Call to Action: GRACE Act

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The Guaranteed Refugee Admission Ceiling Enhancement (GRACE) Act is critical legislation to ensure the successful resettling of refugees seeking a safe haven in the United States. These refugees have already been selected by the UN Refugee Agency. The GRACE Act sets a required resettlement floor (meaning an admissions minimum) of 95,000 refugees. This number better reflects the United States’ historical threshold for accepting refugees and shows a flexible response to the drastic rise in refugees worldwide.

President Trump announced his plan to set the refugee ceiling (meaning an admissions maximum) for 2020 at an all-time low of 18,000. In addition, cities and states will now be required to apply to receive refugees.

Refugee resettlement is a long-standing, compassionate tradition in the U.S. Not only is it the humane thing to do, it is beneficial to our international relations and global cooperation. U.S. military leaders joined their voices together in a statement to encourage increasing the refugee admittance ceiling and to highlight the positive relationship between refugee resettlement in the U.S. and supporting national security interests.

What you can do:
1. Call your members of Congress (MOC) today to encourage them to support the GRACE Act. The IRC provides the following suggested script:
Hello, my name is ____ and I am a constituent from ____. I am calling to ask the Senator to support the GRACE Act, which establishes an annual minimum number of refugees who will be resettled in the U.S., because I believe we must uphold America’s legacy of welcoming refugees. Thank you.
2. Also tell your MOC and mayors that you support refugees and want your city and state to apply to receive refugees in 2020.
3. Educate yourself by reading the text of the GRACE Act.
4. Share this video from the International Rescue Committee on social media and encourage your friends to call their MOC too.