American Friends Service Committee South Region

08/12/2026

08/03/2026

As immigration advocates sound the alarm over overcrowding at a Miramar ICE facility, legal experts warn that a new USCIS rule bypassing initial asylum interviews will flood already backlogged courts and fast-track deportations.

07/31/2026

MIAMI, Fla. – After multiple years of delay, the federal government will be held accountable for withholding records confirming that immigrant children – including those separated from their families – were put in harm’s way while detained next to contaminated areas in Homestead, FL.

07/04/2026

07/03/2026

After an unannounced visit to the field office, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that people are spread across four holding pens inside, and that she saw about 70 to 75 men “crammed into a very tiny room.”

06/26/2026

Nearly 60 participants and volunteers representing 17 West Virginia counties gathered at Chief Logan State Park for the WVCBP’s 11th annual Summer Policy Institute: Health Care in the Hollers. Co-hosted with our partner, the American Friends Service Committee, this year’s institute centered on health care and was intentionally held in southern West Virginia, where rural communities often experience the disproportionate impacts of hospital closures, provider shortages, transportation barriers, and changes to public programs. From June 19-21, participants learned how policy decisions shape health outcomes and explored what it takes to create meaningful, community-driven change across the state.

The weekend combined skill-building workshops with hands-on policy development and the institute culminated with “Pitchapalooza,” where teams presented policy solutions they developed over the weekend. Projects addressed a wide range of issues, including rural health care access, hospital closures and consolidations, infant and maternal health care, gender-affirming care, substance use treatment, environmental health, mental health care, reproductive health care, and the intersection of economics and health care.

SPI was hopeful, collaborative, and forward-looking–and it was about more than simply learning policy. Extending across Juneteenth and West Virginia Day, the weekend was not only an opportunity to learn and strategize, it was also a celebration of the Mountain State itself: its people, its promise, and the growing network of leaders committed to the collective work of building a home where everyone can thrive.

https://wvpolicy.org/11th-annual-summer-policy-institute-brings-together-dozens-to-explore-rural-health-care-policy/