JFI Colleagues,

Please see below for the latest updates from JFI.

USCCB/Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) Vacancies 

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: USCCB/MRS Assistant Director of Communications - This position oversees and manages communications strategies that effectively describe and promote MRS' mission and services. The incumbent plays an integral role in developing communications plans and initiatives representing MRS to its networks, stakeholders, the media, and the public. Please apply today!

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: USCCB/MRS Migration Policy Advisor - A policy advisor within the USCCB’s Department of Migration and Refugee Services provides the Conference, bishops, and other parties with policy analysis and recommendations on a range of migration-related policy issues. Please apply today!

World Day of Migrants and Refugees/National Migration Week 2022 

National Migration Week 2022 takes place September 19-25 and culminates with the Vatican’s celebration of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR), which always falls on the last Sunday of September. The primary theme for this year’s WDMR is “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees”. Commenting on the place of migrants in God’s plan, Pope Francis emphasizes that “the Kingdom of God is to be built with them, for without them it would not be the Kingdom that God wants. The inclusion of those most vulnerable is the necessary condition for full citizenship in God’s Kingdom." 

In solidarity with the Vatican, National Migration Week will use the same theme as WDMR – “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees’ – and will emphasize the ways in which this theme and its application to the migration question is important for the Catholic Church in the United States. The NMW 2022 toolkit is now available on the JFI website (and see above). 

Please let us know how you will be celebrating National Migration Week this year by emailing Tony Cube at [email protected] 

Support Our New Afghan Neighbors: Afghan Adjustment Act Virtual Advocacy Days, September 6-8, 2022 

The Evacuate Our Allies Coalition is organizing virtual congressional advocacy days, from Tuesday, September 6, to Thursday, September 8, to urge Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, which has been endorsed by the USCCB and would provide a much-needed pathway to full integration for recently arrived Afghans. To participate, please RSVP here by Sunday, August 28.

Virtual legislative visits will be scheduled between 12 PM. ET and 5 PM ET on September 6 and between 9 AM ET and 5 PM on September 7 and 8. If you are unable to join virtual meetings anywhere in those time blocks, please ensure you note this in the RSVP form.

As part of this effort, participants will receive: 

1. Training on virtual legislative meetings: date TBD (the week of August 29) 
2. Schedule of meetings with senators or their staff: September 6-8 
3. Sample talking points and asks for meetings 
4. Evacuate Our Allies Coalition support: each meeting will include an accompanier (experienced legislative advocate) to provide support 
5. Advocacy and social media toolkit

To join this important effort, please complete this form. Feel free to share this invitation widely with your networks!

For more information about our new Afghan neighbors and the need for the Afghan Adjustment Act, please see this JFI backgrounder. 

USCCB Becomes a Preferred Implementing Partner of Tent Partnership for Refugees 

Over the last two years, USCCB has been working closely with Tent Partnership for Refugees, an organization that mobilizes the business community to include and integrate refugees. This year. USCCB has become a preferred implementing partner, which will open the door to Tent trainings and resources for our network. As part of this partnership, USCCB will continue to reach out to affiliates with potential employer connections and request that you relay partnerships with larger employers on your Quarterly Narrative Reports.

Policy Update / Actualización de Política

We are thankful to the Center for Migration Studies

of New York (CMS) for its weekly Migration Update.

Please visit their bilingual Migration Update page to stay up-to-date on recent migration policy updates.

View the August 23 CMS Migration Update, which includes: 

• California Bill “California ID for All” Passed the State Assembly and Will Provide State-Issued ID Cards Regardless of Immigration Status to California Residents if Passed 
• DHS Updated COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Uniting for Ukraine Parolees 
• New York City Leases 11 Hotels as the Homeless Population Rises and Thousands of Migrants That Are Being Bused There from Texas Need Shelter 
• DOD Denies DC Mayor’s Request for the National Guard to Help with the Influx of Migrants Sent There from Texas 

Agradecemos al Centro de Estudios de Migración de Nueva York (CMS por sus siglas en inglés) por su Actualización de Migración semanal. Visite su página bilingüe de Actualización de Migración para mantenerse al día sobre las actualizaciones recientes de la política de migración.

Ver Actualización de Migración del CMS de 23 de agosto, que incluye: 

• El proyecto de ley de California "Identificación de California para todos" fue aprobado por la Asamblea estatal y proporcionará tarjetas de identificación emitidas por el estado independientemente del estado migratorio a los residentes de California si se aprueba 
• DHS actualizó los requisitos de vacunación contra el COVID-19 para las personas en libertad condicional de Uniting for Ukraine 
• La ciudad de Nueva York alquila 11 hoteles a medida que aumenta la población de personas sin hogar y miles de migrantes que llegan en autobús desde Texas necesitan refugio 
• El DOD niega la solicitud del alcalde de DC para que la Guardia Nacional ayude con la afluencia de inmigrantes enviados allí desde Texas 

Notable New Publications, Reports, Films, Articles, Etc.

Center for Migration Studies: Emerging from COVID, the US Refugee Resettlement Program Enters a Critical Phase

Former USCCB Migration Policy Director Kevin Appleby outlines steps that the administration and Congress can take to rebuild the USRAP program to historic levels and return the US to be an international leader in refugee protection and resettlement.

CLINIC Toolkit: Religious Workers Are Essential

This toolkit serves as a resource for: 

-Foreign born religious workers who have been affected by USCIS processing delays; 

-U.S. based religious organizations whose work and mission was negatively impacted by the loss of its foreign religious workers; 

-Advocates who have pushed USCIS to change its policies concerning religious workers; 

-Anyone who believes that religious workers serve as a valuable contribution to our U.S. local communities.

Welcoming America Resources

The UNHCR now estimates 100 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced. For years, Welcoming America has been developing resources critical to creating a welcoming environment for refugees. Welcoming America recently compiled resources most relevant to this ongoing humanitarian crisis for all to use in their local communities. Topics include community sponsorship, communication and resettlement strategies, refugee housing, and building a welcoming infrastructure. 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Migrant Protection Protocols Cohort Reports

Under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), certain noncitizens encountered at the Southwest Border await their immigration proceedings in Mexico rather than in the U.S. These reports describes MPP processing and outcomes for noncitizens enrolled in MPP within given time periods, summarizing information on enrollee nationalities, fear claims, vaccinations, and processing outcomes (returns to Mexico or disenrollments) by month of MPP enrollment. 

Catholic Ministries Coalition Webinar: Walls of Our Heart: Breaking Open a Ministerial Understanding of Immigration 

Opening prayer will be provided by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S of San Antonio and presenters will include Sr. Norma Pimentel, MJ, Dr. Hilary Chester, and Tony Cube. This discussion will detail the realities of immigration, detention, what a ministerial response looks like, and the differences from jail and prison ministry. See the flyer below for date and time information. Register for this webinar today. 

Other Upcoming Events, Opportunities, and Resources

• Refugee Welcome Collective (RWC) Lunch and Learn: Supporting Refugee Families with School-Age Learners, August 29, 2002 at Noon Eastern. Community engagement and sponsorship staff, along with co-sponsors, support teams, and volunteers, are welcome to join RWC on August 29th at Noon ET to learn tips for supporting refugee families with school-age children. Pre-registration for this FREE webinar is required.

• Archdiocese of Indianapolis: Our Lady of the Greenwood Catholic Church, Greenwood, IN - First Friday bilingual celebration of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, September 2, 2022. Mass at 5:45 PM followed by adoration until 9 PM, sacrament of reconciliation available. Call 317-750-7309 for more information.

• Catholic Labor Network (CLN): Virtual Labor Day Mass, September 5, 2022 at 11 AM Eastern. Before you hit the parade or the grill, please join the CLN for our annual online Labor Day Mass. The Mass will be celebrated by our own CLN Spiritual Moderator, Fr. Sinclair Oubre, a proud mariner and member of the Seafarers' International Union. Registration is open now!

• Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative, September 13, 2022. Join the Center for Migration Studies of New York and Marquette University for the 2022 Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative (CIII) conference from September 13-14th. This hybrid event will take place at Marquette’s campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with virtual access for those unable to attend in person. Get more information and register on the event website. 

• Religion & Forced Migration Initiative Graduate Research Opportunity, Application deadline: September 15, 2022. The Religion & Forced Migration Initiative at Princeton University is seeking proposals from graduate students in any field for projects that make use of our oral history archive and find creative and compelling ways to share the archive’s stories to enhance public understanding about refugees' experiences. The project could be a traditional journal article, but could also be a piece of popular journalism, a podcast, educational curriculum, collection of poems, a short story, a children’s book, an animation, a graphic novel, a museum exhibition, or another project that will use these stories to amplify refugees’ voices. 10-12 students will be selected and receive $1,000 for their participation. Apply today. 

• Save the Date: 19th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, September 20, 2022. This year's Immigration Law and Policy Conference organized by MPI, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Georgetown University Law Center, will be a hybrid event transmitted online for virtual audiences and open to a select number of in-person attendees at the Georgetown University Law Campus in Washington, DC. Register and join us. 

In solidarity,

Tony Cube

Visit the JFI website to learn about us, read policy recommendations and letters to Congress, find materials for your parish, get advocacy resources, access previously recorded webinars, and more! Send us an email to get connected.