A Crisis Compounded

Communities on the ground, caring for refugees in Jesus' name, are suddenly reeling

World Relief Chicagoland’s new legal clinic marks a hopeful beginning for people looking to restart their lives. Photo credit: World Relief Chicagoland

Our asylum laws, as well as our collective desire and energy to support refugees fleeing violence and harm, did not grow out of some wispy ethereal ideal but out of the sheer terror of the Holocaust and a World War, as they shattered what we thought we understood about basic human decency and morality. Yet the violence and the terror rumbles on. The need to support the most desperate has not abated. Jesus always moves toward the suffering.

Unfortunately, our immediate freeze on U.S. grants and funding has inflicted immediate chaos. Last night, I received word from my colleague and friend Ruth Padilla DeBorst that their work in Costa Rica (Casa Adobe and Casa Esperanza) providing shelter and food to fleeing asylum seekers (children and elderly and families in their care) will have to shut down immediately.

Then, World Relief, who for decad…