Isra Chaker
Standing up for immigrants
“My community is more resilient than it has ever been, and more hopeful than we have ever been. We are engaging in creating the ‘America’ we should be, a country of acceptance and loving thy neighbor, no matter how they identify.”
Isra (she/her) is a Syrian-American civil rights activist, campaigns and advocacy expert, and public speaker. She serves as the Refugee, Migration, and Protection Campaign Lead at Oxfam, where she advocates for vulnerable people such as refugees, asylum seekers, and temporary protected status (TPS) holders, and fights against discriminatory policies such as Muslim bans.
Trump’s Executive Order 13769 also known as the Muslim ban, not only reduces the total number of refugees accepted into the U.S., it bans entry by citizens of several majority-Muslim countries including Syria. Being personally impacted by this ban and unable to reunite with her family in Syria, Isra is passionately driven in her work for reuniting families and advocating for vulnerable people.
“Young people have to be aware of refugee and immigration justice because young people are our future. They will ensure that the true American values of acceptance, compassion, and equality for all are instilled in our neighborhoods, communities, and policies. Youth recognize that we are all America and America is all of us.”
“My ambition comes from growing up as one of the only visible Muslim girls in a high school of 3,000 students. It comes from being bullied, discriminated against, and never understood by the people around me. My ambition belongs to me and it is the driving force to ensure that anyone out there who is feeling the way I have felt because of their identities stands firm in knowing that they are valued, powerful, and their voice can move mountains.”
The Organization
Isra serves as the Refugee Campaign Lead at Oxfam, a global organization working to end the injustice of poverty. Oxfam works in more than 90 countries and reaches tens of millions of people with community-led projects that help people build better futures for themselves, hold the powerful accountable, and save lives in disasters.
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