THIS FORM IS FOR INDIVIDUALS. IF YOU ARE SIGNING ON BEHALF OF AN ORGANIZATION, PLEASE USE THIS FORM: https://forms.gle/3Rfk9ZqFHU8JAXsn9

DEADLINE for signature is COB Thursday, March 18, 2021. Please contact Elissa Diaz, ediaz@cwsglobal.org, with any questions.

March X, 2021

President Joseph R. Biden
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Biden,

As X religious leaders and X faith-based organizations across traditions, we write to commend your commitment to restoring the refugee resettlement program and your Administration’s recent proposal to issue an Emergency Fiscal Year 2021 Presidential Determination (PD) on Refugee Admissions of 62,500. While we are encouraged by your Administration’s recent consultations with Congress regarding this proposal, we are deeply concerned that the FY21 PD has not yet been signed and urge you to immediately sign a new, revised FY21 Presidential Determination and restore regional allocations based on vulnerability and need.

We are deeply concerned about the 200+ canceled flights and the plan to cancel even more flights this month. It is important to note that not only are refugee families anxious to be reunified, but also a lot of resettlement sites have already secured housing and set up welcome teams for arrivals that have been assured and booked for travel. Urgently signing the new refugee admissions goal will prevent the cancellation of travel for hundreds of refugees scheduled to arrive over the coming weeks, honor your promise to protect refugee families, and reverse much of the damage done to the resettlement program under the previous administration.

We are called by our sacred texts and faith principles to love our neighbor, accompany the vulnerable, and welcome the sojourner. Our congregations, synagogues, and mosques have historically played key roles in assisting refugees with housing, language, employment, and social support necessary for rapid and effective resettlement into U.S. communities. Yet, our commitment to offer refuge from violence and persecution requires our government to demonstrate the moral leadership upon which our nation was founded. Each day that passes without this signed executive action is another day that hundreds of particularly vulnerable refugees are forced to wait to be resettled.

At no other time has our moral responsibility to uphold these principles been greater. War, conflict, and persecution have forced millions to leave their homes, creating more refugees than at any other time in history. There are 79.5 million displaced persons worldwide, including more than 29 million refugees, over half of whom are children. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that global resettlement needs have doubled in recent years reaching over 1.44 million refugees in 2020. We grieve for the refugees who now face increasingly dismal chances at finding safety and who are affected by COVID-19, as well as refugee families still waiting to be reunited. The reduction in national partners translates to a loss of capacity, expertise, and opportunity, and it prevents Americans of faith from fulfilling part of their spiritual practice.

Faith communities in particular remain ready and eager to welcome refugees and decry the policies that are preventing refugees from receiving protection at this time. For decades, people of faith have welcomed refugees into our homes, houses of worship, and communities. We know our nation has strong systems in place to process asylum claims at and within our borders, and a strong refugee resettlement program, both of which have existed and operated in tandem for decades. Refugees are powerful ambassadors of our founding principles of equal opportunity, religious freedom, and liberty and justice for all. Our experiences working alongside refugees mirror the statistics that demonstrate that refugees bring tangible benefits to U.S. communities by starting businesses, becoming homeowners, revitalizing local economies, and becoming civic leaders.

Refugee resettlement is the last resort for those who cannot return to their home country due to ongoing violence or for reasons of personal safety, and who cannot stay in the country into which they have fled. Since its inception in 1980, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has been an international model, providing refugees protection with bipartisan support through our public-private partnership. The USRAP has successfully provided more than three million refugees tools for integration and self-sufficiency to start over in safety and our communities have in turn benefitted from these individuals. As a pillar of U.S. foreign policy, our nation’s resettlement program represents a standard of excellence that other countries look to as a touchstone for their own policies. Refugees further contribute greatly to the United States in ordinary times, and have continued to show up for their new communities during the COVID-19 crisis, with many working on the frontlines of the pandemic, including 176,000 refugees serving in the healthcare field and 175,000 working as part of the food supply chain. We can – and should – continue the safe resettlement of refugees in the United States.

We urge your Administration to swiftly honor its commitment to restoring and strengthening the refugee resettlement program by immediately signing a new, revised FY21 Presidential Determination of 62,500. Our collective scriptural mandate and our nation’s history and capabilities as a world leader demand no less.

Sincerely,