On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively closing the door to refugees trying to enter the US – sparking massive protests, both nationally and locally.

Demonstrations began locally on Friday morning, as about 150 people gathered in downtown Durham for a rally organized by Church World Service. (CWS is a multifaith organization that works to help settle refugees in the Durham area.)

Refugees from Somalia, Pakistan, El Salvador, Central African Republic and the Congo told their stories, in speeches that alternated between heartbreaking and defiant. They were joined on stage by CWS director Ellen Andrews, Rabbi Larry Bach of Durham’s Judea Reform Congregation, Mansoor Cheema of Muslims for Social Justice, Durham City Council member Jillian Johnson, and more – all of whom pledged to continue fighting for refugees.

Listen to WCHL’s piece on the rally.

 

Griselda Alonso spoke through a translator; she’s an undocumented resident and an organizer for undocumented youth. “We cannot be indifferent,” she said. “Indifference kills as much as aggression.” (Full speech below.)

 

Chijuana (also speaking through a translator) is a refugee from El Salvador. “We have to be together,” she said. “We have to be united. We cannot be selfish. We are one.” (Full speech below.)

 

Somali refugee Muktar Muktar lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for two decades. He says the U.S. government vetted him for nine years before allowing him into the country; during those nine years, his wife passed away.

 

Rabbi Larry Bach said Jews are compelled to help refugees, both because of their faith (Exodus 23:9 reads, “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt”) and because of their history: Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust were turned away at the US border during World War II. Americans feared Nazi infiltrators might be hiding amongst the ‘refugees.’ (Full speech below.)

 

“We need resistance from everybody,” said Mansoor Cheema. “People who are not refugees, people who are not immigrants, or Muslim – people from all backgrounds need to stand with us.” (Full speech below.)

 

“If you march, I will march with you,” said Jillian Johnson. “If you protest, I will protest with you. If you need sanctuary, I will shelter you. …We are ready for a fight.” (Full speech below.)

 

Trump’s executive order suspends the US Refugee Admissions Program for four months, blocks Syrian refugees indefinitely, cuts America’s annual refugee quota by more than half, and bans citizens of seven countries from entering the US for 90 days. (It’s also created some confusion about enforcement: administration officials initially said the order included green-card holders too – permanent legal US residents who happen to be from one of the seven ‘banned’ countries – but the Department of Homeland Security now says it doesn’t. The language of the order itself isn’t clear.)

The President and his supporters say the move is necessary to ensure that refugees are fully vetted before entering the country. But advocates say the US already fully vets potential refugees, in a process that takes years. Some of the refugees who spoke on Friday described waiting in camps for 10 years to be admitted. (One, Somali refugee Muktar Muktar, said it took US officials nine years to process his case while he waited in a Kenyan refugee camp. He finally arrived in Durham last February 29; “That,” he said, “was my shining day.”)

The ACLU has already filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order. Saturday night, as thousands of protestors gathered at airports to rally for those who were being detained, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued a temporary national injunction blocking enforcement.