This has been a tough week for all of us at HIAS, but it has been so much worse for the people of Afghanistan, writes HIAS President and CEO in The Forward.
HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield appeared today on Meet the Press Daily with Chuck Todd to discuss the “bureaucratic calamity” that is preventing people from leaving Afghanistan for safety elsewhere.
HIAS staff have traveled to United States military bases, to help process those Afghans who made it out of Kabul. HIAS affiliates across the U.S. are getting ready to receive or are already receiving Afghan refugees and ramping up their services.
With the final troop pull out of Afghanistan and sudden humanitarian crisis, HIAS and our U.S. affiliates are preparing to provide immediate help for those who arrive.
This Tisha B’Av, as the Jewish community commemorates the destruction of both ancient temples in Jerusalem and the exile of the Jewish people, we mourn the losses refugees and asylum seekers have suffered.
HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield visited the HIAS teams in Monterrey, Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana, and Mexicali who are helping hundreds of asylum seekers.
While LGBTQ outreach is not a core part of HIAS’ work, it is vitally important and has had a profound impact on many hundreds of LGBTQ refugees' lives.
In a guest essay for the New York Times, HIAS officials Melanie Nezer and León Rodríguez explain why fixing refugee resettlement requires far more effort from both the Biden administration and Congress.