June NEWSLETTER
Freedom
By Margaret Benefiel
Freedom is on my mind. As the U.S. prepares to celebrate Independence Day this weekend, I’ve been contemplating my freedoms.
I enjoy the freedom to vote for the candidate of my choice. I enjoy freedom of religion. I enjoyed the freedom of a good education, which gave me the opportunities to do work I love and to marry the person I love. I enjoy freedom from want, with a place to live and food to eat. I enjoy the freedom to live where I want to live and to travel to the places I want to travel.
As I consider immigrants at our border, I know that most of them enjoyed none of these freedoms in their countries of origin. While poverty has long been a cause for immigration, added to that motivation now is war, persecution, and repression. Gang rule in regions of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, have resulted in murder, extortion, and sexual exploitation rising dramatically. Wars and crises in Sudan, Venezuala, and Afghanistan have driven refugees out of those countries. The refugees at our border aren’t even assured the freedom to live, let alone the other liberties I take for granted.
The U.S. has long been a country that has promised freedom to those denied it in their own countries. We take pride in being the land of the free and the home of the brave, with many of the free and the brave among us having made dangerous journeys to escape the oppression they faced in their homelands.
Now, however, America’s approach to refugees does not reflect the same welcoming spirit that, in the past, allowed many immigrants to seek safety and better lives on this soil. The US cap on immigration for fiscal year 2026 was set in October at 7500 people, the lowest ever. And most of those slots were designated for whites from South Africa. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refuge warned:
“This decision doesn’t just lower the refugee admissions ceiling. It lowers our moral standing. For more than four decades, the U.S. refugee program has been a lifeline for families fleeing war, persecution, and repression. At a time of crisis in countries ranging from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and beyond, concentrating the vast majority of admissions on one group undermines the program’s purpose as well as its credibility.”
Last month, the cap was raised to 17,500, but the additional 10,000 slots were all reserved for white South Africans, who face no danger in their own country, according to experts.
Why do we Americans, who have such a long history of granting freedom to refugees, seem so hesitant to do so now? Refugees deserve the right to a fair hearing. Refugees deserve the right to be considered for refugee protection in their search for freedom.
As we celebrate our many freedoms on July 4, let us remember all those who don’t live in freedom. And let us not add further to their misery. Let us ask, “What is mine to do, to help offer the gift of freedom to those who lack it?”
(This article is a revision of a blog that first appeared in June 2018.)
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