Trump Refugee Ban Clashes With Faith-Based Groups' Religious Missions

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The HIAS welcomes refugees in Philadelphia in 2015. "The faith groups are going to kick and scream and object to every aspect of this disgusting, vile, executive order, which makes America out to be something that it's not," says Mark Hetfield, the organization's president. "You know, we are a country that welcomes refugees." Bill McCay/Getty Images for MoveOn.org

January 27, 20178:33 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
TOM GJELTEN

President Trump's temporary ban on the admission of refugees is not going over well with the churches and religious organizations that handle most refugee resettlements in the United States.

"The faith groups are going to kick and scream and object to every aspect of this disgusting, vile executive order," says Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, a Jewish refugee society. "[It] makes America out to be something that it is not. We are a country that welcomes refugees."

Of the nine agencies that resettle refugees in the United States, six are faith-based groups.

"Each one of us brings together a network of communities, of social service agencies, of churches, of synagogues that are working on welcoming refugees to our communities," Hetfield says. "It's so much better for refugees to be welcomed by members of a faith group than by government bureaucrats."

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/27/511997346/trump-refugee-ban-clashes-with-faith-based-groups-religious-missions

4:13 audio at link.

[Jim__]

1. This is the best thing I've seen since Trump was elected.

This is a live feed, so I don't know how long it will last:

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2. Still going strong!