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Write Opinion Editorials & Letters to the Editor for Local Media
Sample Opinion Editorial:
Where are the Refugees?
Today, 65 million people around the world are displaced, including 22.5 million refugees - the highest number in recorded history. Estimates indicate that a person is displaced every 20 minutes. However, when global need is at its highest, the Trump administration has quickly reversed our nation's long history as a world leader in refugee protection and resettlement. The administration set an all-time low refugee admissions goal for fiscal year 2018 at 45,000 - turning our back on the values of compassion and welcome we claim to represent. What's worse, the administration is on track to resettle only 20,000 refugees this year, not even half of their own goal.
By March 31st, the halfway point for FY18, the administration will have resettled less than 10,000 refugees. This amounts to a broken promise to tens of thousands of refugees who face the most rigorous selection, security vetting and medical screening process of any traveler to the United States. Resettlement is reserved only for the most vulnerable refugees. While families remain separated and refugees wait - at times in very dangerous or unsafe regions - the administration has imposed a series of refugee bans that seek to dismantle refugee resettlement program, jeopardize our national security, and devastate families hoping to reunite with loved ones. We have a moral responsibility to fulfill our commitment to resettle at least 45,000 refugees this fiscal year.
[Insert local story of refugee here]
Refugees are contributing to our community and our local economy. Study after study show that refugees and immigrants create new businesses and new jobs. White House aides even tried to suppress a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) study, which found that refugees made a net contribution of $63 billion to government revenue over the last decade.
This country was founded on the hard work, determination, and skills of generations of immigrants from all countries, religions, and backgrounds. We must not let our differences divide us, but instead strengthen us. However, this country also holds a history of discriminatory policies that have become moral stains on our country that we can never forget. These include slavery of African Americans, the genocide of Native Americans, rejection of Jewish refugees, and the Japanese internment camps. We cannot go back to these policies based on discrimination and hate. Exclusionary mindsets only lead to fear and hostility, neither of which have any place in our communities.
Congress has a critical role to hold the administration accountable to keeping its promise to tens of thousands of refugees still waiting to see if they will be resettled this year as they have been promised. After more than 18 months of countless security checks and years of living in a refugee camp, the administration needs to clear out the red tape that has been purposefully placed to gum up the system, and let the refugees be resettled now.
Sample Letter to the Editor:
[Insert relative content to recent article in your newspaper on refugees]
Today, 65 million people around the world are displaced, including 22.5 million refugees - the highest number in recorded history. Estimates indicate that a person is displaced every 20 minutes. However, when global need is at its highest, the Trump administration has quickly reversed our nation's long history as a world leader in refugee protection and resettlement. The administration set an all-time low refugee admissions goal for fiscal year 2018 at 45,000 - turning our back on the values of compassion and welcome we claim to represent. What's worse, the administration is on track to resettle only 20,000 refugees this year, not even meeting their own goal. By March 31st, the halfway point for FY18, the administration will have resettled less than 10,000 refugees. This is unacceptable. We have a moral responsibility to fulfill our commitment to resettle 45,000 refugees this fiscal year.