Our program's primary purpose is helping refugees, asylees & asylum seekers with basic needs, transportation, and transitional services. When they are released from detention at the San Ysidro border, we are there waiting. We provide them with quick and safe transportation from the border to a hotel or host family. We provide them with clothing, suitcases, hygiene items, baby formula, diapers, and essential items. Then we ensure their safe travel to their family.
There is no official post-release program in place for people being released from ICE detention. At the San Ysidro border it is an everyday occurrence for ICE buses to release refugees, asylum seekers and asylees onto the street in the middle of the night. This is their first time in a new country, and they are simply being dumped, in a low-income, high-crime, high-transient population community, with no ability to alert their friends and family they are being released.
We wait for the bus to ensure the safety of the people being released. 95% of these people have family somewhere in the United States they are trying to reunite with. Usually they don't even have a cell phone to contact them. We ensure each person we pick up is reunited with their family. If they can't afford their own travel, we will arrange it for them. We hold their hand each step of the way, until we walk through TSA security and leave them at their airline gate.
We keep refugees, asylees and asylum-seekers safe and well cared for during a difficult transition. It will prevent people from becoming victims of crimes, including human trafficking. Long-term we hope this program will reshape the face of America for the people we touch. We hope it will ease their disillusionment after experiencing ICE detention. We also hope that our work will continue to inspire those who follow our efforts, and that more people will see what we're doing and choose kindness.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
