Established in 2015, the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network, Inc. (CVRAN) is a Board-governed, registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Montpelier and dedicated to making our communities welcoming safe places for New Vermonters from countries around the world to visit, work, and live in.
Some of these New Vermonters are refugees who were in refugee camps for many years, and suffered from persecution, violence, instability, deprivation, and homelessness before being allowed to enter the United States. Others are asylum seekers who are unable to return to their home countries for the same reasons but fled as individuals or families and are in the process of applying to the federal government for asylum. And still others are migrant farm workers who have left their permanent homes to work on dairy farms usually for years at a time.
News
"Yesterday, Trump signed a $2 trillion emergency stimulus package, including an immediate cash transfer of $1,200 for most American adults.
It includes $0 for undocumented immigrants.
Immigrant workers contribute billions of dollars in annual taxes, yet undocumented and mixed status families are excluded from this relief effort.
Right now, immigrant workers across the country are out of jobs in the hard-hit hospitality, retail, and restaurant industries. Millions more continue to sustain essential industries to protect and feed the entire country during this unprecedented time.
With dangerous working conditions, mass layoffs, little access to health insurance, and an economy in collapse, undocumented families are already facing disproportionate health risks and financial burden.
As immigrants and allies, we refuse to leave the undocumented community out of our country’s effort to provide relief for struggling families.
Will you sign our pledge to donate part of your stimulus check to undocumented families?
Sign the pledge
Everyone should have the right to stay home from work, without fear of getting fired, in order to protect themselves and their families from an extremely contagious, deadly virus.
We know we are asking a lot from people who might not have some extra funds available, either. If you aren't able to donate part of your stimulus check, please share this pledge and ask others to contribute.
Pledge here to join people across the country in donating part of our stimulus checks.
In solidarity,
Brenda Valladares
Movimiento Cosecha
P.S. If you want to chip in right now to support undocumented workers and families, contribute directly to our Undocumented Worker Fund. Thank you for the support.
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J1 Visa Workers Looking for Temporary Housing
JESSICA ROBLES, MAIN STREET, MONTPELIER
HOUSING AND REAL ESTATE
on behalf of a friend
"Hello, we are two Peruvian J1 visa female workers from one the local ski resorts, that unexpectedly were left without work or housing. I currently have a flight ticket to return to Peru, but at the moment, all international flights are cancelled. We hope to find some temporary shelter option until we are able to fly back to our country. We ask kindly if any member of this community can assist us while we wait for our country's border to open. So far, Peru expects to open their borders around second week of April. We do have family members in New York, but both are high risk areas. Any help will be greatly appreciate it."
Prioritize the Safety and Health of ALL, Regardless of Immigration Status, in Coronavirus Response
protectallpeople.com
Add your name now to ensure all people, regardless of immigration status, have access to care and support to face the COVID-19 pandemic!Children forcibly removed from their parents’ arms. Children “disappeared” while a parent was taken to a court hearing or a medical checkup. Children suffering – from post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety, depression, and fear.
According to Physicians for Human Rights' just-released report, 'You Will Never See Your Child Again’: The Persistent Psychological Effects of Family Separation, the U.S. government’s treatment of asylum seekers through its practice of family separation constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and, in all cases evaluated by Physicians for Human Rights' experts, rises to the level of torture.
Tell Congress: End Torture at the Border
In 2017, the Trump administration secretly piloted the cruel practice of family separation along the southern border to intentionally punish, coerce, and intimidate Central American asylum seekers to give up their asylum claims.
Physicians for Human Rights and thousands of health professionals across the nation are calling for an immediate end to family separation, for children to be reunited with their parents, and for the United States to respect the legal rights of migrants to seek asylum. As part of this campaign, we are asking members of Congress to protect families from human rights abuses at the U.S.-Mexico border by supporting the Refugee Protection Act.
Infants as young as four months old have been torn from the arms of their parents and sent to undisclosed detention facilities, sometimes in entirely different states. Parents were not told where their children had been taken. Some children thought their parents had died. Since 2017, a total of 5,512 children have been separated from their families. And many are yet to be reunited, according to the government’s own statistics.
We always knew it was cruel, and we always knew it was wrong. But now, for the first time, medical experts have spoken: family separation constitutes torture, and it needs to end now.
End Family Separation NOW
The damage that this policy has caused is profound: these brutal actions have severely harmed the health of migrant adults and children. Asylum seekers from Central America have already survived terrifying levels of violence in their home countries – such as extortion, kidnapping, torture, rape, and killings – that have forced them to make the dangerous journey north in search of safety for themselves and their children.
Despite a court injunction ordering the government to cease the practice, this administration has continued its attempts to target and threaten asylum-seeking families with separation. Today, families are still being separated at the border.
But we are NOT staying silent. Will you join us?
I hope I can count on you to take action with us today.
Michael Payne
Senior Advocacy Officer and Interim Advocacy Director
Physicians for Human Rights