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The Community-Based Refugee Reception Act Is a Great Hope for Sudanese
The core idea is that community volunteer groups, in collaboration with established resettlement agencies, help sponsor incoming refugees and assist them in successfully adjusting.
Aug 31, 2025
In April 2023, the war broke out between the Sudanese National Army and the Rapid Support Forces; its impact has been devastating. The UN now considers the country to have the worst humanitarian displacement crisis in the world, with 13 million refugees. Four million of them fled to the neighboring countries, but are still struggling to secure a stable and safe life.
The recently introduced Community-Based Refugee Reception Act represents a great opportunity to save the lives of millions of refugees around the world, especially Sudanese.
Sudanese refugees who managed to escape the war are now facing dire conditions. For instance, in Egypt, they are frequently subjected to mass arrest and forced return to Sudan. In Libya, they are repeatedly enduring racism and violence, and many were sent back to Sudan. The situation is similar in Chad, where 1 million refugees face diseases such as cholera and lack of mental health and psychosocial services, in addition to stable access to food, which has led some to face starvation, according to the UN World Food Program.
The suspension by the Trump administration of the refugee program, which includes the welcome corps that provided a pathway for many Sudanese refugees to move to the US legally, added more insult to injury and worsened the Sudanese refugee crisis.
In August 2025, Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a bill that aims to permanently authorize community refugee sponsorship and resettlement services. The core idea is that community volunteer groups, in collaboration with established resettlement agencies, help sponsor incoming refugees and assist them in successfully adjusting to employment, education, and housing within their new communities. The bill, which took inspiration from the welcome corps program and an additional resettlement model that complements existing pathways, would also request the government fund local communities to achieve this goal. Moreover, the bill asks for resuming all processing and admissions under the US Refugee Admissions Program. The bill is currently backed by several immigration groups, such as the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services Connecticut (IRIS), Elena’s Light, Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, and the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants.
Ideally, this bill will have a great positive impact on Sudanese refugees as it provides them with hope for a new life and lets them escape the harsh conditions in which they live in limbo. One barrier that needs to be removed is President Donald Trump's travel ban on Sudan, which would allow them to enjoy this immigration benefit without any restrictions.
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Urgent Appeal to Rep. McGovern: Stop the US-Israeli Starvation of Gaza
Are we expected to observe this genocide through starvation being conducted with our tax dollars, with our own government's full partnership, before our eyes, minute-to-minute, and do nothing?
Jul 23, 2025
On July 21, I and other constituents of Democratic U.S. Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts who are active with three community organizations—River Valley for Palestine, Demilitarize Western Mass., and Leahy Fast for Palestine—sent an emergency email regarding the engineered starvation in Gaza to two staff members responsible for foreign policy issues in Mr. McGovern's Washington D.C. office. The full text of the letter is provided below. We received a response that did little more than list a few of Mr. McGovern's votes. It was Capitol Hill boilerplate.
Congress is due to begin its "summer recess" on July 25, though House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) may begin the break early to spare U.S. President Donald Trump further embarrassment regarding his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and fellow pedophiles. As Gaza enters what experts call the "Fifth Phase" (most acute and deadly) of the deliberate Israeli-U.S. designed starvation, and people collapse in the streets, members of Congress will hit U.S. beaches, campgrounds, and cookouts.
We urge all Common Dreams readers to immediately contact their members of Congress to demand that Congress remain in session throughout the summer and reverse all U.S. policies supporting Israel. (On July 18, Rep. McGovern voted AGAINST an amendment that would have prevented the provision of $500 million in weapons to Israel. This vote makes our member of Congress complicit in genocide.)
Open Letter to Staffers of U.S. Congressman James McGovern, 7/21/25:
Dear ---,
We are writing to you, with utmost urgency, as constituents of Rep. McGovern and as members of Northampton-based organizations: River Valley for Palestine, Demilitarize Western Mass., and Leahy Fast for Palestine. Mr. McGovern knows some of us on a first-name basis. Since October 7, 2023, we have been in steady contact with him and with [former senior staffer] regarding the genocide in Gaza.
We understand that [former senior staffer] has moved on, and that you are assuming her responsibilities covering foreign policy for the congressman. We wish you the very best and look forward to building a relationship with you.
In another email, we would like to address a number of issues about Israel-Palestine and provide some background about our efforts in communicating with Representative McGovern. But in this message, we are operating under an urgent need to get to the immediate point of the matter: Israel's deliberate, systematic policy of starvation of the entire 2-million-plus population of the Gaza Strip and U.S. collaboration in this horrific criminal enterprise.
We need Mr. McGovern to use his "bully pulpit" NOW, in 2025 and to bring equal passion and visibility to the desperate needs of the people of Gaza.
We're sure you're aware that the complete blockade of all goods and services entering the Gaza Strip has been enforced by the U.S.-supported Israel Defense Forces since March 2 of this year; that the population of Gaza had already been worn down by over a year and a half of partial blockade, heavy bombardment, etc, as well as years of blockade, deprivation, and warfare before that; that the U.S.-Israeli "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" is a "mousetrap" whereby more than 1,000 Gazans have been gunned down and over 7,000 wounded in attempting to receive food aid at a few militarized sites in the far southwest corner of the territory; that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which had operated over 400 food-aid sites throughout the Gaza Strip, has been prohibited from operating for a long period of time; that nearly all food markets and community kitchens are now closed due to lack of food; that Israel and the U.S. have deliberately created a situation in which there are violent gangs, a black market, and astronomically high prices for the few available goods; that there is no fuel to run water desalination plants or for other critical needs; and that Israeli-U.S. policy has systematically and by design destroyed Gaza's healthcare system.
The resultant situation is predictable, indeed, planned: People are now dying in the streets, too weak to rise to their feet. As Alex de Waal, international famine expert, said on Democracy Now's program July 21, "There is no case since World War II of starvation that has been so minutely designed and controlled." United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri said in March of 2024 that in his expert opinion, "Israel's starvation of Gaza is genocide."
Are we expected to observe this genocide through starvation being conducted with our tax dollars, with our own government's full partnership, before our eyes, minute-to-minute, and do nothing?
Congressman McGovern is the founder and cochair of the House Hunger Caucus. He is cochair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. We know of the congressman's commendable actions during the Darfur genocide when he was arrested three times protesting the crimes against humanity in western Sudan. We need Mr. McGovern to use his "bully pulpit" NOW, in 2025 and to bring equal passion and visibility to the desperate needs of the people of Gaza.
We ask that you convey to Congressman McGovern our immediate and urgent request that he speak on the House floor TOMORROW, in his capacities as cochair of the Hunger Caucus and Tom Lantos Commission, and demand: 1) that the U.S. government inform Israel that the blockade must end immediately; 2) that Gaza's borders and coastline must be opened immediately; 3) that all of the aid sitting at Gaza's borders must be allowed in immediately—UNDER UNRWA SUPERVISION AND AUSPICES; and 4) that the U.S. take the lead in shipping, via U.S. military cargo aircraft and naval vessels, food and other humanitarian provisions to the people of Gaza on an ongoing basis.
Vis-à-vis No. 4 above: To be clear—we are not asking Congressman McGovern to call for airdrops of food or humanitarian supplies by the U.S. or any country into Gaza. This is NOT the correct approach. The correct approach is permanently opening the borders of Gaza, allowing aid to enter via trucks. Aid should also be delivered via U.S. and E.U. navies at the Gaza coastline. All aid deliveries must be overseen by UNRWA, as previously.
Beyond this speech from the floor of the House, we ask that Congressman McGovern work assiduously and daily to use his public microphone, private powers of persuasion, and media contacts to get other members of Congress to join him in these demands, including exercising his right to employ nonviolent civil disobedience for the people of Gaza, as he so admirably did on behalf of the people of Darfur on three separate occasions in 2006, 2009, and 2012.
A final note: On July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a groundbreaking Advisory Opinion about Israel's illegal occupation of Gaza and all the Occupied Territories, and pointed out the legal jeopardy of governments, private organizations, and individuals in supporting Israel's actions or failing to take immediate steps to stop them, since they are in flagrant contravention of many international laws and norms. As you know, the U.S. is breaking many domestic laws in supporting Israel's genocide as well.
We would appreciate hearing from you on an emergency basis. Thank you.
Sincerely,
River Valley for Palestine
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The Sudan Crisis and America's Complicity: When Corruption Fuels Atrocity
The world is watching. So are the people of Sudan. The question is whether the United States will choose complicity—or conscience. We must act now.
Jun 10, 2025
In a world deluged with crises—each vying for our limited attention—the catastrophe unfolding in Sudan has remained largely invisible to the American public. Yet, by almost any measure, it is among the most severe humanitarian emergencies of our time. Over 30 million people—two-thirds of Sudan’s population—now require humanitarian support. More than 12 million have been displaced, and famine threatens to claim countless lives. This is not a distant tragedy; it is a crisis in which American policy and the interests of American capitalists are deeply entangled.
Now, Congress is poised to vote on a set of resolutions that could finally interrupt the United States’ role in fueling this disaster. You can call your Senator and ask them to support S.J.Res.51, S.J.Res.52, S.J.Res.53, and S.J.Res.54—the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval by Senator Chris Murphy et. al. that would block more than $3.5 billion in proposed arms sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The Congressional Switchboard is at 202-224-3121.
This legislation is likely to come up this week and that makes this a rare moment of real leverage for American activists and concerned citizens. The urgency is clear: unless Congress acts, the U.S. risks deepening its complicity in Sudan’s suffering.
At the epicenter of Sudan’s unraveling is the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group whose origins trace back to the notorious Janjaweed militias involved in the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s. The RSF has been implicated in a series of systematic atrocities: targeted ethnic violence, mass killings, forced displacement, and widespread sexual violence. Investigations by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all pointed to the same grim conclusion: the RSF’s actions constitute war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and, in the assessment of the U.S. State Department, genocide.
The mechanics of how these atrocities are sustained have already come into focus. According to Amnesty International, recently manufactured Emirati armored personnel carriers are now in the hands of the RSF. Flight data and satellite imagery have revealed a pattern: cargo planes departing from the UAE, landing at remote airstrips in Chad, and then offloading weapons and equipment that would soon appear on the front lines in Sudan. A New York Times investigation concluded that the UAE was “expanding its covert campaign to back a winner in Sudan, funneling money, weapons and, now, powerful drones” to the RSF.
What makes this all the more alarming is that the UAE is one of America’s closest military partners—and a major recipient of U.S. arms. Despite repeated assurances to Washington that it would not arm Sudan’s belligerents, the UAE has continued these transfers, as confirmed by the Biden Administration in one of its last acts as well as by members of Congress.
There is, however, another angle to this story—an angle that speaks to the corrosion of U.S. foreign policy by incredibly narrow financial interests. President Donald Trump and his family have cultivated deep financial ties with both the UAE and Qatar. The UAE has invested $2 billion in a Trump family crypto venture; Qatar has bestowed a $400 million on that luxury aircraft everyone’s heard about, intended for the U.S. presidential fleet, in a gesture that blurs the line between diplomacy and personal favor. These transactions are not just unseemly; they are emblematic of this new era in which U.S. foreign policy is increasingly shaped by the private interests of a handful of oligarchs.
To call this “kleptocracy” is not hyperbole. The intertwining of arms sales, foreign influence, and personal enrichment undermines both U.S. standing and the interests of the average American. Each weapon sold, each deal brokered, risks making the United States more complicit in the suffering of Sudan’s civilians.
To call this “kleptocracy” is not hyperbole. The intertwining of arms sales, foreign influence, and personal enrichment undermines both U.S. standing and the interests of the average American.
The Sudan crisis is a reminder that America’s actions abroad are neither abstract nor inconsequential—and all the uniqueness of the Trump 2.0 administration hasn’t changed that. U.S. policies still reverberate in the lives of millions. As citizens, we have a responsibility to demand that our leaders act not out of expedience or self-interest, but out of a sense of justice and human dignity. With a congressional vote imminent, the window for meaningful action is open—but it is closing fast.
The world is watching. So are the people of Sudan. The question is whether the United States will choose complicity—or conscience. Please call your Senators today at 202-224-3121.Keep ReadingShow Less
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