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READ OUR OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE DETENTION OF REFUGEES AND ONGOING COMMUNITY VIOLENCE
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH DISPLACEMENT, RESETTLEMENT, DEPORTATION, AND ICE #ANONYMOUSAMONGUS

Wednesday, August 13, 202512:00 pm - 1:00 pm
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Chertoff Emily Headshot 2024

This Know Your Rights information session will focus on legal and practical protections for non-citizens in the United States in our changing political and policy environment. Professor Emily R. Chertoff will share what we know about these changes in enforcement policy and practice, and what is still uncertain. The presentation will cover measures that individuals can take to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. It will also discuss the process if someone is detained and potential legal options for contesting deportation.

Important Information

If you are concerned about your safety, we encourage you to watch the recording. Follow Their Story is Our Story on social media (@tsosrefugees) or subscribe to our email list to be notified when the recording is made available.

To protect the identities of those who choose to watch live, we are not requiring registration to join. Simply follow this link to join the Zoom meeting.

Please submit any questions to Professor Emily Chertoff before the session, so she can adapt the presentation accordingly.

Professor Chertoff Biography

Emily R. Chertoff is an Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown Law School. Her research focuses on transformations in the administration of law enforcement, particularly immigration enforcement. Before joining the academy, she served as the first Executive Director of the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children, an advocacy coalition that won state-funded legal services for immigrant youth. She also was a Staff Attorney and Yale Public Interest Fellow at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, where she helped build an impact litigation and appellate advocacy practice. Her work included emergency COVID-19 habeas practice, Ninth Circuit litigation, and direct representation of detained people.

At Georgetown Law, Professor Chertoff leads the Immigrant Experience Project, a new research initiative that explores how different groups of people with immigrant status understand, respond, and adapt to recent changes in U.S. immigration law and policy.

What would you do if you had to leave everything behind?

By the end of 2024, more than 123.2 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to war, persecution, or human rights abuses.

An increase of 7.2 million over 2023, that’s more than 19,619 people every day — roughly one person every 4.4 seconds.

They arrive in refugee camps and other countries, like the US, seeking the one thing they’ve lost: safety.

Fleeing political imprisonment, ethnic violence, religious persecution, gang threats, or war crimes, they come with what little they managed to carry:

Legal papers – if they’re lucky.

A single backpack.

Sometimes a child’s hand in theirs.

They also carry the weight of what they left behind: fractured families, homes they’ll never return to, professions they loved, friends and relatives they may never see again.

They carry loss most of us can’t imagine – but also the truth of what they’ve endured.

At TSOS, we believe stories are a form of justice. When someone shares their experience of forced displacement, they reclaim their voice. And when we amplify that voice – through film, photography, writing, and advocacy – the world listens. Hearts soften. Communities open. Policy begins to shift.

That shift matters. Because when neighbors understand instead of fear…

when lawmakers see people, not politics…

when a teacher knows what her student has survived…

Rebuilding life from the ashes becomes possible.

We’re fighting an uphill battle. In today’s political climate, refugee stories are often twisted or ignored. They’re reduced to statistics, portrayed as national threats, or used to score political points.

The truth – the human, nuanced truth – gets lost, and when it does, we lose compassion.

We are here to share their truth anyway.

At TSOS, we don’t answer to headlines or algorithms. We are guided by a simple conviction: every person deserves to be seen, heard, and welcomed.

Our work is powered by the people we meet — refugees and asylum seekers rebuilding after loss, allies offering sanctuary, and communities daring to extend belonging.

Your support helps us share their stories — and ensure they’re heard where they matter most.

“What ultimately persuaded the judge wasn’t a legal argument. It was her story.”

— Kristen Smith Dayley, Executive Director, TSOS

Will you help us keep telling the truth?

No donation is too small — and it only takes a minute of your time.

Why give monthly?

We value every gift, but recurring contributions allow us to plan ahead and invest more deeply in:

  • New refugee storytelling and advocacy projects
  • Resources to train and equip forcibly displaced people to share their own stories
  • Public education that challenges fear with empathy
  • Local efforts that help communities welcome and integrate newcomers

As our thank-you, monthly supporters receive fewer fundraising messages — and more stories of the impact they’re making possible.

You don’t have to be displaced to stand with those who are.

Can you give today — and help carry these stories forward?

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