/storm%2Bapproaching.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; font-size: 0.875rem; padding: 20px 0px 0px;">email sent August 26, 2020</div><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; font-size: 0.875rem; padding: 20px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #5f6368; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; letter-spacing: 0.3px; white-space: nowrap;">to</span><span style="color: #5f6368; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; letter-spacing: 0.3px; white-space: nowrap;"> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="district25@senate.virginia.gov" dir="ltr" email="district25@senate.virginia.gov" name="district25@senate.virginia.gov" style="color: #5f6368; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; letter-spacing: 0.3px; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">district25@senate.virginia.gov</span></div><div class="gE iv gt" style="cursor: auto; font-size: 0.875rem; padding: 20px 0px 0px;"><table cellpadding="0" class="cf gJ" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-collapse: collapse; display: block; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; letter-spacing: 0.2px; margin-top: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="display: block;"></tbody></table></div><div id=":mv"><div class="qQVYZb"></div><div class="utdU2e"></div><div class="lQs8Hd" jsaction="SN3rtf:rcuQ6b" jscontroller="i3Ohde"></div><div class="btm"></div></div><div class=""><div class="aHl" style="margin-left: -38px;"></div><div id=":o0" tabindex="-1"></div><div class="ii gt" id=":mt" style="direction: ltr; margin: 8px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="a3s aXjCH " id=":mu" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5; overflow: hidden;"><div style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important; color: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important; font-size: small;"><span style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: black;">Dear Senator:</span></div><div dir="auto" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px;">I</span><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">t is obvious that we need to reign in the power of private interest lobbyists to succeed in their agendas by subsidizing politicians. I like the comprehensiveness of this model Anti-Corruption statute and the premise that such change is not going to take place <i>sua sponte </i>at the federal level where legislators are benefitting from the status quo, but more likely from pressure for change taking place at lower levels of government and taking hold. </span><br /></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="auto"><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I was definitely disappointed to read that Virginia ranks 35th of 50 in political integrity, so it is clear this is needed at our state level. </div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Accordingly, I am attaching a model act and respectfully petitioning you as a voting constituent from Bath County, Virginia to advance its consideration. </div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I extend deep felt thanks to you and your staff for your continuing hard work and look forward to watching this bring about overdue and positive change.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I trust that you will let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of any help in further advancing this.  </div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><br /></div></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: small;">The following link will take you to a summary of the provisions and a downloadable PDF of   proposed legislation. </div><div style="font-size: small;"><br /><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://represent.us/anticorruption-act/&source=gmail&ust=1598538538987000&usg=AFQjCNFI1uJoqHhMqzvaja45YfutBJDpvA" href="https://represent.us/anticorruption-act/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://represent.us/<wbr></wbr>anticorruption-act/</a><div class="yj6qo"></div><div class="adL"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

Change Now

Anti-Corruption Legislation

email sent August 26, 2020 to   district25@senate.virginia.gov Dear Senator: I t is obvious that we need to reign in the power of private in...

Summer 2020

<p> Stuff I did since coming home, except that someone else replaced the roof.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BHsJLjMTQYM" width="320" youtube-src-id="BHsJLjMTQYM"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>

Viva

Summer 2020

 Stuff I did since coming home, except that someone else replaced the roof.

Faith based organizations in the US and their historical role in Refugee Resettlement

<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UNctiRrQuD0/X0KT7JHPR4I/AAAAAAAAZkM/US-8aanbmioef9J3XtE8MiUm1owpM3JBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG-3621.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UNctiRrQuD0/X0KT7JHPR4I/AAAAAAAAZkM/US-8aanbmioef9J3XtE8MiUm1owpM3JBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG-3621.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span face="" style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span face="" style="font-size: 14pt;">Faith based organizations in the US and their historical role in Refugee Resettlement<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span face="" style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">for CWS Refugee Resettlement Center, Harrisonburg, VA -A.Smith, Aug. 2020</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Providing refuge to those fleeing persecution is an ancient and venerable tradition. For as long as history has been recorded there have been stories of people the world over who offer shelter to those fleeing tyranny and oppression and, when they can, welcoming them into their own communities and helping them to rebuild lives worth living.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Some are guided by the scriptures of their own religion to help others.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a> <a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a> <a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a> And some are simply guided by the ethics inscribed in their own hearts. Many have defied the law of their land to follow a higher sacred law when it is clear to them that their government has failed to reflect what is morally right. This has posed hard choices for many but ultimately each person must weigh the significance of their actions and where it has required for example lying about concealing an endangered person, countless refugee and sanctuary helpers have done so, risking their own lives to protect another from enslavement, torture or death.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Individuals and faith-based organizations have joined together to form networks to protect and transport those fleeing tyranny, hiding their actions from authorities, xenophobic neighbors and even from friends. At different times in our history, notably, before slavery was banished in the United States, during WWII (Japanese internment camps) and presently, the political climate of a country has been stirred to accept hateful rhetoric against outsiders. Even today one does not have to look far to find those who have accepted the rhetoric “lock, stock and barrel” and truly believe that their livelihoods and safety are threatened by immigrants. Both of these prevalent myths are readily belied by the statistics. First, statistics show unequivocally that overall immigrants boost the economy by creating <i>more</i> jobs for others. As a group, refugees more than repay the US tax coffers every year for any preliminary assistance required and over a lifetime, immigrants contribute more to the US economy than the average native-born American. <a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span></span></a> And secondly, the fear that immigrants are actually terrorists is a conjecture whose inevitability is not even remotely borne out by statistics. <a href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[5]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">The tenor of the government should reflect but can certainly steer the attitude of its constituents on any issue. Some local governments, as large as New York City <a href="#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[6]</span></span></span></a> and as small as Rutland, Vermont <a href="#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[7]</span></span></span></a> recognize and applaud the boost to the economy. This sets the stage for its citizens to appreciate immigrants rather than worry they will unfairly take away their livelihood. Where the national party-line is that refugees are terrorists and should be barred from even entering the country, the voice of the church, of faith-based organizations can go a long way in steering local government to promote love and reduce fear of “the other.”<a href="#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[8]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Regardless of true national sentiment, the US President has the power to determine the number of refugees welcome annually. In 2020 Donald Trump has capped the number at 18,000, a historical low. Christianity Today<a href="#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[9]</span></span></span></a> reported on July 10^th that only 7600 had been accepted with only three months left in the fiscal year. This number is .00002% of our population.<a href="#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[10]</span></span></span></a> At the end of 2019, there were 79.5 million forcibly displaced people in the world.<a href="#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[11]</span></span></span></a> Twenty-six million were refugees, 4.2 million seeking asylum and 45.7 million displaced within their own country.<a href="#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[12]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #333333;">On top of severely limiting entry into the country, our president has unilaterally made a staggering number of policy changes via executive order that affect how the immigration courts operate, humanitarian programs and statuses, adjustments to how the State Department processes visa applications and admits foreign nationals to the United States, and enforcement changes. While many of these changes undoubtedly run counter to the provisions and intent of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) convention, the multilateral treaty protecting refugees, only a fraction have been slowed or stopped by the courts thus far, with the result that tens of thousands of immigrants are not only experiencing abrupt separation from their families and livelihoods, but being sent back </span><span face="" style="background: white;">to a country where they face serious threats.<a href="#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[13]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">The administration’s rhetoric against immigrants has been strong and fierce and aimed at fomenting hatred. In October 2019 Trump issued an executive order allowing states and local governments to bar refugees. A brief snippet of recent history in case you’ve forgotten: despite intensive security screenings required of all refugees accepted for resettlement, in 2015, thirty-one US governors (30 of them, Republicans) attempted to bar resettlement of Syrians in their states, citing security concerns.<a href="#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[14]</span></span></span></a> Fears can easily be stoked and the political climate roused to a dangerous pitch. At the time Syrian refugees comprised the largest refugee population in the world. Since violence had erupted in their beloved homeland, over 250,000 people had died and eleven million Syrians, half the population, had fled their homes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">The executive order was struck down as violating the 1980 Refugee Act by a federal judge in January of this year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">On the other end of the spectrum are local governments warmly connected to their population base, governments who have rallied to help the families within their communities. These are localities who see and understand the omnipresent fear of those who have already been persecuted and who, if discovered may be separated from their families forever and returned to a dangerous situation. These people are forced to live under the radar with little if any assistance. And yet they bring humanity to the community. These localities have declared themselves as Sanctuary Cities or as in the case of Austin, Texas, a “Freedom City,” havens that limit their cooperation with federal enforcement of immigration law by for instance, disallowing municipal police to demand proof of citizenship. (Trump via executive order has reacted by trying to withdraw funding of unrelated programs to these cities.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">The phenomenon of politicians stirring the populace toward racism is not unique to America. And yet globally the world is changing, moving toward a world where diversity is not only respected, but celebrated. Across the world, many cities are openly embracing the opportunity to welcome and integrate refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees coined such cities “Cities of Light.”<a href="#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[15]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Some US towns take a different tact, staying out of the limelight and off the political stage. A small town in Georgia, Clarkston, who prides itself on welcoming refugees simply calls itself “the Ellis Island of the South.” <a href="#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[16]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">And without any self-laudatory fanfare, Harrisonburg, Virginia has become a welcome refuge for those fleeing persecution.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Our history here in welcoming strangers began with actions by faith-based organizations. A contemporary journalist credits the local Mennonites and members of the Church of the Brethren working to place post-WWII immigrants with ‘priming the Valley to treat immigrants with compassion and respect.’<a href="#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[17]</span></span></span></a> In 1988 Church World Service was awarded its first contract to run the refugee resettlement center here. And then in 2000, a group of local Mennonite churches responded to the changing demographic in Shenandoah Valley and formed the NewBridges Immigrant Resource Center to address “spiritual, social and economic needs of immigrants to the area.”<a href="#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[18]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">The extent to which religious networks assist and advocate for refugees varies. “Sanctuary” itself is a term first used to describe the protections extended in ancient Greece, Egypt and Israel and much later, in medieval times adopted by European churches who provided temporary shelter to those fleeing political or criminal prosecutio<span style="color: #444444;">n.<a href="#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12pt;">[19]</span></span></span></a></span> This had the advantage of allowing a cleric to negotiate with the government or angry family and arrive at a peaceful resolution. Even today, the notion that one could be arrested, threatened or killed in a church is abhorrent to our national psyche. Very few confrontations take place within the walls of a church; if nothing else, it would get a bad rap politically.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Runaway slaves were protected in churches in the North during the Civil War and Conscientious Objectors drafted to the Vietnam War were likewise protected by some churches. The Underground Railway of the Civil War was comprised of networks of private individuals and religious organizations providing sanctuary and assistance to runaway slaves and was really the first large-scale sanctuary movement in the United States, though the term is most often employed to describe the movement begun in the 1980s to protect immigrants escaping from the brutal regimes of Central America, regimes the United States government was supporting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Interestingly, <span style="background: white; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">Philip Wheaton, an Episcopal priest and director of the Ecumenical Program for Inter-American Communication and Action, told an early national gathering of sanctuary workers at that time, that “[t}he struggle is not against one man named Ronald Reagan but against an acquisitive economic system based on the law of gain . . . and the degradation of human beings. We struggle against a system whose ultimate concern is not refugees and not dictators and not democracies but the maintenance of an economic order in which we Americans consume most of the wealth of the resources of this planet.”<a href="#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #292929; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">[20]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #181818; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">The Quakers are considered the first organized group to actively help escaped slaves. The African Methodist Episcopal Church also actively helped fugitive slaves.<a href="#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #181818; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">[21]</span></span></span></a> Presently, </span><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;">more than 800 churches and some synagogues have declared themselves sanctuaries. As such they actively try to stop the deportation of as-yet undocumented immigrants. <a href="#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #222f3a; font-size: 12pt;">[22]</span></span></span></a> Undocumented asylum seekers are a fact of life in the Southwest. Faith-based organizations in Ajo, Arizona try also to prevent immigrant deaths in the surrounding Sonoran Desert and they search for and honor remains of those who have perished.<a href="#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #222f3a; font-size: 12pt;">[23]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;">Are faith-based organizations active today in Harrisonburg?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;">Very much so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;">The 14^th annual Taste of the World sponsored by the NewBridges Immigrant Resource Center is coming up.<a href="#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #222f3a; font-size: 12pt;">[24]</span></span></span></a></span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #646464;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #444444;">The most recent public showing of faith-based political support of our immigrants was a candlelight vigil attended by nearly 150 area residents at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church family center in Harrisonburg on November 11, 2019, the eve of the US Supreme Court hearing on the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, <a href="#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt;">[25]</span></span></span></a> followed by a march in Washington, DC to oppose ending DACA.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #444444;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #444444;">Active faith-based support unquestionably drives political support and the City of Harrisonburg has been pro-active in showing its support of our refugees. <a href="#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt;">[26]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;">Church World Service operates a wonderful refugee resettlement center under contract with the US State Department to resettle refugees and asylees who have been accepted by the federal government and placed here to rebuild their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #262626;">CWS has resettled more than 3,500 refugees in the Harrisonburg area since 1988, helping to make Harrisonburg one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in Virginia.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #262626;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #262626;">In fact, today the Harrisonburg–Rockingham County community includes refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Burma, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Cuba, El Salvador, Eritrea, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.<a href="#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #262626; font-size: 12pt;">[27]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #222f3a;">To better understand exactly who CWS is and who they are helping resettle, a brief tutorial on refugees and asylees follows. You will not be quizzed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Technically, “refugees” are those who either have applied while outside the US for national entry and determined to have a credible fear of persecution in their homeland. To be eligible for refugee or asylum status, a principal applicant must meet the definition of a refugee set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which states, in part, that a refugee is “a person who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Applicants undergo a very extensive background check before being accepted and once accepted, they must apply to become a lawful permanent resident after one year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">“Asylees” are those who have either presented themselves at the border or those who have sought sanctuary by crossing the border illegally or by overstaying their visas and are seeking asylum once in the country. Many have no idea how to apply for asylum or simply cannot afford it. Those trying to make it to the border are more often than not robbed of any cash or belongings they were able to leave with along their route. Asylees are invisible to most Americans and yet are a very vulnerable group because at any point they risk being picked up by ICE officials and imprisoned in detainment centers, sometimes indefinitely and without any access to help, medical, legal, emotional. Oftentimes children are separated from parents and if no one speaks their language they do not even know where they are. And while the number of those who actually successfully make it through the asylum process is counted in the total number of refugees accepted, the number in proportion to those seeking asylum is extraordinarily low. These applicants must also prove a credible fear of being persecuted if they return to their home country. Unfortunately, if they are one of the lucky few to make it to the application interview, the overworked caseworkers in the immigration centers have cultivated a well-documented “culture of disbelief” with an overwhelming prejudice that applicants are lying in order to take advantage of the good life in America where they can shop their hearts out for every conceivable gizmo. The bottom line truth is that the decision to leave one’s homeland is not taken lightly. On average, it is four years person after a conflict erupts in their country, even when it involves genocide before a person makes the move to uproot. <a href="#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[28]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">This plight of purgatory and frustration explains in part why the Atlanta immigration center was stormed recently by protestors seeking change in America. The weight of the uncertainty alone at every point along the way cannot be overstated. Sweden has an alarming number of refugee children who become overwhelmed with fear while waiting for the acceptance determination and fall into comas, lasting anywhere from 6 months to two years. <a href="#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[29]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Most US citizens remain blissfully unaware of the plight of asylees in America. It is inconceivable to many that one can be detained in America without due process of law, yet that is exactly what is happening in Dickensian detention centers across the country run by for-profit corporations that also run prisons. These corporations<a href="#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[30]</span></span></span></a> have been awarded multi-year billion-dollar contracts outside the federal procurement system, which would at the very least ensure competition. <a href="#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[31]</span></span></span></a> It raises questions too whether even minimum safeguards like employee background checks are required. As it is, allegations have surfaced in these detention centers of squalid living conditions, rape, torture and even death from easily treatable medical conditions overseers have failed and refused to address.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">If an asylee makes it through the application process, they too have a right to apply to be a lawful permanent resident after one year in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Once granted asylee status, one may become eligible to receive services through the Office of Refugee Resettlement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">It is these refugees and asylees, who have proven a credible fear of persecution in their homeland and who have been through extensive background checks who have been accepted into the Refugee Resettlement program in Harrisonburg and who are, with your magnificent help integrating into the community and rebuilding their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Presently nine refugee resettlement centers hold contracts with the US State Department for resettling refugees. These agencies meet regularly to review the approved list of refugees and appropriately match them to one of 190 locales across the country where their needs can best be met. Each resettlement center has a host of affiliates to help them with the many facets of welcoming and integrating refugees. Where will a newcomer be placed? Their needs are reviewed and discussed all round. Consider just one facet, like language: not all areas will be able to provide language assistance in Kurundi, one of the languages spoken in Burundi. As anyone who has traveled knows, different societies approach life in unimaginatively varied ways and charades can only go far. Even a culture as similar as ours, Austria, sells the kitchen to a new renter. If someone who knows limited English is trying to ask you about this, would you have a clue? And there are the many cultural nuances one must learn. Looking someone in the eyes is a sign of honesty and forthrightness in America and is something a job interviewer wants to see and yet in many cultures it is bad to look someone in the eyes, inviting trouble and revealing a dark nature. Someone speaking the same language can help a new arrival tremendously.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Affiliates are often needed to find housing, employment, life skills classes, English classes, day care, and medical assistance. Sometimes a new arrival will have special needs like diabetes, autism, or PTSD. Beyond ensuring basic needs are met, resettlement agencies work to fully integrate new residents into the community, helping them to find friends, training in their areas of interest, faith-based communities that nurture their beliefs…in short, everything it takes to help them create a meaningful life in their new home. Caseworkers must be resilient and on the lookout for the unexpected and figure out who to reach out to for additional help. Resettlement centers also rely on a base of volunteers to provide support, from providing transportation to helping a new arrival shop for groceries.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">Apart from helping refugees resettle, each resettlement center has its own mission statement and they go to different lengths in advocating for political reform. But advocate they do. The faith-based agencies see it as their moral obligation to protect and care for others and in these times that requires challenging laws adversely affecting the already-vulnerable. One might think that challenging government policies would be a nuanced dance where the federal government holds the contract with the agency. However, each of the nine resettlement agencies has strongly condemned the recent anti-immigration policies of the Trump administration, some even filing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of his executive orders.<a href="#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[32]</span></span></span></a> In the book, “Welcoming the Stranger,” co-author Matthew Soerens, the US Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, not only lays out the biblical passages directing followers of Christ to welcome and assist the stranger in our midst, but also adamantly contends that Christians “are called to advocacy.”<a href="#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[33]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">In the past, the issue of welcoming refugees has been a nonpartisan one. In fact, the Refugee Act of 1980 passed with unanimous bipartisan support<a href="#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[34]</span></span></span></a>. However, the current administration has taken a clear unwelcoming stance that has been taken up by its most vocal Republican followers. Whether faith-based organizations can heal this division by hearkening to the heart and goodwill of its congregations to take the higher ground and love their brothers and sisters remains to be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="">What follows is a list of the nine resettlement agencies presently holding contracts and their mission statements. Six of the nine are faith-based, that is tied to an organized religion, but a reading of the mission statement reveals that all share the core belief that all vulnerable people should be helped.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.churchworldservice.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">Church World Service (CWS)</span></a><u><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">:</span></u><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;"> </span><span face="">“Through Church World Service and Witness, members of congregations in the USA come together with ecumenical partners worldwide to witness to and share Christ’s love with all people. In solidarity with those we serve, Church World Service meets basic needs of people in peril, works for justice and dignity with the poor and vulnerable, promotes peace and understanding among people of different faiths, races and nations, and affirms and preserves the diversity and integrity of God’s creation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span><a href="http://www.ecdcinternational.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC)</span></a><span face=""> (secular), which also conducts humanitarian and development programs in the Horn of Africa, operates its US resettlement activities with a focus on </span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #525252;">helping them become self-sufficient, productive members of their communities and giving them hope for their future.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/emm/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)</span></a><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;"> </span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #47413d;">is the refugee resettlement program of the Episcopal Church, and “a living example of the Church’s commitment to aid the stranger in our midst. </span><span face="" style="color: #47413d;">Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) lives the call of welcome by supporting refugees, immigrants, and the communities that embrace them as they walk together in The Episcopal Church’s movement to create loving, liberating, and life-giving relationships rooted in compassion. EMM’s desire to honor the inherent value of human connection brings communities together to love their neighbors as themselves. EMM acts in covenant with individuals and partners to ensure the equity of all voices as they work to serve, engage, and sustain the mission.”<span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #47413d;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hias.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)</span></a><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;"> was established in 1881 to aid Jewish refugees. The focus has grown to extending aid “to the stranger in our midst,” protecting the refugee, and advocacy. </span><span face="">Their mission includes guiding immigrants through the immigration process to the ultimate goal of United States citizenship; to aid them to bring their families here as new immigrants and to reunite them with family or friends already here; to foster American ideals among the newcomers and to instill a knowledge of American history and institutions, a sense of true patriotism and love for their adopted country; to make better known to the people of the United States the need to foster immigration and to promote this by means of meetings, lectures and publications.</span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #47413d;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #47413d;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.theirc.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">International Rescue Committee (IRC)</span></a><span face=""> (secular). </span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #4d4d4d;">The International Rescue Committee helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and regain control of their future.</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.refugees.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)</span></a><span face=""> (secular). Their mission is </span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #525252;">“to protect the rights and address the needs of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide and support their transition to a dignified life.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #525252;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><u><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) </span></u><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">envisions a world where all migrants and refugees are “protected, embraced and empowered in a world of just and welcoming communities.”</span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #005072; font-size: 15pt;"> </span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #005072;">They proclaim their mission “[a]s a witness to God’s love for all people, we stand with and advocate for migrants and refugees, transforming communities through ministries of service and justice.”</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.usccb.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)</span></a><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">  states that</span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #525252;"> “[o]ur purposes under civil law are: to unify, coordinate, encourage, promote and carry on Catholic activities in the United States; to organize and conduct religious, charitable and social welfare work at home and abroad; to aid in education; to care for immigrants; </span><span face="" style="background: white; color: #262626;">and generally to enter into and promote by education, publication and direction the objects of its being.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #262626;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.wr.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank"><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;">World Relief Corporation (WR)</span></a><span face="" style="color: #2e3b59;"> states simply that their</span><span face="" style="color: #323232;"> “mission is to empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable by developing opportunities for people with a heart for serving others less fortunate than themselves.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #323232;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #323232;">The Refugee Resettlement Program is a resounding success story because it is driven by those who care about helping the vulnerable. Six of the nine agencies are literally faith-based and the remaining have the same focus: to provide a home, a safe place, a sanctuary to those fleeing persecution; to help them get on their feet again; and then, to live their dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #323232;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="color: #323232;">                                                               ###</span><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""> </span></p><div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Refugees#:~:text=The%20cities%20which%20you%20shall%20give%20to%20the,them%20you%20shall%20give%20forty-two%20cities.%20Joshua%2020%3A1-6" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Refugees#:~:text=The%20cities%20which%20you%20shall%20give%20to%20the,them%20you%20shall%20give%20forty-two%20cities.%20Joshua%2020%3A1-6</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn2"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://momentmag.com/ask-the-rabbis-refugees/" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://momentmag.com/ask-the-rabbis-refugees/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn3"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://abuaminaelias.com/helping-refugees-and-emigrants-in-islam/" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://abuaminaelias.com/helping-refugees-and-emigrants-in-islam/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn4"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/immigrants-as-economic-contributors-refugees-are-a-fiscal-success-story-for-america/" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://immigrationforum.org/article/immigrants-as-economic-contributors-refugees-are-a-fiscal-success-story-for-america/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn5"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/these-refugee-crime-statistics-are-astonishing-34074" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.bustle.com/p/these-refugee-crime-statistics-are-astonishing-34074</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn6"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Michael R. Bloomberg, testimony before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, July 5, 2006, </span><a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/bloomberg_testimony_07_05_06.pdf" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/bloomberg_testimony_07_05_06.pdf</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn7"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/08/05/shrinking-small-towns-see-hope-in-refugees" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/08/05/shrinking-small-towns-see-hope-in-refugees</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn8"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/february-web-only/get-close-to-refugees-and-let-love-grow.html" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/february-web-only/get-close-to-refugees-and-let-love-grow.html</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn9"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/july/persecuted-christian-refugees-trump-open-doors-world-relief.html" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/july/persecuted-christian-refugees-trump-open-doors-world-relief.html</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn10"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">  </span><a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/uspopulation" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/uspopulation</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn11"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn12"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[12]</span></span></span></a> According to the UNHCR, 80% of displaced persons are in countries or territories affected by acute food insecurity and malnutrition. This fact alone helps to portray the expanded mission of the faith-based organizations providing resettlement services in the US as noted later herein.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="ftn13"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigration-policy-changes-two-years-trump-administration" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigration-policy-changes-two-years-trump-administration</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn14"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/world/paris-attacks-syrian-refugees-backlash/index.html" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/world/paris-attacks-syrian-refugees-backlash/index.html</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn15"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/cities-of-light.html?query=cities%20of%20light" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/cities-of-light.html?query=cities%20of%20light</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn16"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/clarkston-georgia-refugee-resettlement-program" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/clarkston-georgia-refugee-resettlement-program</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn17"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.newbridgesirc.org/2017/06/01/a-brief-history-of-immigration-in-harrisonburg/" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.newbridgesirc.org/2017/06/01/a-brief-history-of-immigration-in-harrisonburg/</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn18"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.newbridgesirc.org/about/" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.newbridgesirc.org/about/</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn19"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://religionandpolitics.org/2017/02/21/the-sanctuary-movement-then-and-now/" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://religionandpolitics.org/2017/02/21/the-sanctuary-movement-then-and-now/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn20"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://timeline.com/sanctuary-movement-immigrants-informants-1df3e90bfafd" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://timeline.com/sanctuary-movement-immigrants-informants-1df3e90bfafd</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn21"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn22"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.voanews.com/usa/sanctuary-churches-us-mobilize-help-undocumented" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.voanews.com/usa/sanctuary-churches-us-mobilize-help-undocumented</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn23"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/05/04/no-more-deaths-scott-warren-migrants-border-arizona/" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://theintercept.com/2019/05/04/no-more-deaths-scott-warren-migrants-border-arizona/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn24"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.newbridgesirc.org/2020/08/06/taste-of-the-world-2020-happening-this-september/" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.newbridgesirc.org/2020/08/06/taste-of-the-world-2020-happening-this-september/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn25"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.dnronline.com/news/local/residents-rally-for-immigrants-before-supreme-court-case/article_c2679fd8-2d09-55a8-a34c-1141dbdd065a.html" style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.dnronline.com/news/local/residents-rally-for-immigrants-before-supreme-court-case/article_c2679fd8-2d09-55a8-a34c-1141dbdd065a.html</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn26"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #444444; font-size: 10pt;">In January 2018, the Harrisonburg City Council passed a resolution in favor of DACA: </span><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-size: 10pt;">Harrisonburg City Council's resolution said, in part, "The City of Harrisonburg is committed to maintaining its long history of supporting, celebrating, and empowering immigrants and refugees, many of whom are escaping violence, natural disaster, or other extraordinary conditions. The City of Harrisonburg urges the United States Congress to expeditiously adopt legislation addressing the legal status of TPS (temporary protected status) holders and DACA recipients, keeping in mind the contributions these individuals have made to their communities and the effects their removal would have on families, friends, and communities they would leave behind."</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn27"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://virginiahumanities.org/2017/07/refuge-in-the-valley/#:~:text=CWS%20has%20resettled%20more%20than%203%2C500%20refugees%20in,most%20ethnically%20and%20culturally%20diverse%20cities%20in%20Virginia." style="color: #954f72;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">https://virginiahumanities.org/2017/07/refuge-in-the-valley/#:~:text=CWS%20has%20resettled%20more%20than%203%2C500%20refugees%20in,most%20ethnically%20and%20culturally%20diverse%20cities%20in%20Virginia.</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div id="ftn28"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> World Bank. 2017. “Forcibly Displaced: Toward a Development Approach Supporting Refugees, the Internally Displaced, and Their Hosts.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn29"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a><span face=""> Resignation Syndrome explored in “Life Overtakes Me,” video documentary, 14 June 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn30"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[30]</span></span></span></a> <span face="">At least two of these corporations financially supported the Trump inauguration and enjoyed sharp rises in the value of their stock upon his election. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[30]</span></span></span> </span><a href="https://laist.com/2019/12/27/california-new-private-for-profit-immigration-detention-center-contracts.php" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="">https://laist.com/2019/12/27/california-new-private-for-profit-immigration-detention-center-contracts.php</span></a><span face="">; https://www.huffpost.com/entry/private-prison-stocks-trump_n_582336c5e4b)e80b02ce3287</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="ftn31"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://laist.com/2019/12/27/california-new-private-for-profit-immigration-detention-center-contracts.php" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://laist.com/2019/12/27/california-new-private-for-profit-immigration-detention-center-contracts.php</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn32"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://cis.org/Report/Resettlement-Agencies-Decide-Where-Refugees-Are-Initially-Placed-United-States" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://cis.org/Report/Resettlement-Agencies-Decide-Where-Refugees-Are-Initially-Placed-United-States</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn33"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span face=""> Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate, Matthew Soerens, Jenny Yang, Leith Anderson, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, rev. ed. 2018.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="ftn34"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" style="color: #954f72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.archivesfoundation.org/documents/refugee-act-1980/" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://www.archivesfoundation.org/documents/refugee-act-1980/</span></a><span face="" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face=""> </span></p></div></div>

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Faith based organizations in the US and their historical role in Refugee Resettlement

Faith based organizations in the US and their historical role in Refugee Resettlement for CWS Refugee Resettlement Center, Harrisonburg, VA ...