The Khoja family, Syrian refugees who are in limbo following Trumps’ executive order.
Rutgers Church at 236 West 73rd Street was arranging to help a family of 8 Syrian Kurdish refugees resettle in the United States when an executive order from President Trump threw the plans into turmoil. The family was actually supposed to arrive in the U.S. on Monday at 4 p.m. but they’re stuck in Istanbul following the refugee ban, according to the church.
“There was this executive order and they were stopped and that’s it,” said Pastor Syehlik. “We spent several weekends cleaning the apartment and preparing it and setting up everything, bringing donated furniture, carpets, pictures on the walls…you name it, just equipping the apartment like we’d like to have it for ourselves. We were prepared to pick them up today at about 5 o’clock; they were supposed to land in Newark international airport… But as this absolute chaos started to develop from this executive order, we realized that they are not coming. We made contact with them in Turkey, which is not normally encouraged or allowed… We told them that we love them and support them and pray for them and still hope there will be a way of getting them here. That’s where it is right now.”
Church members had already helped them get an apartment in New Jersey, which is stocked with furniture and food. Rutgers wants the community to come together on Monday night from 7-8 p.m. to hold a vigil.
“On this evening of their original planned arrival we want to gather, pause and let our faith melt our frustration, disappointment, fear and anger into the perseverance towards an inclusive, tolerant, open-minded and loving future.”
Learn more about the family on Rutgers’ Facebook page.
This is so revolting! We’ve got to get rid of this dictator and his ghastly crew. I feel physically sick with all this going on…as do most of my friends. I hope this family can get here soon. It’s terrific what church has done for them (or will hopefully be able to do).
I’m sending them all good wishes and love….
I agree fully. We send everyone our best wishes for a prompt resolution to this problem and will keep everyone in our thoughts. Repeal and replace trump.
Re: “We’ve got to get rid of this dictator and his ghastly crew…Repeal and replace trump.”
Exactly HOW ???????
Are you at all familiar with something called “The Constitution of the United States of America”? Hopefully you are. If so, please explain how you will use this sacred document to “get rid of” a legally-elected President?
Ummm…reminder to all of the whining Libruls: “we don’t like him” is NOT a valid reason; and
2. There are an awful lot of people outside the Boston-NYC-Washington bubble who DO like him and who voted for him.
Hint: they are the same folk who were IGNORED by all the pundits who kept telling us that Hillary had a lock on the election.
Bottom line: the ONLY way to fight back is via law-suits and other challenges. Trump is playing to HIS base, just the way Obama played to us.
P.S.: this writer VOTED FOR HILLARY !!!
what does “repeal and replace trump” mean?
How about taking the same wonderful care of some of the homeless people living in our streets?
Just like Kelly Ann Conway you want to misdirect the conversation to cover up this travesty brought about by an incompetent, unqualified and mean spirited man. The horror of Syrian refugees and of NYC homeless can both exist. The issue at hand is the former.
“The horror of Syrian refugees” can be put directly at our glorious previous president Obama’s feet.
Remember how he laid a red line in the sand to the Syrian honcho – use chemical weapons and we’ll take care of you.
Guess what?
He used chemical weapons and Mr. O said – well, it’s not really red, it’s kind of orange, and we did zero, and the war there really got ugly, and ISIS came into being big time, and millions of souls poured into Europe and other places.
Yes Virginia, there is no Santa.
He left the WH on 1.20.2017.
Again, like Kellyanne and her incompetent,evil boss you want to blame everything on Obama. It is a great diversionary tactic. Do you really believe that the situation in Syria is totally the fault of US policy? I will give you credit for being smarter than that.
Just FYI, Rutgers Church has a homeless shelter. I’ve volunteered in it for over 10 years.
Zeus – you may not be aware, but the church provides 75+ warm meals and a movie every Thursday evening for homeless people as well as a shelter on the weekends (for the last 25 years) along with a three course meal and breakfast the next day.
You must be referring to the program at Rutgers that feeds homeless people and boards them weekly…probably in line with what you do for homeless people?
This is horrible. It’s so important to put faces to these stories, so people can see the “menaces” being turned away from safety.
The Kurds have been US allies in Iraq all along!
No help was given to me, an American citizen, to keep my apartment. Americans first!
Why do you need help? It’s pretty obvious why these people do.
Zeus, I agree, but not everyone can take care of everyone. There are people who care deeply about the homeless here and advocate for them. There are people who care deeply about the refugee crisis and advocate for them. Hopefully people help out where their passion lies.
Rutgers Church is wonderful and I’m so happy that they are a neighbor of ours.
Whatever one’s political bent, I hope that everyone can appreciate that human lives are deeply affected and that we can find common ground to help protect each other.
Don’t know if this church is one of the charities which profits from resettling refugees, but here is an article on the topic:
‘Though they are officially “non-profit” organizations, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and several other Christian organizations are profiting from lucrative contracts with the federal government to resettle refugees in the United States.’
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/29/unholy-alliance-christian-charities-profit-1-billion-fed-program-resettle-refugees-40-percent-muslim/
As for this family, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that Canada will welcome refugees rejected by President Donald Trump. Perhaps the church can work toward getting this family resettled into Canada.
Hmmm, a link to Breitbart…I’m suuuuure that’s an unbiased source when it comes to stories about refugees.
Breitbart feeds the fear that the snowflakes on the Right live on.
It’s like oxygen for them.
your not-so-subtle reference to the Holocaust does not give me pause, all it does is show how intellectually weak you are.
LOL thanks 🙂
But no need to be intimidated by snowflakes who live in fear, can’t make reasoned arguments, and don’t understand basic logic.
You can see that when they are asked to back up their statements they fail miserably. If nothing else they are consistent!
i like this guy Mark. He’s not intimidated by the right wing haters.
How does it demonstrate intellectual weakness?
snowflakes are for liberals like you Mark. The term means that you all think you’re special, and need safe spaces, and whatever you deem is right, is right “bathrooms for everybody and anybody”, etc. We on the Right do not see ourselves as snowflakes. That terms is only for you, especially the blue haired millenials.
“and need safe spaces,”
Ahh, the irony.
Trump’s order was intended to make the entire country a safe space.
By the way, you might want to pay attention to making absolute statements about groups of people. That has been known to lead to bad outcomes.
The sad thing is that while people on the Left generally agree that there are plenty of lefties who are snowflakes, people on the Right seem to lack that same self-awareness.
There are snowflakes on both sides.
It doesn’t take a deep intellect to realize that there are plenty on the Right who think they are always correct (see much of the Trump rhetoric), require safe spaces (see religious freedom protections), and who deem that whatever is right for them is right for everyone.
I’m sure that even you can understand these basic things.
Or maybe not. One has to calm their emotions and turn on their brain to understand such things.
“though they are officially ‘non-profit'”
What is this supposed to insinuate? Do you have some reason to think these institutions are embezzling funds, or violating the tax laws? If not, then drop those chicken-bleep air quotes.
I notice the source of the article he is referring to is Breitbart so I would believe nothing about it until I verified the information against one or more other sources.
The Kurds are pro-America and our friends.
There are no Kurds committing acts of terror against Americans.
I welcome these people here.