Hundreds in Ogden turn out to support refugees

Friday, Feb. 10, 2017

OGDEN  — At noon on Feb. 4, under blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds, hundreds of people carrying placards marched from Union Station to the Ogden municipal building, showing their support for refugees in the wake of President Donald J. Trump’s executive order that prohibited resettlement in the United States for 120 days.

“This is something Ogden doesn’t usually see,” said John Miles, chairman of Weber County Democrats, who helped organize the march, adding that he was pleased with the turnout, particularly because a similar event held in Salt Lake City at the same time drew thousands of participants.

Among those who marched was Amelia Gonzalez, who carried a sign saying, “Immigrant rights are civil rights.” 

“We do believe that America was made of immigrants. … I believe we’re all immigrants and we all have rights,” said Gonzalez, adding that her husband, who stayed home with their children, is an immigrant.

The marchers chanted “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here” and “Build bridges, not walls” as they walked to the municipal building.

Tina Zisumbo, a St. Joseph parishioner, said she had been afraid to participate, but decided to march “because we need to stand up and not be silent.”

Zisumbo recalls facing discrimination during her youth; her family were the first Mexicans in their Ogden neighborhood and her father was told they weren’t welcome, she said, and when they went shopping they were told they weren’t welcome. Now she is passionate that other people not be discriminated against, she said. “We need to reach out and help them.” 

For Kelly Stowe, a Salt Lake City resident who helps an Iraqi refugee family, the march was a way to show her support, particularly now that she has seen the effect that the executive order has had in keeping families apart, she said. The family she helps is loving and kind; the father has a job, is taking English classes and makes sure the children attend school, she said. “They’re not standing around waiting for handouts.”

At the municipal building, Miles told the marchers that the event was not intended to be political. 

“We are here to send a message to the people who don’t have any power, the people in the communities that are being attacked right now … a message of love and tolerance to everyone who is more afraid than they were three months ago,” he said. “We are here today to say that we will fight hate with love, that we will kill their contempt with honor, that we will fight their fear with our facts.” 

He encouraged his listeners to volunteer with organizations that help refugees and to educate themselves and others about the issues. “The passion that we have today, right here, must be converted into action. We no longer have the luxury of being passive participants in creating the world we want to see. We need to protest the fear and injustice and lies with service, not with anger, not with resignation – this fight will be won with level-headed, unwavering, mature kindness.”

Luis Lopez, a member of the Ogden City Council who was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico before coming to the United States when he was 19, compared the refugees of today with the settlers who arrived in Jamestown, Va., in 1607 and the Mormon pioneers who arrived in Utah in 1847. “So, my friends, we are a nation of immigrants,” he said, adding that “we cannot allow fear to overshadow the social-justice principles that are the bedrock of our society, that have made this nation great. We cannot let fear divide us.” 

Another of the speakers was Lina-Sarah Wembi, who shared her story of being a refugee from the Congo in 2005. A widow with nine children, she was sponsored by Catholic Community Services of Utah. After arriving in Utah, she enrolled in Weber State University and earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in social work. Now she works with CCS, serving as a case manager for 65 people.

Refugees have difficult lives, Wembi said. “You have to go somewhere that you don’t have family, you don’t know no one, you don’t know the language – it really is painful, it is difficult. That’s why I am here as a case manager – I am doing as much as I can to help a family here, and I need your help. No way we can do this ourselves. ... Please help the people that are here in Ogden.”

CCS began its Refugee Resettlement Program in 1974; since then has resettled over 30,000 refugees from numerous countries throughout the world. They also help unaccompanied minor children through the Refugee Foster Care program; one of only 12 such licensed programs in the U.S.

“The refugee community that I see is not the refugee community that is portrayed through this executive order,” said Brad Drake, executive director of CCS, at the march. “I’ve never had the opportunity to meet more respective, more honest, more hard-working, more genuine, more caring people than the refugees that I have the opportunity of associating with each and every day.”

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a refugee is someone who, “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Refugees are eligible to resettled in the United States if he or she has a particularly compelling history of persecution; is a member of an ethnic or religious group that is considered by the U.S. to be of special humanitarian concern; or is the spouse, unmarried child or parent of a refugee who has been resettled or is a U.S. permanent resident or an asylee in the U.S.

The 26-step security screening process includes interviews with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a Resettlement Support Center operated by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and security checks with the Department of Defense, the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI and CIA, among others. Refugees can undergo up to three biographic checks and three biometric checks. 

Source: Utah Dept. of Workforce Services Refugee Services Office., https://jobs.utah.gov/refugee/.