How To Define a Refugee
CONTRIBUTOR: Claire Crossland Naujoks, TSOS Team Member
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the word refugee. A word that has crept into our media and minds more and more in recent years, a word that is loaded with connotations, a word that has been repeated and politicised until the meaning has almost become lost in the confusion of opinions and facts and fake news that surround it.
So let’s go back to those seven letters. Refugee. According to google, ‘a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster.’ Things that I hope I never have to endure. Things that I know I would flee from. Things that may seem unimaginable to those of us safe and warm at home.
A refugee is just someone seeking refuge. And a refuge is a place to survive.
I’m sure we all know by now that there are record numbers of refugees in the world at the moment. All of them with a story, all of them fleeing, all of them survivors of experiences that have left scars, be they physical or mental.
And now let’s take a minute to think again about what the word refugee really means.
Someone seeking refuge.
Someone seeking life.
Someone just like you.
Official Statement on the Detention of Refugees and Ongoing Community Violence
With another death in Minnesota and continued violence toward individuals and groups standing up for their communities, we acknowledge the profound fear and uncertainty people are feeling--not just locally, but across the country.
On top of this, there are reports that refugees invited and admitted to our country through the U.S. Refugee Admission Program are now being detained, meaning that our new friends and neighbors feel that fear most acutely.
Refugees have already fled violence and persecution once. They came here legally, seeking safety. In moments like these, we reaffirm our commitment to building communities where refugees and immigrants can live without fear. Where they can go to work, send their children to school, and build lives of dignity and belonging.
We call for due process, accountability, and humanity in all immigration enforcement operations. We call upon our leaders to demand the demilitarization of our neighborhoods and cities. And we call on all of us to continue the work of welcoming and protecting those who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.