Welcome Dayton, Welcoming America: Cities and Counties in the U.S. Welcome Refugees and Other Immigrants
This summer I moved from Washington, D.C., to Ohio where I have taken a new position as Director of Law Clinics and Assistant Professor of Law at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. I have never lived in such a conservative area and bringing human rights home has taken on new meaning and presented new challenges for me here (for example, instead of facing home
schoolers at Senate hearings, I now face homeschoolers every time I walk out of my house and often in my house). And yet, there are incredible human rights movements and opportunities, right here, on the North Coast.
With news of anti-immigrant rhetoric flowing from the mouths presidential candidates and the refugee crisis in Europe (including right here) drowning out pretty much everything else this week, I latched on to a couple of news items on refugees and other immigrants that are relevant to human rights and my new home.
The first was from earlier this week when the Pope urged every parish in Europe to take in one refugee family. The second was a statement released by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants urging Europeans to start focusing on, among other things, “investing in integration measures – especially through supporting the action of cities – and developing a strong public discourse on diversity and mobility as cornerstones for contemporary European societies.”
It hit me that Dayton, Ohio, is way ahead in welcoming refugees and other immigrants. As are Columbus, Akron, and Cincinnati, Ohio. So are Detroit and East Lansing, Michigan. These cities are among a long list of municipalities working to actively welcome refugees and other immigrants to help grow their economies and reverse population declines. In fact, cities and counties from 33 states across the U.S. during the week of September 12-20, 2015, will be celebrating contributions made by immigrants in their communities and trying to spur local policies on inclusion. For example, Welcome Dayton, is holding a variety of events including a citizenship clinic. Welcoming America, an umbrella network for the municipalities and groups working on local immigrant-friendly initiatives, has a list of events being held across the U.S.
While I recognize that welcoming immigrants at the local level is very different than the consequential step of the federal government taking action to welcome refugees from Syria and Eritrea, I see this as a very important human rights action at the local level and something that should be replicated widely. In my mind, this is part of the “Trickle Up” effect that Risa Kaufman has written about on this blog before.
As it is important to always walk the walk to bring the human rights home to the most local level, at home and personally, I hope you will get involved in some of the Welcoming America events near you. If you want to take a big step to #welcomerefugees to your home, there are a couple of organizations that are taking applications for foster families willing to host unaccompanied refugee or other immigrant youth.
By the way, it can be pretty lovely here in Ohio. Here’s a photo from my drive to work:
