We are often asked about how asylum seekers find their way to us at Jubilee. There are a variety of organizations that reach out on behalf of families: migrant shelters and faith groups in border states working with individuals who have left their country due to persecution or violence and know no one in the U.S., attorneys whose clients can be released from detention if only they had someone to receive them, and Atlanta-based organizations who come into contact with new arrivals who have no connections, or are survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking.

 

While only some of the individuals we host have spent time in detention, at any given time in the US there are 352,882 immigrants incarcerated in detention prisons or jails. Over seventy percent are housed in privately-run prisons, which means that businesses generate huge profits, largely funded by taxpayers. Georgia is the state with the 5th highest number of detainees, about 3,720 at any given time. (The above statistics are from www.freedomforimmigrants.org) Women that we have hosted, who have no criminal history and who are themselves survivors of violence, have been in detention from one up to eleven months in detention.  

 
In your prayers, please also remember the children here at Jubilee who have already started a new school year as of August 1st, especially those who are at new schools: one starting middle school, one elementary, and two at preschool in Head Start. Thank you.