National Human Trafficking Resource Center Releases 2014 Report

National Human Trafficking Resource Center Releases 2014 Report

In 2014, the highest number of contacts to the Human Trafficking Hotline came from California, Texas and Florida. More than 24,000 messages came in the form of phone calls, text messages, and online tip reports. You can read more, and find out how many messages came from your state through the link provided

April 12th – International Day for Street Children

International Day for Street Children 

According to the National Center on Family Homelessness over 2.5 million children may be homeless in the USA during the year. An interactive map provides information about each state. Unaccompanied children are often spotted by traffickers and groomed to engage in pan-handling, sex or labor trafficking. Learn about common misperceptions of street children.

Immigrant Workers are Being Deported for Getting Injured on the Job

Leopoldo Zumaya stumbled while pruning a tree in 2004 and fell into a legal black hole. The apple picker’s broken leg got him promptly booted out of his work camp. And though he fought for the compensation he was entitled to, ultimately he received only a fraction of what a worker with immigration papers could have gotten under Pennsylvania state law.  Read more. (from The Nation)

Celebrate Earth Hour 2015 on March 28

The World Wildlife Federation launched Earth Hour in 2007 in Sydney, Australia to create awareness of climate change. WWF invites people throughout the world to turn off their lights from 8:30-9:30 p.m. local time on March 28^th. People can extend the one hour experience by engaging in additional initiatives to protect the earth’s climate. Read more about Earth Hour in the 2014 in the Earth Hour Report.

World Water Day on March 22nd - Water for Sustainable Development

The Gospel text for today (March 17^th) described Jesus healing the paralytic on the Sabbath at the pool of Bethesda. Compassion and mercy flowed even without the stirring of the waters. How precious water is and how necessary for life! How essential it is for sustainable development, the theme for this year’s World Water Day. You are invited to celebrate the gift of water this weekend. The link to a prayer service from the Holy Cross Sisters can be found here. In these last two weeks of Lent you may also wish to ponder and pray reflections on water shared by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus found on UNANIMA International’s website.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Haiti Religious Conference

Haitian Religious Conference (CHR) – Request for Prayers

More than two dozen communities of religious in Haiti have been targeted, robbed and terrorized by gunmen since October of 2014. One community has suffered five attacks leaving one of the Sisters in a coma. The Episcopal Conference of Haiti invites us to a 24-hour vigil of continuous prayer on March 13-14 for all those whose lives and ministries are threatened by violence. Thank you for joining in the vigil in whatever way you can.

Violence against St. Vincent de Paul in Syria:

http://famvin.org/en/2015/03/02/vincentians-among-syrian-hostage-victims/

http://www.cmeast.org/2015/03/04/vincentians-in-syria/

Hope in Climate Change

See how forests help combat climate change. See this video.

Oppose H.R. 1149 and H.R. 1153

Tomorrow (3.4.2015) the House Judiciary Committee will begin consideration on multiple bills that would unduly inflict harm upon families and unaccompanied children fleeing violence by expanding immigration detention, limiting access to due process, and creating additional bars to prevent access to our asylum and trafficking protection systems. Two of these bills, H.R. 1149 the Protection of Children Act and H.R. 1153 the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act, propose rollbacks to the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008. The TVPRA passed both chambers of Congress by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President Bush to address our international obligations of not returning vulnerable migrants to danger and to reduce the likelihood that the U.S. would deport children back into the hands of traffickers and others who would exploit them. Children fleeing violence from Central America are escaping gang violence, sexual and gender-based violence, forced recruitment, domestic violence, and are often victims of trafficking. Children fleeing for their lives will not be deterred by punitive legislation designed to persuade them not to come to the U.S. by eroding important human rights protections. The U.S. must show leadership by finding ways to reduce the violence these children face in their home countries, rather than immorally attempting to deport them more quickly. 

This heartbreaking story, shared by a partner of a Jesuit social center in Honduras is one of many that shows why these children need access to protection: After “Leticia” was raped by over a dozen gang members, she and her family reported the crime to the police. They immediately began to receive death threats. In the absence of any protection, and likely complicity by police in the gang’s terror campaign, the local partner attempted to relocate Leticia to a women’s shelter. The shelter refused to take the case because of fear that they would not be able to protect either Leticia or their other beneficiaries from the gang. In the end to protect Leticia from further harm, she had to be sent to another country.  

Call 1-866-940-2439 to be connected with the offices of House Judiciary Committee Members. Keep up the pressure on social media!