I’ve been wowed by the outpouring of support in the past few days for our immigrant and refugee community.

All who call our city home must be treated with respect and dignity. But as we’ve learned over the last few days, this will not happen unless we make it happen. So, here are some things you can do to help protect immigrants in our city and across the country:

• Reach out to Congressman Charlie Dent and Brian Fitzpatrick, two Pennsylvania Republicans who spoke out against President Trump’s executive action to ban refugees, to thank them for their support. We’ll need allies like them in the days ahead.
• Many refugee organizations are facing defunding. The three refugee resettlement agencies in Philadelphia are HIAS-PA, Nationalities Service Center (NSC) and Bethany Christian Services. These resettlement agencies are especially vulnerable. There are also other organizations that serve both our documented and undocumented immigrant  populations that are also in need during this time. So please consider contributing to a charitable organization that assists immigrants and refugees. This list has many local groups that can benefit from your support.
• The Senate is voting on PA-SB10, which would attempt to withhold all state grants from Pennsylvania’s 19 sanctuary jurisdictions. Call the Governor and Republican and Democratic state legislators and let them know that the way to resolve policy disagreements is not to attempt to defund entire municipalities (my full statement on the bill is here).

If you’re on social media, share the action you take with your friends and encourage them to do the same! Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. Together, we can make a real difference.

Thank you for your commitment to welcoming immigrants and refugees from around the world to the City of Brotherly Love.