Amid rain and a climate of fear, advocates gather in LOVE Park to celebrate World Refugee Day
by Mike Newall
Published June 22, 2025
They gathered in a steady rain to share American stories. Stories of escaping war and death for the promise of safety. Of toiling in menial jobs for the chance of more prosperous futures. Of securing those futures in Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia has welcomed immigrants and refugees fleeing war and prosecution since before our country was even founded,” said U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.) at a World Refugee Day commemoration in LOVE Park on Sunday. “And still today, people have come here in search of a better life for themselves and their families, ready to contribute to our culture, our innovation, our vibrancy — and to all our success.”
A small but passionate crowd attended the event, which featured speakers, music, and performances including Chinese Lion Dance and Afro-Brazilian Capoeira. It was not the gray skies and summer showers that kept more people away, said Cathryn Miller-Wilson, executive director of HIAS-Pennsylvania, which provides legal and social services to low-income and at-risk immigrants and refugees.
Rather, she said, it was fear of the deportation pipeline and other radical anti-immigration policies of the second Trump administration that kept crowds thin.
