Refugee advocates rally outside White House amid furloughs, frozen funds
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks during a protest against the shuttering of the United States Refugee Admissions Program, February 4, in Washington. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
Over the sounds of construction machinery dismantling inauguration-related viewing stands and other structures in front of the White House, faith-based advocates for refugees worked to make their voices heard Tuesday in Lafayette Square.
“ Gracious God, we gather on this day so that we might bear witness to your love for all people,” prayed Bishop William Gohl Jr., of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “and that you would help us to be the moral conscience and voice of this nation again, reminding each one of us that we are immigrants who have found our way to this place.”
The crowd of about 100 was protesting President Donald Trump’s suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Program, which vets refugees for entry into the United States and works with refugee resettlement agencies, the majority of them faith-based, to support those refugees for the first 90 days.
