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Arguing Against Refugee Resettlement, Texas Governor Displays Ignorance of How Nonprofits Work
(Image: United States Department of State, Creative Commons) The Trump Administration issued an executive order last September requiring states to actively opt in to the federal government’s refugee resettlement program. Fortunately, governors across the nation—including many Republicans—have expressed their willingness to help those fleeing conflicts around…
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Merkel Suffers Electoral Defeat to Anti-Immigrant Nationalists
This past Sunday saw a stunning defeat of Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the hands of an ascendent radical right-wing party known as the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD). The local defeat took place in Merkel’s own parliamentary constituency in the state…
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AT&T Star Steps Up for Syrian Refugees
(Milana Vayntrub speaking at VidCon 2012. Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore) Following a recent trip to Greece, Milana Vayntrub – the actress who plays the buoyant shop clerk in AT&T commercials – has found a new cause: the Syrian refugee crisis. The actress was once…
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Syrian Refugees: Europe Struggles to Cope
(A Hungarian police officer stands in front of Syrian refugees made to disembark a train en route to Germany) Tensions are mounting in Europe, where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have sought stability and security after fleeing their home country, which is embroiled in…
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In Refugee Crisis, States Hinder Nonprofits
Nonprofits are now mixed up in the dispute over Syrian refugees. As leaders representing well over half of the 50 U.S. states have announced their opposition to accepting Syrians displaced in their country’s intractable conflict, organizations have begun receiving official requests to desist from settling…
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Kickstarter and UNHCR Team Up to Help Refugees
In recent weeks, Shaping the Story has looked at the ongoing refugee crisis stemming from the conflict in Syria. Relief agencies are struggling to cope, having raised only a fraction of the funding necessary for the massive scope of operations required to deal with the…
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Refugee Relief Efforts Face Bankruptcy
(Photo: Arbat Transit Camp for Syrian Refugees in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan) As part of our ongoing coverage of the global refugee crisis, today we look at how UN agencies are quickly running out of cash and consequently edging closer to bankruptcy. In an interview with The…
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Migrant Crisis Calls for Bold Philanthropic Action
Europe was rocked by tragedy on August 28, when Austrian authorities found 71 dead refugees inside the back of a truck that had passed from Hungry into Austria. The truck was abandoned two days earlier, but the degree of decomposition of the bodies indicates that…
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Migrants in Greece Face Inhumane Detention, Organized Hate
[This is part 2 in a 2 part series on migrants in Europe] In our previous installment on Europe’s migrant crisis, we explored the April 9 disaster that claimed hundreds of lives. A boat carrying an estimated 900 people capsized, drowning hundreds. The catastrophe occurred…
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Disaster in the Mediterranean: A Growing Refugee Crisis
[This is part 1 in a 2 part series on migrants in Europe] Tragedy struck on Sunday, April 9 in the Mediterranean, in an event that may prove to be the worst refugee disaster in decades. A ship carrying up to 900 refugees capsized after…
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