Migrants from Central and South America wait near the residence of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris after being dropped off on orders of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on September 15, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
How You Can Help Migrants Amid the GOP's Cruel Political Stunts
Republican leaders are showing an intentional lack of regard for migrants, making local community action crucial.
Last April, Governor Abbott of Texas began sending migrants from the US southern border to Washington, D.C., with Arizona joining soon after. The media attention around this program has largely quieted down, but the buses continue to come.
Despite a lack of coordination from Texas and Florida, and limited communication from Arizona, cities across the country quickly mobilized mutual aid networks to get migrants to their final destinations or help them resettle in their new communities.
Arizona’s new governor, Katie Hobbs, will continue to send migrants out-of-state, but with one key difference: she promises to send migrants to their final destination. We have yet to see if the implementation will differ from her predecessor’s, but we hope this will provide migrants with actual relief.
The Biden administration recently began cracking down on crossings from Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Haitians, while creating a new humanitarian parole program for a limited group of eligible migrants from these nationalities. As a result, the number of people seeking asylum at the border has dropped, as people explore other alternatives. This will likely slow the rate of buses arriving from the border, but many cities are still in need of resources to welcome the recent arrivals.
Continue reading for the latest news in several cities across the U.S., and how to take action in your local community.
Washington, D.C.
Buses continue to arrive at the vice president’s home, which is not easily accessible to public transit, volunteers, and service providers. This intentional lack of regard for migrants is just one of the ways that the governors’ busing was never about helping migrants but instead proving a political point.
This cruelty was no clearer than on Christmas Eve, when Texas dropped off over 100 migrants, including young children, in front of the vice president’s house after midnight in freezing temperatures. Thankfully, mutual aid organizers were already there to greet them and bring them to shelter.
The number of buses arriving each week has slowed, but Sanctuary DMV continues to support recent arrivals, migrants that have decided to settle in the DMV region, and long-term residents. Here are a few ways to support their work:
- Volunteer to help with everything from greeting buses to sorting donations
- Gift supplies on the online wishlist. There is a separate list for baby supplies
- Drop off winter clothing, undergarments, and baby supplies
- Purchase a “Melt ICE” T-shirt
- Donate
For a full list, click HERE.
New York has received the largest number of migrants, with an estimated 42,000 asylum seekers since last Spring arriving in search of shelter and basic services. Not all of these migrants are from the buses, but the exponential increase in buses, coupled with the lack of coordination or communication from Texas, has placed an immense strain on shelter capacity and city services.
Tensions are high as this week, city officials suddenly evicted asylum seekers from the hotel where they had resided for weeks, planning to move them to a remote facility in Brooklyn that lacks privacy, heating, and access for the migrants to reach their place of work.
Mutual aid groups and nonprofits continue to provide most of the support for asylum seekers, but there is hope for a better response from elected officials. On February 1st, Governor Kathy Hochul announced she would include $1 billion in the New York state budget to welcome and provide social services to asylum seekers.
This likely isn’t enough to address the current crisis, but it is a promising first step, and will hopefully serve as an example for other state governors to welcome migrants humanely.
Here are a few ways to support asylum seekers in New York City:
- Buy supplies on Amazon wishlist or Target wishlist
- Drop off new clothing, toiletry, and hygiene items
- Donate a bike
- Donate to support Team TLC NYC
Click HERE for a full list of ways to support.
Chicago
Since August, Chicago has received an estimated 5,000 migrants, of which nearly 4,000 accepted shelter from the city or state of Illinois. This has placed a great strain on Chicago’s shelter space, driving nonprofits to largely take on the work of finding temporary housing, leaving people stranded in police stations for days at a time.
World Relief is looking for volunteers to greet buses, and you can see where to gift supplies or bring donations HERE.
Visit the city of Chicago’s website for ways to gift items, donate, or volunteer.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Last April, Governor Abbott of Texas began sending migrants from the US southern border to Washington, D.C., with Arizona joining soon after. The media attention around this program has largely quieted down, but the buses continue to come.
Despite a lack of coordination from Texas and Florida, and limited communication from Arizona, cities across the country quickly mobilized mutual aid networks to get migrants to their final destinations or help them resettle in their new communities.
Arizona’s new governor, Katie Hobbs, will continue to send migrants out-of-state, but with one key difference: she promises to send migrants to their final destination. We have yet to see if the implementation will differ from her predecessor’s, but we hope this will provide migrants with actual relief.
The Biden administration recently began cracking down on crossings from Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Haitians, while creating a new humanitarian parole program for a limited group of eligible migrants from these nationalities. As a result, the number of people seeking asylum at the border has dropped, as people explore other alternatives. This will likely slow the rate of buses arriving from the border, but many cities are still in need of resources to welcome the recent arrivals.
Continue reading for the latest news in several cities across the U.S., and how to take action in your local community.
Washington, D.C.
Buses continue to arrive at the vice president’s home, which is not easily accessible to public transit, volunteers, and service providers. This intentional lack of regard for migrants is just one of the ways that the governors’ busing was never about helping migrants but instead proving a political point.
This cruelty was no clearer than on Christmas Eve, when Texas dropped off over 100 migrants, including young children, in front of the vice president’s house after midnight in freezing temperatures. Thankfully, mutual aid organizers were already there to greet them and bring them to shelter.
The number of buses arriving each week has slowed, but Sanctuary DMV continues to support recent arrivals, migrants that have decided to settle in the DMV region, and long-term residents. Here are a few ways to support their work:
- Volunteer to help with everything from greeting buses to sorting donations
- Gift supplies on the online wishlist. There is a separate list for baby supplies
- Drop off winter clothing, undergarments, and baby supplies
- Purchase a “Melt ICE” T-shirt
- Donate
For a full list, click HERE.
New York has received the largest number of migrants, with an estimated 42,000 asylum seekers since last Spring arriving in search of shelter and basic services. Not all of these migrants are from the buses, but the exponential increase in buses, coupled with the lack of coordination or communication from Texas, has placed an immense strain on shelter capacity and city services.
Tensions are high as this week, city officials suddenly evicted asylum seekers from the hotel where they had resided for weeks, planning to move them to a remote facility in Brooklyn that lacks privacy, heating, and access for the migrants to reach their place of work.
Mutual aid groups and nonprofits continue to provide most of the support for asylum seekers, but there is hope for a better response from elected officials. On February 1st, Governor Kathy Hochul announced she would include $1 billion in the New York state budget to welcome and provide social services to asylum seekers.
This likely isn’t enough to address the current crisis, but it is a promising first step, and will hopefully serve as an example for other state governors to welcome migrants humanely.
Here are a few ways to support asylum seekers in New York City:
- Buy supplies on Amazon wishlist or Target wishlist
- Drop off new clothing, toiletry, and hygiene items
- Donate a bike
- Donate to support Team TLC NYC
Click HERE for a full list of ways to support.
Chicago
Since August, Chicago has received an estimated 5,000 migrants, of which nearly 4,000 accepted shelter from the city or state of Illinois. This has placed a great strain on Chicago’s shelter space, driving nonprofits to largely take on the work of finding temporary housing, leaving people stranded in police stations for days at a time.
World Relief is looking for volunteers to greet buses, and you can see where to gift supplies or bring donations HERE.
Visit the city of Chicago’s website for ways to gift items, donate, or volunteer.
Last April, Governor Abbott of Texas began sending migrants from the US southern border to Washington, D.C., with Arizona joining soon after. The media attention around this program has largely quieted down, but the buses continue to come.
Despite a lack of coordination from Texas and Florida, and limited communication from Arizona, cities across the country quickly mobilized mutual aid networks to get migrants to their final destinations or help them resettle in their new communities.
Arizona’s new governor, Katie Hobbs, will continue to send migrants out-of-state, but with one key difference: she promises to send migrants to their final destination. We have yet to see if the implementation will differ from her predecessor’s, but we hope this will provide migrants with actual relief.
The Biden administration recently began cracking down on crossings from Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and Haitians, while creating a new humanitarian parole program for a limited group of eligible migrants from these nationalities. As a result, the number of people seeking asylum at the border has dropped, as people explore other alternatives. This will likely slow the rate of buses arriving from the border, but many cities are still in need of resources to welcome the recent arrivals.
Continue reading for the latest news in several cities across the U.S., and how to take action in your local community.
Washington, D.C.
Buses continue to arrive at the vice president’s home, which is not easily accessible to public transit, volunteers, and service providers. This intentional lack of regard for migrants is just one of the ways that the governors’ busing was never about helping migrants but instead proving a political point.
This cruelty was no clearer than on Christmas Eve, when Texas dropped off over 100 migrants, including young children, in front of the vice president’s house after midnight in freezing temperatures. Thankfully, mutual aid organizers were already there to greet them and bring them to shelter.
The number of buses arriving each week has slowed, but Sanctuary DMV continues to support recent arrivals, migrants that have decided to settle in the DMV region, and long-term residents. Here are a few ways to support their work:
- Volunteer to help with everything from greeting buses to sorting donations
- Gift supplies on the online wishlist. There is a separate list for baby supplies
- Drop off winter clothing, undergarments, and baby supplies
- Purchase a “Melt ICE” T-shirt
- Donate
For a full list, click HERE.
New York has received the largest number of migrants, with an estimated 42,000 asylum seekers since last Spring arriving in search of shelter and basic services. Not all of these migrants are from the buses, but the exponential increase in buses, coupled with the lack of coordination or communication from Texas, has placed an immense strain on shelter capacity and city services.
Tensions are high as this week, city officials suddenly evicted asylum seekers from the hotel where they had resided for weeks, planning to move them to a remote facility in Brooklyn that lacks privacy, heating, and access for the migrants to reach their place of work.
Mutual aid groups and nonprofits continue to provide most of the support for asylum seekers, but there is hope for a better response from elected officials. On February 1st, Governor Kathy Hochul announced she would include $1 billion in the New York state budget to welcome and provide social services to asylum seekers.
This likely isn’t enough to address the current crisis, but it is a promising first step, and will hopefully serve as an example for other state governors to welcome migrants humanely.
Here are a few ways to support asylum seekers in New York City:
- Buy supplies on Amazon wishlist or Target wishlist
- Drop off new clothing, toiletry, and hygiene items
- Donate a bike
- Donate to support Team TLC NYC
Click HERE for a full list of ways to support.
Chicago
Since August, Chicago has received an estimated 5,000 migrants, of which nearly 4,000 accepted shelter from the city or state of Illinois. This has placed a great strain on Chicago’s shelter space, driving nonprofits to largely take on the work of finding temporary housing, leaving people stranded in police stations for days at a time.
World Relief is looking for volunteers to greet buses, and you can see where to gift supplies or bring donations HERE.
Visit the city of Chicago’s website for ways to gift items, donate, or volunteer.