Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer

[Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer @cbzellmer7]

I just took action with @CovenantForOurFuture: A Multi-Faith Call for a Just and Prosperous Future for All. Take action here: https://t.co/moQYuze8pn

[Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer @cbzellmer7]

Washington County’s Commissioner President Prayed for Critics, Avoided Questions, Then Voted on a Deal That Could Benefit His Family Financially https://t.co/WSz4b4SWdN

[Jake Justice @jakecobb]

Keep posting this so people don’t forget how truly bad this event was.

Don’t let people gaslight you into thinking it was peaceful and worthy of 1500+ pardons and slush fund payoffs.

[#AfghanEvac @afghanevac]

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an emergency increase of 10,000 refugee slots.

Afghan allies are being left behind. Again.

An #AfghanEvac 🧵

[#AfghanEvac @afghanevac]

A federal court has just ordered that @StateDept to notify all SIVs who have received Chief of Mission approval but haven’t yet interviewed or received their visa that their visas will be denied if they interview.

This is the language they’ll receive.

[Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer @cbzellmer7]

https://t.co/y8nehgfycN
Let your Congress members know NOW….NO MORE MONEY FOR ICE AND CBP! They are destroying our communities, separating families, acting illegally and preventing due process.

[#AfghanEvac @afghanevac]

Statement from AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver – March 23, 2026

Regarding Federal Court Decision Blocking Refugee Detention Policy

AfghanEvac welcomes the federal court’s decision to block the unlawful detention of lawfully admitted refugees.

This ruling reaffirms a basic principle that should never have been in question: refugees who have been vetted, admitted, and welcomed by the United States are here legally, and they should not be subjected to arrest or detention simply because of bureaucratic delays in their immigration process. These individuals followed the rules, endured years of screening, and arrived with the promise of safety and stability.

Recent policies sought to reinterpret that promise, allowing for the detention of refugees who had not yet adjusted to permanent resident status after one year. In practice, that meant targeting people who posed no public safety risk, had no immigration violations, and were working to rebuild their lives in this country.

The court was right to intervene. As advocates and legal organizations have made clear, these actions were not only harmful, but unlawful, and a direct attack on the integrity of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

The United States has long made a bipartisan commitment to those fleeing persecution: if you pass our rigorous vetting, you will be welcomed and given the opportunity to rebuild your life. Efforts to detain refugees after arrival break that promise, undermine trust in our system, and create fear in communities that have already endured extraordinary hardship.

This decision is an important step, but it is only a step. The policy itself should be permanently rescinded, and the administration must return to a system grounded in law, fairness, and basic human dignity.

AfghanEvac will continue working alongside partners, policymakers, and advocates to ensure that the United States honors its commitments to Afghan allies and all refugees, not just in rhetoric, but in action.

[Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer @cbzellmer7]

@afghanevac Not an expensive road trip necessarily. How about decentralized across the country conversations with all the Afghan communities? Get a picture of many all at once then promote the stories repeatedly? This project could start immediately in the New Year.

[Blue Georgia @BlueGeorgia]

Daniel Dale:

- He didn't inherit historic inflation. It was and still is 3% and rising
- 400–600% drug price cuts are mathematically impossible
- Grocery prices are going up, not down
- $18T investment is fiction (even WH says $9.6T)
- $1.99 gas is false, lowest average is ~$2.40
- 25M invasion is false. It’s under 11M
- Crime wasn't near record highs under Biden
- He did not settle eight wars

[Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer @cbzellmer7]

The cruelty continues.

[Jesus Freakin Congress @TheJFreakinC]

🚨This is one of the most disturbing videos of ICE abuse I’ve seen.

In Minnesota, ICE agents handcuffed a pregnant woman, forced her onto her stomach, and put their full body weight and knees on her, refusing to let her get up.

In the video, you can hear the crowd screaming over and over that she is pregnant. They plead with the agents to stop. The woman is not resisting, not moving, not a threat. It doesn’t matter. The agents ignore them, continue pointing pepper spray at the crowd, and one agent even shoves a woman backward, assaulting her simply for speaking up.

People keep begging them to let the pregnant woman off her stomach, to stop putting weight on her body. The agents refuse. The crowd grows louder and more desperate, because they are watching someone who could lose her pregnancy, right in front of them, at the hands of ICE agents.

Only after the crowd begins throwing snowballs is the pregnant woman able to get off her stomach.

And then it gets worse.

The ICE agents begin pepper spraying the crowd. One agent drags the pregnant woman by the arm while she is still helpless and restrained. Pepper spray fills the air, hitting bystanders and the pregnant woman herself as she lies on the ground beneath them.

This is not “law enforcement.”
This is cruelty.
This is reckless endangerment.
This is state violence carried out in public, on camera, against a pregnant woman who posed no threat.

If this is what they’re willing to do while being filmed, imagine what happens when no one is watching.

[Ben Crump @AttorneyCrump]

New data reveals over 75,000 people with no criminal record were arrested by ICE during the first 9 months of the Trump admin. The administration claimed they were targeting criminals, but the truth is clear: undocumented people with no record were detained & made to disappear.

[Senator Alex Padilla @SenAlexPadilla]

Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s latest rule to deny automatic work permit extensions would force people who have already been vetted and approved to lose their ability to work. This is harmful to noncitizens, employers, and our economy.

People who have already been screened and authorized to work should be able to keep working, plain and simple. 

We’re calling on them to reverse it.

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

Rob Reiner spent decades defending democracy and fighting for equality - even when it wasn’t easy or popular. At a moment when silence is safer, his willingness to speak out is a reminder that protecting democracy requires courage.

RETWEET to honor Reiner's legacy of justice ♥️

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

ALARM bells people. 🚨🚨🚨

Neoconservative David Brooks wrote this in an OpEd in the NY Times,
"Trumpism… is primarily about the acquisition of power — power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice. …
What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.
It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. …
I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now."

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

To my Afghan friends and allies:

I see you.

I’m fighting beside you.

And we will not let this slide quietly.

#AfghanEvac

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

And make no mistake: this isn’t about security.

It’s about politics.

It’s about sending a message to the base.

And that message is that refugees — especially Afghan refugees — are disposable.

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

The cruelty isn’t subtle. Re-interviews for people who’ve been here for years?

Children who started kindergarten?

Parents who started businesses?

People who survived the Taliban and chaos of 2021?

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

These are people who already passed the most intense vetting on earth.

Many are Afghan allies who literally fought beside Americans.

They trusted us.

They rebuilt here.

And now the government is telling them: “We might take it all away.”

[Rev. Charlene Belsom Zellmer @cbzellmer7]

@shawnjvandiver @afghanevac Thank you all for noticing and keeping us allies and mentors in the information-action loop. Praying for family reunification and the release of refugees into the US.

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

This new USCIS memo is outrageous.

A mass “re-interview” of every refugee admitted between Jan 2021–Feb 2025, plus a freeze on all pending green-card applications.

This wasn’t announced during a work week.

They dumped it during Thanksgiving week, hoping no one would notice.