‘A moral travesty’: Hundreds rally in Penn Square Sunday in support of Church World Service

Less than a month after the Trump administration cut funding to nonprofits that help refugees and immigrants, over 200 Lancaster residents gathered in Penn Square on Sunday to support the more than 60 Church World Service employees who were furloughed as a result.

The rally, organized by Lancaster Stands Up, highlighted the work done by CWS employees and the uncertain situation faced by thousands of refugees affected by a January executive order halting refugee admissions to the U.S.

Matt Johnson, who was furloughed from his position as the strategic community partnerships officer at CWS, introduced himself to the crowd Sunday by saying he and his colleagues should be at work.

CWS Rally [photos]

“It is a travesty,” Johnson said. “This happened not because we did anything wrong, or because our performance wasn’t great. This happened because the president decided to cut funding that was already allocated by Congress to this purpose.”

Johnson detailed how after the Trump administration suspended all refugee resettlement to the United States. This included 15 refugee flights to Lancaster County that were scheduled for February.

Some of the refugees prevented from coming to Lancaster included Afghan war veterans who risked their lives alongside U.S. troops, Johnson said. Now, America’s Afghan allies are in danger of Taliban reprisals. Many are living in Pakistan without legal status.

Days after that executive order, the U.S. secretary of state issued a stop-work order preventing CWS from providing services to refugees who had already arrived.

“People who had been here as short a time as five days were left on their own,” Johnson said. “This is a moral travesty.”

Local Voices

Furloughed Church World Service Lancaster staffers need the community’s help [column]

MATT JOHNSON | FOR LNP | LANCASTERONLINE

Johnson said CWS employees have been met with indifference by federal elected officials. He told the crowd they have come to the conclusion that, “no one is coming to help us.”

Lancaster City Council member Ahmed Ahmed, the first former refugee to serve on City Council, said he got to experience the American dream when his family was chosen to be resettled to Lancaster.

“I went from almost dying of malaria and malnutrition to learning English as a second language at Fulton Elementary,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said he has seen first-hand the work done by CWS employees and how their work has allowed the Lancaster’s immigrant community to thrive.

“Without the work done by CWS, I would not be here today,” Ahmed said. “We need to make sure the next generation of refugee and immigrant leaders have the same opportunity I did.”

'An abdication of their responsibility'

Rachel Helwig, another CWS worker furloughed earlier this month, said the staff remaining with the nonprofit were working 13-hour days just to provide essential services and ensure children were being represented in immigration court.

Helwig said residents have to advocate for the Trump administration and Congress to reinstate the refugee admission program and continue lifesaving programs for those seeking asylum.

“We need them to know that while they are taking a wrecking ball to our system, they cannot take a wrecking ball to our values,” Helwig said.

State Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El said he and CWS employees had met with federal elected officials who expressed support for the refugee admission program privately but hadn’t shown much public support. Johnson and Smith-Wade-El said the only way to force action on this issue was to show the Lancaster community cares by calling and mailing elected officials like U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker.

“I believe our elected officials know these budget cuts are an abdication of their responsibility,” Johnson said.

Johnson also asked those in attendance to donate to a GoFundMe to help CWS workers pay rent, utilities, child care and grocery costs while furloughed. The fundraiser had raised more than $41,000 by Sunday.

A benefit concert for CWS was held at Tellus 360 Sunday afternoon. Organizers said that the event had sold out well in advance.

Smith-Wade-El noted that Pennsylvania, and Lancaster County specifically, have always been a place of refuge for people fleeing slavery, war and authoritarianism.

“We have a centuries-long heritage as the north star state, and I certainly have no intention of giving it up today,” Smith-Wade-El said. “Not for Donald Trump, not for Elon Musk and frankly not for any of their unelected flunkies.”