May 7th, 20220Palestinians are justifiably worried that the mandate granted to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, might be coming to an end. UNRWA’s mission, which has been in effect since 1949, has done more than provide urgent aid and support to millions of refugees. It was also a political platform that protected and...
April 21st, 20220DETROIT — The newly formed Detroit Refugee Network (DRN) is looking to increase resources for refugee clients of three major resettlement agencies that provide support services to refugees from Afghanistan and other nations as they resettle in Detroit.
Samaritas, the Detroit-based statewide health and human services organization...
March 6th, 20220WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. said on Tuesday it has reopened a refugee program for Iraqis that was placed on hold for more than a year during an investigation into fraud.
Officials will resume processing applications that were suspended during the probe and accepting new petitions for resettlement as part of the Iraqi "Direct Access"...
September 3rd, 20210TROY — The Arab American and Chaldean Council (ACC) has received a grant for refugee medical screening.
The ACC is a nonprofit human service organization that serves southeast Michigan.
The grant comes from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and will assist in providing comprehensive medical...
February 4th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, President Biden said he seeks to raise the annual refugee cap to 125,000, an increase that will take place in the beginning of October.
Biden made the announcement during a speech at the U.S. State Department.
Biden also said he would approve an executive order that would restore the U.S. refugee...
April 26th, 20190Dearborn – The story of Rehab Amer and her husband Ahmad’s struggle to keep their children is known to many. After decades of legal battles, and eventual successes bringing the Amer Law to the state of Michigan in 2010, Amer and her community partners want to inject hope and self-determination into families across the...
April 18th, 20190TBILISI - Two Saudi sisters took to Twitter on Wednesday to plead for international protection and a safe haven, saying their lives would be at risk if they went back to Saudi Arabia.
The women, in their 20s, said they had arrived in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and needed help from the international community to find a new...
December 10th, 20180Watching the ongoing debate between U.S. liberal and right-wing pundits in U.S. mainstream media, one rarely gets the impression that Washington is responsible for the unfolding crisis in Central America.
In fact, no other country is as accountable as the United States for the Central American bedlam and resulting refugee...
October 16th, 20180As the frail body of 12-year-old Nassir Al-Mosabeh fell to the ground on Friday, September 28, history was repeating itself in a most tragic way.
Little Nassir was not just another number, a “martyr” to be exalted by equally poor refugees in Gaza, or vilified by Israel and its tireless hasbara machine. He was much more than...
September 18th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump will make the final decision on the number of refugees allowed into the United States after consulting with Congress, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday.
On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States proposed capping the number of refugees at 30,000 for...
September 7th, 20180The Trump administration has cut all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). Created after the 1948 war which displaced 700,000 Palestinians, UNRWA works in collaboration with local governments to provide direct relief and resources aiding economic reintegration. The agency provides food...
July 27th, 20180As Michiganders seek to turn the state around, the governor’s office – plagued with wide-spread distrust – is being eyed as a worthwhile place to start, beginning with the August 7 primary election.
Shortcomings like an education system that fails to produce enough skilled workers, non-existent public transportation and cities...
July 6th, 20180Human rights organization advocates for building longer tables, not walls
DEARBORN – About 80 percent of people surveyed worldwide say they would welcome refugees in their country, community or home, according to a 2017 Amnesty International survey of 27,000 people across 27 countries. Yet, most leaders of those nations...
June 5th, 20180AMMAN — Amman was ranked the most expensive city in the Arab world and 28th worldwide, exceeding some of the main Gulf, European and North American cities such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London, Rome, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, according to a recent report by The Economist.
Titled "Worldwide Cost of Living Survey", the study was...
April 26th, 20180BRUSSELS ― International donors raised $4.4 billion in emergency aid for Syria and its neighbors this year on Wednesday, but the total fell well short of the U.N. target for 2018 after the United States failed to submit a pledge.
Humanitarian agencies also pleaded for peace before the Syrian military and its Russian and Iranian...
March 7th, 20180GAZA ― Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are planning a six-week-long tent city protest near the Israeli border starting on March 30 to demand Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homeland, what is now Israel, organizers said on Wednesday.
Such a demonstration, envisaging families camped out in the sensitive border area,...
February 2nd, 20180By Ramzy Baroud
Although the genocide of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has gathered greater media attention in recent months, there is no indication that the international community is prepared to act in any meaningful way, thus leaving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees stranded in border camps between Myanmar and...
January 26th, 20180By Mohamed Mohamed
It is regrettable that the most basic human needs of millions of Palestinian refugees are now being used as a weapon in the Trump administration's political assault on Palestinians.
On January 16, the administration decided to withhold $65 million of a planned $125 million in U.S. funding for the United Nations...
January 26th, 20180By Ramzy Baroud
On January 15, millions of Americans commemorated Martin Luther Kings Day. Dr. King's famous speech, "I Have a Dream", was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism, which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in American society.
But that is only one version of Dr. King...
January 5th, 20180By Ali Abunimah
A million Palestinians in Gaza depend on UNRWA emergency food rations. That number soared from just 80,000 in 2000, after years of Israeli siege and military assaults on the territory.
What would happen if Donald Trump carries out his threats to stop U.S. aid to Palestinians?
If he means a cutoff of U.S. funding...
DETROIT — The Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center (SWIRC) will open its third free legal clinic next month, thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Oakland County Bar Foundation, and an additional $25,000 from the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Program.
SWIRC's first clinic opened up in June 2015 and has since became the...
November 14th, 20170
HAMBURG ― Many Syrian refugees in Germany have resigned themselves to the reality that there will be no swift return to the land of their birth, where a civil war is nearing the start of its eighth year.
They are starting to build new lives in their host country, driving up demand for “Made in Syria” goods there as they seek...
October 18th, 20170WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI - Refugees in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties are contributing to the region's economy and helping grow its population, according to a new study released Tuesday.
The study by Global Detroit and the University of Michigan's School of Public Policy said, over the past decade, about 21,000 refugees...
September 29th, 20170WASHINGTON/NEW YORK—The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed admitting a maximum of 45,000 refugees next year, the lowest cap in decades, which officials said was necessary to ensure U.S. security, although Democrats and humanitarian groups blasted the decision as an abandonment of American moral authority.
That figure is the...
September 22nd, 20170DEARBORN — The cries of a local mother's children as they were dragged away by state officials still echo after three decades.
Wrongfully accused in 1985 of murdering her 2-year-old son, Rehab Amer relives the horrors of trying to bring her other children back every day. Now, she's making sure other children's distress calls do not...
September 8th, 20170The genocide of the Rohingya Muslims became a major global focus this week and yet no official outcry against their massacre or for immediate aid was made.
Making headlines should raise awareness about the crisis— immediately outraging humanity as a call for action— not silencing and immobilizing it.
According to an op-ed...
August 25th, 20170WARREN — “Should I even bring this little girl into the world? How will my child be raised? In a refugee camp?”
These are the distressed thoughts— told by an Arab American teen— of Hanana Asaad, a young mother ready to give birth at a Jordanian refugee camp.
She reportedly walked three miles, malnourished and weak, to the...
July 29th, 20170SEATTLE— Palestinian American architect Rania Qawasma was planning her thesis proposal halfway through her distance learning master’s program in sustainable design at Boston Architectural College (BAC) when she realized she needed to omit her original idea after spending a day with and listening to the concerns of resettled Syrian...
