U.K. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick recently said that more than 200 children and teenagers under 18 were missing from government-approved accommodation. He said most were teenage boys from Albania, according to an Associated Press report.

“Children are literally being picked up from outside the building, disappearing and not being found. They’re being taken from the street by traffickers,” a whistleblower who works for Home Office contractor Mitie said.

The Department of State, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, on Jan. 19 announced the Welcome Corps, a new private sponsorship program that will enable Americans to sponsor refugees arriving through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and directly support their resettlement.

Through the Welcome Corps, Americans will work in groups of at least five to welcome refugee newcomers by securing and preparing initial housing, greeting refugee newcomers at the airport, enrolling children in school, and helping adults to find employment.

Click here for additional details.

In a Jan. 13 editorial, the Guardian tears into the shambolic and cruel approach that Europe is increasingly taking towards refugees.

“As idealistic young Europeans and former refugees are hauled into the dock for attempting to save lives at sea, Europe’s governments are pondering what more can be done to shore up the defences of a rich continent against the poor and the desperate,” the newspaper said.

“The 21st-century challenges posed by global migration and demographic change will not be met by brutally battening down the hatches,” it said.

Click here for the full editorial.

A Greek court on Friday dismissed charges against 24 human rights workers who joined refugee rescue missions.

Click here for my post from Jan. 12 that provides additional background on the case.

Human rights group Amnesty International recently renewed its calls for Greek authorities to drop all charges against Seán Binder and Sarah Mardini, who helped refugees who arrived in Greece.

Binder and Mardini are standing trial together with 22 others from the search and rescue NGO that they volunteered for. “They are facing unfair, baseless charges simply for helping refugees and migrants at risk of drowning at sea,” Amnesty International said.

Binder and Mardini were arrested in 2018 after they took part in several search and rescue operations around the Lesbos island to assist refugees stranded at sea, CNN noted in a story about the trial.

“Dozens of NGOs have criticized the Lesbos trial, and a group of European Parliament members have signed a letter calling on the government in Athens to drop the case,” the BBC reported.

A movie available on Netflix called The Swimmers charts the journey of Sarah Mardini and her sister Yusra from war-torn Syria as refugees to Yusra’s participation in the Rio Olympics as part of a refugee team.

The Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) in December announced a public-private partnership with the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) to support employment opportunities and economic integration for refugees and other forcibly displaced people around the world.

The Tent Partnership for Refugees, founded by Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, is a business coalition made up of more than 300 multinational companies committed to supporting refugees through hiring, training, and mentorship.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken signed a memorandum of understanding with Tent Partnership for Refugees. “This partnership seeks to mobilize U.S. and international businesses and corporations to connect refugees to work opportunities – a critical pathway to the long-term economic and social resilience of both refugees themselves and the communities which host them,” a State Department news release said.

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott recently donated $15 million to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the nation’s largest faith-based nonprofit dedicated exclusively to serving and advocating for refugees, asylum seekers.

The donation is the single largest contribution Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has received from an individual donor in its 83-year history of welcoming and empowering children and families from all around the world. It comes on the heels of the historic Afghan refugee resettlement mission, Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and record arrivals of asylum-seeking children and families at the U.S. southern border.

“This unprecedented and timely gift will make a monumental difference in the lives of the most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers as they strive to achieve their own American Dream,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, in a statement. “We are extremely grateful to MacKenzie Scott for this recognition of our decades-long legacy of service. Her support represents a transformational opportunity to expand innovative programming and reimagine how the U.S. welcomes new Americans.”

LIRS will use the funds to accelerate projects intended to transform immigration services, including trauma-informed mental health care and the expansion of its holistic Welcome Centers for asylum-seeking families.

The gift will also support the group’s New American Cities workforce development program, and reinforce Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s unique capabilities to care for unaccompanied children through foster care programming and other community-based services, the group said.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “has expressed optimism about working with France to tackle illegal migration and his spokesman says the two countries are close to a new deal to curb the number of migrants crossing the English Channel,” reports the Australian Associated Press.

The Prime Minister and French President recently at the Cop-27 climate summit in Egypt, with the issue of small boat crossings high on their agenda, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.

Canada on Nov. 1 unveiled a new policy that aims to attract a total of 1.45 million immigrants between 2023 and 2025.

“The attitude of Canada’s government toward immigration is a stark departure from those of governments in Western countries such as Sweden and Italy, where newly elected parties are seeking to curtail immigration and are blaming immigrants for crime and disorder,” wrote Vjosa Isai in a New York Times article.

Canada “is struggling with an acute shortage of workers, particularly in skilled trades and industries like healthcare. The most recent job vacancy data showed there were 958,500 open roles in Canada in August and 1.0 million unemployed people,” Reuters reported.

The plan was unveiled by Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.

Additional details on the plan are available here.

Please consider donating to Better Time Stories, which allows parents and other family members to record their voices while they read a children’s book.

Fathers and many other relatives are staying behind in Ukraine with the possibility that they will never see or hear from their children again.

Check out the recent Reuters article about the app.

For additional information, click here.