A couple of weeks ago, several governors publicly stated that their states wouldn’t allow Syrian refugees to resettle there due to public safety concerns. But that hasn’t stopped local resettlement agencies and volunteers in Texas and Indiana from welcoming new refugee families to fully furnished houses and stocked fridges. The Associated Press reports that days before a family of six was set to arrive in Dallas, their new home was move-in ready and an IRC caseworker was expected to meet with them shortly after their arrival. The caseworker will be helping them map out their next steps, like enrolling the kids in school and teaching them how to use local mass transit.
Indiana volunteers collected mattresses, bicycles and toys for the two children of a Syrian family arriving at the invitation of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic archdiocese in Indianapolis. Archbishop Joseph Tobin said he considered the governor’s recent request to not bring the family to Indiana until Congress had approved new immigrant legislation. But he said he welcomed them anyway because helping refugees “is an essential part of our identity as Catholic Christians.” The family fled Syria three years ago and has been going through U.S. security checks for two years before being allowed to enter.
