In his May 17 column titled, “Paths to advocate for humane treatment of immigrants,” writer Judson Brown tells us ways we can be helpful to our immigrant neighbors, including recent refugees. Brown reports that, under Trump, federal funds have been cut off to the three local agencies that led resettlement efforts for refugees — Ascentria Care Alliance (a Lutheran organization), Catholic Charities, and Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts. Brown highlights some of the groups who have arrived recently and have been living here legally, and he points out the Trump administration’s “systematic effort to destroy seemingly almost all sanctioned pathways to legal residency by folks seeking a better life here.”

Fortunately, Jewish Family Services has enough private financial support that they can continue some of their programs. For their list of ways we can help, see https://jfswm.org/how-you-can-help/. Passing on, I think, information provided at the recent JFS conference on the human impact of Trump’s policies, Brown also refers us to Church World Service’s “Daily State of Play” at CWS-Global.org for information about what’s going on nationally; the Immigration Justice Network of Massachusetts at lucemass.org; Pioneer Valley Workers Center; the immigration resources on the town of Amherst’s website at amherstma.gov; the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Program at MIRAColation.org; and the Center for New Americans in Northampton, at cnam.org. Thank you, Jewish Family Services! Thank you, Judson Brown!

Margaret Smith

Amherst