"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."
Lila Watson
The Problem: With the ongoing threats to immigrants in our country, the Greenspon Center is dedicated to educating community members to support organizing and advocacy to support the immigrant population in our community.
The Greenspon Center stands for a vison of inclusion, compassion and community regarding the refugee and asylee populations coming to the United States. We believe in the importance of raising public awareness through discovery and creating avenues for listening to our immigrant neighbors and supporting them through policy.
Our Wins and Our Work
- With the high concentration of DACA recipients in North Carolina (including students at Queens University), the Greenspon Center supports students and community members in their advocacy for the protection of these recipients. North Carolina ranks 7th in the nation for DACA recipients. NC DACA enrolled: 25,560, others eligible: 37,000, participation rate: 69% (Source: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca-profiles).
- With Mecklenburg County having one of the worst reputations in the nation for granting asylum, the Greenspon Center supports education and organizing to assist asylum seekers in our community. The Mecklenburg County Immigration Court has a rejection rate between 89%-84%. The national average is 49% (Source: https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/asylum/). To become a court observer contact Judy Schindler, schindlerj@queens.edu.
- Each September, the President determines the number of refugees permitted to enter the United States for the coming year. The learn how you can advocate for the United States to fulfill its global responsibility of resettling refugees, contact Judy Schindler, schindlerj@queens.edu.
- The Greenspon Center's Immigrant Justice Team worked diligently to oppose North Carolina House Bill 370. The team drafted a letter which was signed by 138 North Carolina clergy and religious organizations and signed by 40 additional community members and congregants urging Governor Cooper to veto the bill.
