World Refugee Day

In light of the current atrocities at our borders I decided to not protest or add further negativity. Instead I Googled "what can i do to help..." and Google completed my search with “immigrants”, which must mean that I am not alone in my quest to do more. Below I have listed some groups that I discovered. I am donating money to them because I will not be a part of the ones that stand idly by and do nothing to help. I will be one who tries because I am an immigrant, too. I may have been born an American, as were my parents and grandparents, but make no mistake, all Americans that are not Native are immigrants. We are one and we must right the wrongs.

Immigration Justice Campaign - Our mission is to fight for due process and justice for detained immigrants. The primary goal of the Justice Campaign is to increase access to legal counsel for thousands of immigrants held in detention centers. To achieve this, the Campaign is building a broad network of pro bono allies to serve the many thousands of detained individuals who would otherwise go unrepresented and training private lawyers with new tactics and strategies to enable them to vigorously defend immigrants facing removal.

Global Citizen has some fabulous resources including this list of ways to help children separated from their family at the border.

RAICES - The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services - check out their family reunification and bond fund. Parents separated from their children at the border (and other immigrants placed in detention) can't get released from ICE custody to reunite with their families until they pay the full amount of their immigration bond. Bonds are set at a MINIMUM of $1500, and are usually in the range of $5-10K, even for asylum seekers without any criminal history.
Unlike in the criminal system, bail bond companies either do not help people in immigration proceedings or impose very strict requirements, like private ankle monitors (which families have to pay to "rent").
Donate to our fund to directly support legal services for detained separated parents and the direct funding for bonds to get parents released!!!

Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights - The Immigrant Child and Family Rights Project will be staffed by two attorneys who will fight on behalf of individual children, advocate for systemic change to end the practice of family separation by the Department of Homeland Security, and for policies that better protect the rights of children and families.

ActBlue - Support kids at the border by donating and it will be distributed to the following groups:

Chip in to critical groups working to protect kids separated from their families by ICE:
Al Otro Lado - serves indigent deportees, migrants, and refugees in Tijuana & Los Angeles
The Florence Project - providing legal & social services to detained immigrants in Arizona
Neta - a Latinx-run progressive media platform telling the stories of what's happening on the border
Innovation Law Lab - working in immigrant detention centers and hostile judicial districts; keeping the definitive list of kids being held
Fuerza Del Valle - organizing workers & immigrant communities in the Rio Grande Valley
We Belong Together - women for common sense immigration policies
United We Dream - the largest immigrant youth-led network in the country
Womens Refugee Commission - advocating for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth fleeing violence and persecution
ACLU - fighting attacks through the legal system
Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) - protecting unaccompanied children who enter the US immigration system alone to ensure that no child appears in court without an attorney.
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project - providing asylum seekers with legal aid and community support across the country
Human Rights First - helping refugees obtain asylum in the U.S.
La Union del Pueblo Entero - founded by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, a community union that works in the Rio Grande Valley from the grassroots up.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!