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Sep 22, 2015

Congress and the Refugee Crisis: Five Bills to Watch

With all the papal excitement, looming budget deadline, and preemptive chaos of election year politics, it's often easy to forget what members of congress are supposed to do in Washington...write, debate, and enact legislation! Here are the top five bills that we are watching in congress.

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Sep 22, 2015

Refugees from Syria Happy to be in Toledo

"While the international community debates how to handle the growing migrant crisis out of Syria, Toledo’s only refugee resettlement agency is handling more cases than ever," the Toledo Blade Reports.

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Sep 21, 2015

JTA: HIAS, Reform Movement Rap Obama Administration for Lowballing Syrian Refugees

“Increasing the total number of refugees from 70,000 to 85,000 for next year and to 100,000 for the year after is a nice symbolic gesture,” Mark Hetfield, the president of HIAS, said Sunday in a statement. “It is a baby step in the right direction. But it is not leadership.”

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Sep 17, 2015

Promoting a Pro Bono Culture in Israel

HIAS Israel Director Sivan Carmel urges lawyers to consider the benefits of pro-bono work with refugees and asylum seekers. "If you join our program you will probably not change the world, but you can make a real difference in the life of one person, of one family."

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Sep 17, 2015

Jewish Week: On Refugees, Jews Caught Between Care And Fear

“The United States admits a million legal immigrants a year. Most are students, or come on tourist visas. Anyone who wishes us harm would not do it through the resettlement process,” Melanie Nezer tells Jewish Week.

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Sep 16, 2015

U.S. Advocates for Syrian Refugee Resettlement Find Unexpected Allies

"Jewish American groups, saying they can’t be bystanders as the worst refugee crisis since World War II unfolds, are joining Arab-American leaders in a critique of existing policies, which have sharply limited the numbers of refugees settled in the United States," The Washington Post reports.

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Sep 11, 2015

LGBT Syrian Refugee Makes History at the U.N.

Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee who HIAS resettled to the United States, recently became one of the first people in history to address the U.N. Security Council on the subject of LGBT persecution. Nahas, a gay man who fled ISIS, was resettled by HIAS and our partners at Jewish Family & Children's Services of the East Bay only three months ago.

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Sep 11, 2015

Washington Post: U.S. Charities Urge Obama to Let in More Syrians, Ask Churches to Help

HIAS and other refugee resettlement agencies are petitioning the Obama administration to resettle far more than the roughly 10,000 Syrians that the White House announced this week would be accepted, the Washington Post reports.

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Sep 10, 2015

LISTEN: Syrian Refugee Crisis Briefing Call

Complete audio of September 10, 2015 briefing call on the Syrian refugee crisis with HIAS President and CEO Mark J. Hetfield and Vice President for Policy and Advocacy Melaine Nezer.

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Sep 10, 2015

Reuters: Obama Wants U.S. to Prepare for 10,000 Syrian Refugees Next Year

It is the first specific commitment the United States has made toward increasing its acceptance of refugees from the war-torn country. But refugee advocates and some members of Congress say taking in an additional 10,000 refugees does not go far enough toward addressing the humanitarian crisis triggered by the war, which has prompted a massive refugee influx into Europe.

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