Dear WES Friends,

You may have seen the article in today’s Post Metro section on the wave of migrants arriving at Union Station on buses from Texas and Arizona.  The link is below:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/14/migrant-buses-dc-bowser-silence/

An amazing group of dedicated volunteers has been meeting asylum seekers at the bus station at all hours, providing welcome solidarity and services since April.  That’s when Gov. Abbot of Texas began his cynical, political ploy of sending these desperate people to D.C. for a conservative photo op.  (The first bus stopped in front of Fox News).

Now, the volunteers are exhausted.  COVID is hitting them hard and thinning their ranks.  This is our opportunity to step-up to provide solidarity and Ethical Action where it is most needed: in our own backyard.  Again, these migrants are asylum seekers and have legal status.  They too are exhausted… Every one of them has a history and harrowing stories behind their decision to embark on this dangerous journey.  Let’s do what we can to embrace them with kindness and solidarity.

Below, Amy Hammond, of MigrantHelpDMV, describes a single day’s worth of bus arrivals in our city.

It includes many ways to provide solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Texas and Arizona:

“MigrantHelpDMV was there with the amazing team from SAMU First Response, as well as volunteers from the Migration and Refugee Policy Initiative team at Georgetown University, HumanitarianActionOrg and Carecen. We received three buses from Texas carrying more than 140 vulnerable refugees, including some with disabilities, major medical concerns and a very, very pregnant woman. The last bus arrived at 10:50 pm, 10 minutes before Union Station closed for the evening. Many of our friends ended up with nowhere to go.”

Help us prevent this by getting this into as many hands as possible so that we will get the support necessary to continue this work… including MORE RESPITE SPACE. 

There are so many ways you can help, all of which are equally important to the ongoing efforts to help receive these buses. We need:

• …more volunteers in a variety of capacities, from translators, to transportation, housing of all kinds and much, much more (sign up here, volunteers are truly our backbone!)…
• … supplies to be prepared for continued arrivals as well as respite space once we are able to get it. Those needs are here.
• … partners to make toiletry and snack kits REGULARLY. This is a critical need as we are absolutely out at this time. Please reach out to me directly if you or your group has interest in helping in this way. 
• … funds for a variety of things, from purchasing tickets for our arriving friends who are moving on to meet friends or family, to lodging for those needing to stay a night or two (make a donation here.)
• donations of gently-used clothing, shoes, baby carriers and more. We’ve partnered with Goods for Good DC to do a massive DMV-wide clothing drive. You can find donation locations and a list of items we can and cannot accept here. We REALLY need men’s bottoms in small and medium!! 

Want to stay in the loop? Check back here, or join or mailing list. It is critical that this message is shared as widely as possible.  Please forward to friends, family, colleagues, church communities and other groups that might be able to help.”

Many thanks,

Ross Wells and Judith Johnson for

WES Immigration Justice Team