Names: Geri and Charlie Mulligan
Home: Paterson, N.J.
Current commitment: Both are leaders of the Interfaith Refugee Action Team – Elizabeth (IRAT-E), which they and five others founded five years ago to work with refugees at the Elizabeth Detention Center adjacent to the Newark, N.J., airport. It currently houses some 300 persons at any one time seeking asylum in the U.S. Many are from African nations (Cameroon, Burundi, Sudan, Congo); also China, Russia and some from Latin America. On arrival in Newark, they are housed in maximum security quarters under the direction of a private corrections company contracted out by the Department of Homeland Security. These persons, who have allegedly come here to escape persecution in their own countries, spend their days locked up, with one hour of recreation, and with visitation limited to one visitor for one hour on Saturday, Sundays and holidays. Within the first three months they are given hearings to determine if they can establish that their claims of fear in their former countries are credible. If not, they are deported. Meanwhile, they can seek lawyers to take their case, though none are supplied by the government. Some refugees have been in the detention center for as long as five years waiting a decision.
Current activities: The Mullligans organize volunteers to visit the refugees, since many have no contacts in the States. They also sponsor a monthly rally and demonstration outside the facility to protest the conditions within and the fact that none of the inmates have been convicted, accused or even suspected of any crimes other than entering the U.S. illegally. The Mulligans are organizing a temporary sanctuary committee of volunteers who agree (if the government will allow paroles) to take refugees into their homes.
Past activities: The Mulligans were both Catholic missionaries in Latin America for many years, she in El Salvador and Mexico, he in Chile. Since then , Geri has been working for the Community Development Corp., the largest such firm in the US. Charlie is an executive with a foundation that works to get training and job opportunities for low-skill- level workers.
Heroes: Many—especially Dorothy Kazel (one of the martyred sisters in El Salvador), Dorothy Day and Msgr. Bill Linder, founder of the Community Development Corp.
Amazing fact: In late September Geri’s mother, 83, and aunt, 82, were presented with Crystal Awards by the Ursuline religious order for their lifetime achievements as lay volunteers (which proves the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree).
Quote: "When we were in Latin America we were welcomed everywhere. We were shown such hospitality though we were strangers in the midst of people who had nothing. After we moved to New Jersey in 1999, we found it incredible that the refugees here come to this land which has so much and are treated so unjustly. We felt we had to do something."
For information or to volunteer, contact Interfaith Refugee
Action Team-Elizabeth: 973-941-3199. Web: www.IRATE.org
Call To Action News is a publication of
Call To Action
2135 W. Roscoe
Chicago IL 60618
Tel: 773 404-0004
Fax: 773 404-1610
e-mail cta@cta-usa.org