   
#Hope4TPS Day of Action TODAY & TOMORROW!
Wear Yellow & Call Your Leaders to Support our Neighbors at Risk!
Disciples continue to care and act strongly to support families and children still separated at the border. Yet tragically,
there are still many OTHER ways immigrant families are at risk of being separated as well; including the more than 300,000 persons from select populations who HAVE HAD the status of "TPS" (Temporary Protected Status) that allows them opportunity to work and live in U.S. Yet, THEIR STATUS HAS BEEN REMOVED by the Administration over the past 10 months! This means that, on rolling deadlines over the next year and a half,
various populations will be faced with loss of jobs and separation from their families; including from their 273,000+ U.S. born citizen children!
TPS recipients received protected status because something catastrophic happened in their country while they were in the U.S. which makes it unsafe for them to return. Because TPS allows persons to work legally in the U.S., many have become business owners, employers, and deeply contributing members in our communities, and
have been leaders in our Disciples churches for many years!
Communities now at risk because of recently terminated status include: 1,000
Sudanese, 2,500
Nicaraguans, 46,000
Haitians, 57,000
Hondurans, 195,000
El Salvadoreans, and 9,000
Nepalis--despite ongoing hunger, displacement, and public health crises in many areas of their homelands. Likewise, 4,000
Liberians have lost a protective status called "DED" (Deferred Enforced Departure).
And tomorrow, DHS will determine whether it will renew and extend TPS for over 250 Somalians.
Our Haitian and Liberian Disciples congregations, and Disciples from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, have been particularly impacted by TPS & DED terminations; such as our Disciples Evangelical Crusade Fishers of Men-Haitian in Brooklyn, NY, our Haitian Pentecostal Disciples Church in Salisbury, MD., and our primarily Liberian Whosoever Will Christian Church in Beltsville, MD., and others.
Raise Your Voice to Protect TPS Communities Under Threat!!
This week, TPS (Temporary Protected Status) holders, their families and advocates across the country are mobilizing to let Congress know that in the face of the administration's cruel TPS terminations,
they have hope:
--Ho
pe
for a permanent legislative solution
--
Hope for Congressional oversight that holds the administration accountable
--
Hope for their families to remain together and safe
--
Hope
for the future they deserve
Here are the top two things you can do NOW to help sustain their hope:
1. TODAY & TOMORROW, Call Your Members of Congress!
Call (202) 224-3121 three times to connect with your 1 Representative and 2 Senators.
Let your leaders know why you have #HOPE4TPS and why you urge them to support a permanent legislative solution for TPS holders and to hold the administration accountable.
Sample script:
My name is [NAME] and I am your constituent living at [ADDRESS]. I am calling to urge [NAME OF REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR] to work across the aisle to pass legislation to permanently protect TPS holders and their families, many of whom are at risk of deportation and having their families torn apart when TPS ends.
I understand the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is investigating the administration's decisions to end TPS for Honduras, Haiti and El Salvador--even after State Department experts and U.S. diplomats urged the administration not to because it would endanger the lives of TPS holders and undermine U.S. national security.
I urge [NAME OF REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR] to ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate the administration's TPS decisions, including terminations of six countries and failure to redesignate Syria and Yemen, meaning more recently arrived people from those war torn countries could not apply for protection.
2. TODAY & TOMORROW, Show Solidarity with TPS Holders and Their Families!!
Ask Congress to act NOW to pass legislation to protect TPS holders and to continue to engage in oversight. Here are sample messages for Facebook or Twitter:
Today I wear yellow to stand for TPS holders! I ask [REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR] to pass a permanent legislative solution to keep TPS families from being torn apart! #HOPE4TPS
I wear yellow to symbolize my hope that justice will be done for TPS holders and their families! [REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR] must pass a permanent legislative solution and call on the GAO to investigate! #HOPE4TPS
Thanks for raising your voice and values of faith to support immigrants and refugees, and for answering the call to "open your mouths to defend the rights...of the needy." (Proverbs 31:8)
For advocacy and refugee resettlement questions, contact:
and select "Refugee & Immigration Ministries."
5 Thomas Circle NW, Washington, DC 20005
(2nd floor, National City Christian Church)
RIM is a ministry of Disciples Home Missions
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