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Recent Action Alerts
December 17th, 2021
Photo Courtesy of Pexels, Karolina-grabowska
This month, an estimated 35 million families will receive a monthly Child Tax Credit payment to help make ends meet. This will be the last monthly payment unless Congress acts to maintain the expanded Child Tax Credit. The expanded credit has been an extremely effective anti-poverty program, lifting 3.8 million children above the poverty line. If the expanded credit expires, the amount of help families receive will shrink, monthly payments will end, roughly one-third of households will no longer be eligible to receive the full credit because their incomes are too low, and the lowest-income families will be cut off from the credit all together.
Urge Congress to extend the expanded Child Tax Credit so families have continued access to needed monthly support.
TAKE ACTION NOW
April 16th, 2021
Photo courtesy of Timothy Eberly, Unsplash
TAKE ACTION: HELP US STOP THIS MINE!
The Chilkat River—“Jilkaat Heeni” in the Tlingit language, meaning “storage container for salmon”—runs from its headwaters in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, into the sea near Haines, Alaska.
The watershed was settled millennia ago and is the traditional territory of the Chilkat Tlingit people. Today, the watershed remains central, economically and culturally, to the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan, a federally recognized tribe. Traditional harvests, particularly of wild salmon and eulachon, are the lifeblood of the Village.
Japanese smelter company DOWA Metals and Mining has taken control of the Palmer Mine Project at the headwaters of the Chilkat Watershed. Send this letter DOWA, asking the Board of Directors to stop funding this mine.
April 15th, 2021
Seafarers Are Essential Workers! Sign this Petition to Protect them.
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN:
Each year, the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking (CCOAHT) launches a campaign to raise awareness of forced labor in the fishing industry. This year, due to the global pandemic, a new humanitarian crisis has emerged that is severely impacting all men and women who work at sea. CCOAHT – together with Stella Maris and the Apostleship of the Sea USA – are urging people of faith to leverage their voices as consumers to uphold the safety and labor rights of one of the world’s most invisible group of essential workers.
Sign the petition below urging Walmart, one of our largest retailers, to acknowledge their reliance on seafarers for the healthy functioning of their business model, and to show concern for seafarers’ wellbeing by signing the
Neptune Declaration.
March 25th, 2020
IMF Coronavirus Action: Protect Vulnerable, Prevent Financial Crisis
March 24, 2020
Friends,
The coronavirus impacts all of us.
My family and all of us at Jubilee USA are holding you and our world in prayer. Please keep us and our vital mission in your thoughts and prayers as well.
As the coronavirus takes lives, impacts the markets, affects health care and drives a potential global financial crisis – will you sign our urgent IMF petition to cancel debt and expand aid to bolster healthcare for countries affected by Covid-19?
When you sign our petition, you urge actions that can protect all of us from financial crisis, lift the vulnerable and ensure our world emerges to be more resilient in the face of this pandemic.
Because of our work together, we created global processes to bolster healthcare in the developing world when disaster strikes and deathly diseases spread. Ten years ago, when earthquakes decimated Haiti, we moved the International Monetary Fund to create a process to relieve Haiti’s debt and strengthen Haiti’s health and education systems. In 2014, as the Ebola epidemic devastated Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, we successfully transformed that IMF process. The Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust created innovative healthcare grants, debt relief and hundreds of millions of dollars to fight Ebola and put better clinics in place.
Yesterday the head of the IMF told the G20 she wanted to raise the capacity of this catastrophe relief process that can help poor countries wrestling with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus.
This is very welcome news.
Now we need your help to ensure that more countries can access this and other IMF processes that deliver aid, cancel debt and help our world mitigate the economic and health impacts of the coronavirus. Our petition calls for debt payments to stop while countries battle the coronavirus and its economic impacts.
And yesterday – the President of the World Bank encouraged the G20 to stop debt payments for very poor countries.
African Finance Ministers called for suspension of debt payments to free up $44 billion to fight Covid-19. Ecuador’s Congress also demanded its government stop paying debt.
On Monday, the leadership of Jubilee USA wrote the head of the IMF and urged:
- Bolstering healthcare in developing countries affected by Covid-19 by increasing debt relief and aid through the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust and other expanded processes
- Mobilizing additional financing resources to support all countries impacted by the economic and health impacts of the coronavirus
- Enhancing debt restructuring, issuing debt payment moratoriums and creating expedient debt reprofiling processes for countries impacted by the coronavirus
- Advising countries to emerge from the crisis with more resilience by encouraging policies and agreements to increase protections for the vulnerable, instill greater public budget transparency, implement financial crisis and market protections, promote responsible lending and borrowing and curb corruption and tax evasion
Jubilee USA’s executive committee, Reverend Steve Herder, Celeste Drake, Rabbi Matthew Cutler, Reverend Aniedi Okure and myself noted in our letter to the head of the IMF:
“Economic forecasts warn that a possible financial crisis or depression, spurred by the coronavirus, could be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. Nearly 100 million people, mostly women and children, were pushed into extreme poverty and 22 million jobs were lost worldwide in the 2008 crisis. The International Labor Organization says the numbers of jobs lost could surpass 50 million as a result of a new, deeper financial crisis… A well-designed, globally-coordinated response from the international community can go a long way to prevent and mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis and move us towards a recovery path.”
Please join us now and urge International Monetary Fund action.
In the coming days and weeks, Jubilee USA will offer more analysis and recommendations for US and international decision makers. More than ever, we are counting on you to take action and join our campaigns.
With our voices joined together, we can recover from this moment and build a more resilient global community.
In hope,
Eric LeCompte
June 20th, 2018(Action alert developed by USCCB Justice for Immigrants)
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are voting on June 21st to pass H.R. 4760 and H.R. 6136. We join Justice for Immigrants (JFI) and other faith groups in recommending that Representatives vote NO on both bills.
Both of these bills address DACA eligible youth, but require drastic cuts to family-based immigration and eradicate protections for unaccompanied children and asylum seekers. Here are some of our concerns:
HR 4760
- H.R. 4760 does not include a pathway to citizenship for the limited number of DACA recipients eligible for protection.
- H.R. 4760 fails to adequately address family separation and will lead to increases in child and family detention.
- H.R. 4760 heightens the asylum “credible fear” standard and will undermine existing and critical protections for unaccompanied children.
HR 6136
- H.R. 6136 fails to adequately address family separation and will lead to increases in child and family detention.
- H.R. 6136 heightens the asylum “credible fear” standard and will undermine existing and critical protections for unaccompanied children.
Visit Justice for Immigrants’ (JFI) website to send this action alert to your U.S. House members.
Here are two new resources and more in depth-backgrounders from JFI on the two bills. Also visit JFI’s DACA/Dreamer Resource page:
H.R. 6136 -One page background of some points of the bill.
H.R. 4760– One page background of some points on the bill.
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Reflection
“And who is my neighbor?”
He answered, ‘The one who treated him with mercy.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
Luke 10: 29; 36-37
Background
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate – JPIC Ministry expresses solidarity with many religious voices and communities in condemning the separation of children from their parents at the U.S/Mexico border. We support the concerns as expressed by other Catholic voices including United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that migrant children and families seeking safety must be kept together. A zero tolerance policy of separating children from their parents is not a deterrent. As people of faith, we are called to stand and protect the dignity of poor and abandoned people, especially vulnerable children and parents crossing the border.
“When the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins and the errors of the past. We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible, as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our “neighbors” and everything around us.”
(Pope Francis to Join Session of U.S Congress- September 24, 2015).
Action
Tell Congress to Stop Separating Families & Protect Family Unity. Join U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign action calling for the protection of immigrant children and families seeking safety and shelter from violence by keeping these families together.
Prayer
God: We pray for all people. We pray for those who leave their countries of origin in search for a better life for their families. Help us to stand strong in our actions of solidarity and prayers. Give courage to elected leaders to do the right thing of enacting laws that protects all immigrant children and their families. You always make something new in each one of us. With your help, let us build a better world for all people. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Five Things You Can Do to End Family Separation: https://justiceforimmigrants.org/2016site/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Five-Ways-You-Can-Help-Stop-Family-Separation.pdf
Update
On June 20, the Trump Administration announced an executive order on family separation. Together with other faith partners, we will provide an update in the coming days on whether this order ends the zero-tolerance policy on migrant families.
Join U.S Catholics on February 26: National Call-In Day to Protect Dreamers
On Monday, February 26, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Catholics to call Congress and demand they act on behalf of Dreamers. Please join with other Catholics across the country in calling on Senators and Representatives to urge them to give Dreamers protection and a path to citizenship.
There are approximately 1.8 million Dreamers (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals-DACA) living in this country who were brought to the United States as young children and teens. They worship with us in our churches and serve in the military, contribute to the economy, and bring diverse talents to American society.
The DACA program, which previously granted temporary legal status to Dreamers, was revoked by the current administration and will expire on March 5, leaving almost a million Dreamers vulnerable to arrest, deportation and separation from their families.
As Catholics, we are taught to care for the foreigner: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Mt 25:35). This is our faith tradition as Christians – to care for our neighbor.
Your voice is needed! Take Action on February 26 to Protect Dreamers.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and its Justice for Immigrants Campaign (JFI) are calling all Catholics to contact their U.S. Senators and Representatives to urge them to take action for Dreamers.
- Please call 855-589-5698 to reach the Capitol switchboard and press 1 to connect to your Senator. Once you are connected to the Senator‘s offices, please ask the person on the phone to deliver this simple message to your legislator:
“I urge you to support a bipartisan, common-sense, and humane solution for Dreamers. Protect Dreamers from deportation and provide them with a path to citizenship. Reject proposals that undermine family immigration or protections for unaccompanied children. As a Catholic, I know that families are not “chains,” but a blessing to be protected. Act now to protect Dreamers, our immigrant brothers and sisters.”
- Please call 855-589-5698 a second time to reach the Capitol switchboard again. Press 2 to connect to your Representative. Once you are connected to the Representative’s office, please ask the person on the phone to deliver the same message as above.
After completing your call, please go to http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org to learn more about Dreamers and find other ways to voice your support.
STAND IN SUPPORT OF DREAMers
(Por favor lea esto en Español)
Terminating Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will impact negatively thousands of immigrant youth, their families and local communities where they are valuable members.
Today, we as people of faith must call on our elected leaders to keep the DACA program.
Click on this alert from U.S. Catholic bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign and ACT!
Ask your members of Congress to STAND IN SUPPORT OF DREAMers and co-sponsor the DREAM Act of 2017 (S. 1615 / H.R. 3440).
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
The U.S. House of Representatives may be considering H.R. 2200, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act of 2017. We urge you to voice your support!
H.R. 2200 would reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The TVPA, the original foundational anti-trafficking legislation in the U.S., was created in 2000 and has been reauthorized four times by overwhelmingly bipartisan votes. H.R. 2200 was introduced by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ-4) and Representative Karen Bass (D-CA-37) on April 27, 2017.
Supporting H.R. 2200 is an important step the United States can take to demonstrate our nation’s continued efforts to eradicate human trafficking and assist human trafficking victims. H.R. 2200 ensures critical funding for both domestic and international anti-trafficking programs. Reauthorizing the TVPA helps ensure that victims are able to continue to access programs and services that recognize the importance of dignified care.
Take Action by sending the following message:
Dear Representative,
As a concerned Catholic, I urge you to support H.R. 2200. I firmly believe in the dignity of the human person and this belief calls on me to protect the most vulnerable, including victims of human trafficking. H.R. 2200 is important, as it reauthorizes the TVPA, providing service provisions that will aid victims. Supporting H.R. 2200 will ensure that our nation’s efforts to eradicate human trafficking and assist human trafficking victims continue.
I thank Congress for its long-standing commitment to confront modern-day slavery. As a Catholic, I stand ready to support victims and appreciate your work to eradicate human trafficking.
Send the message from this link:
http://www.capwiz.com/justiceforimmigrants/issues/alert//?alertid=78157626&type=CO
Click here to read the US Bishops’ letter of support for H.R. 2200.
The Senate has postponed its vote on the health care bill, the 2017 Better Care Reconciliation Act— but negotiations continue, and the bill could soon come to the floor. Please contact your Senators and urge them to 
vote against the bill as it stands and make changes in favor of the poor and vulnerable. This legislation takes funding for healthcare coverage from our most vulnerable individuals and families and uses it for tax cuts for some of our most wealthy citizens.
The US Bishops have expressed deep concern and are asking for changes to the bill before Congress votes. Visit USCCB’s action center to send a pre-written alert to your Senators or write your own. Ask them to act with compassion and draft a better health care bill.
Visit USCCB’s Action Center to contact your Senator: https://www.votervoice.net/USCCB/Campaigns/53371/Respond
Read a Catholic Health Association article about the healthcare bill.
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