All Stories

May 28, 2014

Too Poor for a Social Life

Those of us who live relatively privileged lives often catch ourselves saying something like, “I’m too poor to go out this weekend.” When we say that, we don’t mean what one-sixth of the world’s population means.

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May 15, 2014

Not your great-grandmother’s HIAS—or is it?

The application for my clients–a gay married couple from Jamaica seeking asylum in the U.S–runs 50 pages. It is the product of hours of the hard but rewarding assistance I provide as a staff attorney for HIAS. Thanks to someone like me, who also worked for HIAS, my great-grandmother, my family's matriarch, came to the U.S. in 1919. I wonder what she would make of my clients’ application.

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May 3, 2014

I’m Living Below the Line for HIAS Because HIAS Saved My Life

I was a very sick infant. In fact, I almost starved to death. So why would I voluntarily agree now to live on $1.50 a day for five days? Because HIAS saved my life as a child, and this is how I’m giving back.

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Apr 25, 2014

What I Learned By Living on $1.50 a Day

Earlier this month, I spent five days living below the poverty line: eating on just $1.50 a day. Like many people who enjoy the physical comforts that I experience, living on extreme poverty wages is neither easy nor intuitive.

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Apr 17, 2014

The Linking Communities Project Announces Grants for OH and PA Initiatives

Financial support promotes welcome and integration for refugees and communities.

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Apr 11, 2014

Giving Up Chametz Is Not Enough

Giving Up Chametz Is Not Enough Apr 11, 2014 Our own history leads us to reach out to the millions of refugees around the globe, but we must do more than remember. We must act for the refugees today.

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Mar 28, 2014

America, open your arms to Syrian refugees

America, open your arms to Syrian refugees Mar 28, 2014 As the world's most powerful nation, and the one with the most robust history of immigration, we have a basic responsibility to protect particularly vulnerable refugees.

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Mar 26, 2014

Meet the Refugee Inspiring Me to Live Below the Line

I know we haven’t met, but I hope you’ll join me in a campaign to change the world.

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Mar 20, 2014

Waiting for Asylum, But Treated Like Criminals

Waiting for Asylum, But Treated Like Criminals By Jorge Rivas and Cristina Costantini Mar 20, 2014 Melanie Nezer: “Detention is a trend, and since the U.S. leads the world on these issues we set the standard. Unfortunately the bar is pretty low for how asylum seekers are treated.”

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Mar 17, 2014

A Few Things you Might not Know about the Immigration Bills Currently in Congress

Both the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform legislation and its sister bill in the House contain important provisions regarding refugees and asylum seekers. But odds are you haven’t heard about these provisions.

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