WCAX celebrates symposium success

Video Reporting By WCAX News Team. Published: Jun. 30, 2024 at 11:08 AM EDT

“SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Four-hundred activists gathered in South Royalton earlier this month to collaborate, educate and organize around asylum-seeker resettlement in Vermont or, as they call it, “welcome work.”

Asylum-seekers are refugees in the United States who would be in danger of violence and persecution if they returned to their home country.

In association with Vermont Law School, immigration lawyers recruited, trained and mentored volunteer advocates to provide free immigration legal services that help noncitizens obtain work authorization and integrate safely into their communities.

Jill Martin Diaz, the executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance project, said they were inspired by the amount of interest and attention the event received.

“It’s really overwhelming to kind of sit and look at the challenges that lay ahead for our community, but also really energizing to see the cool ways that Vermont is pivoting to make local solutions for big federal problems,” Martin Diaz said.

Martin Diaz added the event was so successful, that they plan to do it again next year.”

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