Pastor's Comments

At last!

For my final day in Tucson, I visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It’s a fabulous outdoor museum, part gardens, part zoo, with all kinds of native plants and animals and terrific informational displays. I loved the walk-through Hummingbird exhibit:

The coolest thing, though, was the Raptor Free-flight demonstration: link.

After a celebration dinner it’s time to pack, and start thinking about reentry: how has what I’ve seen and heard changed me? How has wrestling with new questions, and a wider (much), more-informed viewpoint shaped me? Where does this impact and connect with all that’s happening in Indiana and South Bend? What next?

I’ll leave you with a few more pictures – the desert really is stunning.

We are nearly at the end of our study tour. Today brought the Community Relations Manager for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE as it’s commonly known down here. He and the agent who joined us are part of the Homeland Security Investigation branch of ICE, and it was helpful to be reminded of just how serious and how much of a problem drug smuggling really is. These are the agents and the agency that go after drug smugglers, their suppliers, their transportation, the whole works.

They also work to stop human smuggling (i.e. coyotes or guides who bring illegal migrants) and human trafficking (i.e. slavery) headed north into the US, and southbound currency smuggling and guns. This helped clear something up for me, actually, as a couple days ago I heard a presenter talk about agents poised just a foot away from the border, stopping people trying to get back to Mexico. Today the ICE agents showed us pictures of guns (including some very large-caliber, scary-looking weapons) and U.S. dollars intercepted from the border. Finally I understand a bit more: the bad guys, especially the drug cartels in Mexico, are smuggling these sorts of things out of our country. So of course we need to stop them, especially the guns.

The agent spoke frankly of the frustration of having to work up to the border and not beyond. One of the cartels’ leaders, he said, was recently named the 55th most powerful man in the world by Forbes magazine. It is estimated that he made $28 billion last year – and yes, that’s with a “b.” This gives him a huge resource for bribing officials, even to the tune of (the agent said as an example) $150,000 per month to look the other way while things are loaded onto an airplane. That kind of influence, plus the extreme ruthlessness and violence, makes it almost impossible to prosecute the cartels that are in charge in a particular area. (Although going after rivals would be just fine, since that helps the controlling cartel.)

We then finished our time with BorderLinks by brainstorming what we learned, what we are thinking, how we will take it home. I’m still very much learning what I’ve learned, except that the issue is far more complex than I ever knew. I know that I will want to share my experiences with my congregation, maybe through a presentation. But there’s so much more for me to learn, I’d like to invite the congregation to learn with me, too. Maybe we can invite the Latino Studies Department at Notre Dame to join us for a conversation. Maybe we can invite recent legal immigrants to share their experiences and stories. Maybe there are ways and things to learn I would never think of, but you would. What else would you like to know?

Today has been remarkably full and filling. We’ve had three incredible, tremendously enriching opportunities. We met with Bishop Kicanas of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. He’s an incredibly busy man, of course, and we were humbled and honored he fit us into his schedule. It was incredibly heartening to hear from the level of a judicatory (I.e. regional) church leader that issues around immigration are constantly on his, and the other Catholic Conference of Bishops’, radar. He had great wisdom to offer us, and we were deeply appreciative.

We asked the Bishop about the theological resources he draws on in his work with immigration, and he pointed immediately to Scripture: Welcoming the stranger and helping the hurting and the alien are prominent themes throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament we hear the commands to welcome the alien, since you were an alien yourself. In the New Testament the commands around hospitality and the special concern for the poor resonate with the same echoes: remember, you are also created in the image of God.

We asked Bishop Kicanas how he maintains courage and strength in the face of concerted campaigns to spread fear, as seems to be the case with something called “Numbers USA.” he talked about giving a speech and being inundated by thousands of emails all saying the same thing, so it’s clearly a coordinated campaign. He said he always works to remember that those who disagree with him aren’t necessarily bad people. They just think, feel and act differently than he does on this and, as with most of us, we all think, feel, and act differently on most everything. So the work of a leader is to listen, to talk, to endeavor to understand. (Even as we recognize that there are some times, and some situations, where talking is no longer helpful.)

We asked him what advice he gives to parish priests in his diocese, to people like us serving within local congregations. He lifted up the power of inviting people to remember and talk about their own migrant stories, to remember and share where they come from and their experience. He also pointed to how important it is that we all gain an experience of the migrant, to put a face to the conversation. It makes me wonder who our congregation knows, what migrants and immigrants we deal with on a daily basis. For example, there is a Mexican family that lives across the street. I wonder what their story and experience has been? It makes me curious to know.

One of the final things the Bishop said has stuck with me: “If we could solve the economic migrant issue, then we could devote all our time and our resources to the criminal element at our borders.” And again: “We can’t address this issue downstream.” In other words, we need to look at root causes: the economic situation in Mexico, the state of trade between the US and Mexico, and how we might partner together for the sake of all of us.

Our other profound experience for the day was to have two active Border Patrol officers take time out of their day off to meet with us. We assured them of confidentiality, so I won’t describe them or their roles in any way, except to say they serve in quite different capacities, they both are actively seeking out migrants in the desert, and they both have long experience with the Border Patrol.

Their commitment and their professionalism were inspiring, even as the differences between them were noteworthy. For one of the officers, his work was clearly a ministry and a mission. For the other, it was a job that he does well and is committed to. They both talked about the hard work of being in the desert; one said, “this isn’t the kind of place you go voluntarily.”. Another said, “In the summer I don’t apprehend people, I rescue them.” Both of them work alone in their trucks, and talked about coming upon, and apprehending, groups of 5, 10, 15 migrants. They talked about the dangers, of getting hurt, of the long (very long) days, of their commitment to the job, and they talked frankly of its discouragements and frustrations.

They both talked about the situations of these migrants – out in the desert they are drinking from stock tanks, which are so filthy and algae-covered it gives them diarrhea and intestinal troubles almost immediately, and can lead to kidney failure in short order. One of the agents echoed again what Bishop Kincanas said: “The problem will persist until the sending countries have the means and the ability and the courage to make changes from the top down. The people are discouraged and under the thumb.” When migrants cross the border and get a job, he said, their income goes up 1,000%. Not 10%, not 100%, but 1,000%.

A comment one of the agents said has so lodged in my heart I can’t help but tell it here. We asked him what he tells his children about his job, and he answered, “I tell them I go to the desert to rescue people. And that’s so much more than physical.”

Today began with a Mariachi Mass at the Tucson Cathedral. It was fascinating, quite a cultural experience. Everything was in Spanish, and all music was provided by a (pretty fantastic) mariachi band. The cathedral was packed, so it was clearly a popular Mass. Great fun.

Then the people of Prince Chapel AME church showed me great hospitality and great music. Much to my surprise, I was invited to sit in the chancel and not just read the scripture passage for the day, but to select it as well. I was honored and enjoyed my time with them.

This afternoon we learned about NAFTA and its effects, but there was so much information, so much to process, so much to think about and so much more that I need to learn that I don’t even know what I think yet. So for this Sabbath entry, I’m going to hold off on information or even description until I know and understand a bit more.

Finally, we witnessed Tucson’s one-of-a-kind All Souls Procession. This is something uniquely Tucson, a community-organized, entirely un-sponsored remembrance and, as one of our members described it, community catharsis in remembrance of one who have died. It’s part parade, part community celebration, and part extravagant display of creativity and group spirit. In truth there aren’t words to describe it, so I will let pictures and video clips suffice.

Some video:

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• clip 4

Today we walked the desert with Ed in the “Green Valley,” an area south of Tucson where the desert has much more green life than elsewhere. It’s still rough country: washes and hills and cactuses that really, really like to leave their thorns in our shoes. What was especially striking was when Ed started talking about how often he sees migrants out in this area, how they crawl into those bushes over there and bed down, how sometimes when he comes out early he finds some still sleeping, how once he found about 15 migrants crouched in this little hollow we were standing in.

When the migrants get this close to their goal, they shed the filthy clothes they’ve been wearing through the desert. They all carry or wear a second change of clothing, because the exhausted, dirty, ripped clothes that brought them through the desert would stand out in town, and that’s the last thing they want. It was striking to see the jacket hanging on a branch here, a sweatshirt there, a broken and torn backpack there.

What was disturbing, though, was the reactions of Ed’s neighbors. They saw the same thing and concluded, “These migrants leave their stuff as a way of thumbing their noses at the police.” These same neighbors published a flyer “How to protect your home,” which contained not a single constructive piece of advice but simply vilified and demonized “The Mexicans,” how terrible they all are and so on.

A group calling themselves the “Minutemen” took this same attitude a whole new step further. Declaring that if the Border Patrol wouldn’t protect the border then they would, they set up outside Ed’s house sitting all night in folding chairs, drinking beer, and holding automatic weapons. Interestingly they always sat on the neighborhood side of the fence bounding the desert, and when Ed asked them why they didn’t go out where the migrants actually were, they said, “Oh, we’re not allowed to go out there.” Why not? “There are snakes out there.” Mind you, Ed said, at just about that moment a snake slid by him on the neighborhood side of the fence, the same as they were on, but there you go.

Apparently the Minutemen faded away when one of their members developed the idea to kill a migrant family, take the money she presumed they had, and use it to finance their further operations. She and those with her shot a mother and a young girl and wounded the father, but he got one of their guns and shot and wounded this leader. He went to the hospital right away, but she held off, afraid of what it would mean. Once word started getting out about what happened, the negative publicity surrounding it – here is a group that targeted a family with children to be executed – caused them to fade away. But, judging from Ed’s neighbors, some of the same attitudes – admittedly not quite as crazed – are clearly still evident.

What struck me most about these stories, and others in the group shared the feeling, was the level of fear. These people are so afraid, they cannot see truth. They are so afraid, that sitting up all night mixing automatic firearms and beer sounds like a good idea. They’re so afraid, they’ve convinced themselves that every single thing that goes bump in the night is carrying drugs and is armed to the teeth.

Don’t get me wrong, drug smuggling is clearly a huge, enormous, terrifying problem, and I don’t think we really know or understand the depth or range of it. And we clearly don’t have even the beginning of a handle on it. I’ve heard more than one presenter say that the amount of money available, the size of the funds that can be brought into play, is unimaginable. And it’s not too hard to picture the danger that unlimited bribe money, or extortion possibilities, or terrorist maneuvers like threatening families and children, bring into the equation. But the truth is, and the data of the number of migrants arrested vs. those with a felony (which in most cases is reentering illegally) support this, not all of the migrants are smuggling, or armed, or violent, or dangerous. I asked Ed flat-out: “Are they dangerous?” He paused and thought and then said, “Every single one I’ve met, every single one I’ve given water to, they’re grateful and polite and kind. I wish we had more people who treated others like that.”

After our hike with Ed and lunch in Tubac, an artists’ colony with galleries galore, we went to Nogales and the border itself.

It stretched up the hill and away the other direction, I don’t know how tall, but probably over 20 feet. It’s made primarily of metal columns with space in between, so you can see – through the metal stanchions – into Mexico, and certainly can see some of the houses perched on the hillside overlooking it.

Some of us chose to go across into Mexico, and some chose to stay on the U.S. side. I chose to go, but I don’t have my passport with me. So before I left US soil, I wanted to be sure I’d be able to get back within a reasonable time with just my driver’s license and whatever other IDs I have in my wallet. What I learned is that conditions and situations at the border are in constant flux, and that there is a great deal of leeway for interpretation by those serving at the border. We found a poster that quite clearly said that for a US citizen, an “enhanced driver’s license” is enough, which I have from Indiana. But, the poster was dated from 2009. When we asked, the guard looked at what I had and said that if he was the one still on duty when I came back, I’d be fine. But if it was someone else, there was no telling. We’d heard that the line to get to the US was taking an hour and a half, so I chose not to go.

Another example of the flux at the border – as we were walking around the US side, we stopped a Nogales police officer who was helpful as could be, and asked about the wall, and especially where we could walk along it. He told us to go up and turn left, but that we couldn’t go up to the wall anymore. “You used to be able to go up to it, but they put barriers up and you have to stay 10, 15 feet from it because they were having problems with people going up to it and talking to their families on the other side.” Now that sounds terrible, but then later I heard that they were also having trouble with people passing drugs through the gaps between the columns. And now that makes more sense – you can’t make an exception for one, if the continuation is going to be untenable. Constant flux, constantly evolving.

On our way home we passed through the Border Patrol checkpoint on the highway and were sent to the side for further inspection. Which makes sense, because we were a 10-passenger van with tinted windows. What didn’t sit so well was that the only person who had to produce ID was Tinto, our guide from BorderLinks, who is clearly (and really is) Mexican.

Three final notes from the day: while walking with Ed, I saw a flash of movement over beyond some bushes and shrubs we were walking through. I can’t prove it, but I believe it was a migrant. Second, still no rattlesnake sightings, but I did try eating some fruit from a fishhook cactus. It wasn’t that good.

And finally, during our debrief, David asked the most profound question of all: “What I want to know is, did anyone see the wall and say, ‘Ah, I feel safe?’” My answer is pretty clear: I looked at that wall and saw fear. It felt to me like that wall is built on fear. And fear does not make me feel safe.

Today we’ve left the Redemptorist Retreat Center and moved into dormitory housing with Border Links, an organization in Tucson that arranges and hosts groups like us who want to learn about migration and border issues. They follow an “experiential learning” model, meaning getting hands-on experience and then processing it together later, so I expect lots of intensity.

This afternoon with them did not disappoint. We met Isaiah who works at the Mexican Consulate and heard about the work they do and some of his perspective on situations involving Mexican nationals in the U.S. I was impressed by his passion, his commitment to honoring the law of the land here in the US, and his desire to help people. Pretty amazing.

The hard stuff to hear was about his coworkers who go to the morgue every day to identify bodies, find family, and have to call them to let them know their mother, brother, son has died. Or that the Consulate has put in a 24/7 call center to field calls for help or information because Mexican nationals are worried, panicked, over the attitude and tone in our country. Legally present Mexicans, worried because of the way we talk to each other.

Or his story of families that are here illegally and want to go home but can’t, because Border Patrol officers stand at the border and stop people from crossing into Mexico. Seems very odd to me. So here are people who want to make right, and they can’t because we prevent them. Does that seem right to you? Maybe we could encourage people who want to make things right instead?

Then we went to the federal courthouse to see Operation Streamline, a recent program to process 70-100 undocumented migrants per day. We sat at the back of the large courtroom, and there were easily 80 migrants present: all young, almost all male (3 women), most wearing dark shirts, stacked in the rows of the viewing gallery. There was an almost constant jingling sound in the room, because the migrants are shackled: chained at the feet and hands, connected to a chain around their waist. It looked to me like the kind of treatment we would use for murderers and violent offenders. The reasoning given is that there aren’t enough Federal Marshals for the number of prisoners present. Fine, but the effect is to humiliate non-violent offenders, and I question what kind of a risk they would be.

Operation Streamline brought 5-7 migrants up at a time, and it was all very choreographed: the judge clearly had a script that he followed, because the flow, and the language, was the same every time. All the migrants used an interpreter through wireless headphones, with an assigned Public Defender standing behind them. We watched 6 groups of 6 or 7 come up and be sentenced, and the structure was almost always the same: verify their names. Be sure they know what the charges are. Be sure they know their Miranda rights. Every one we heard took a plea bargain, most of them to time served and a $10 special assessment.

Everything was highly choreographed, an elaborate theater. I was fairly impressed – I had feared it would be debilitating, debasing, insulting and dehumanizing, and except for the shackles (the constant jingling) it didn’t come across to me as too bad. It seemed to me a theater to impose on these men the seriousness of coming across illegally – which we absolutely need to do – and I thought to myself, how else could we possibly move that many people through a system?

Then we met with a US Public Defender, Joel, and he shared with us the rest of the system, the unseen parts that happen outside and after the courtroom. Once they’re released from the Marshals they move into Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Once there, Joel said, they don’t have a lot of ways of keeping track or contact with them. Their sentence may be up, but they still need to be deported, and that’s a whole process itself that can also take some time.

One of the real problems, and horrifying features of the current system, is that detention and incarceration are farmed out to private, for-profit prisons – about 99% of them. And these private prisons in many ways see themselves as above the rules that govern public prisons. So, why feed the prisoners food that’s healthy? It’s cheaper to feed them junk, and they make more money. Why provide them adequate medical attention? It’s cheaper not to – so more money for them. They have a real problem with missing release dates – oops, we kept you too long (and billed more), so sorry. Federal prisons are expected to release prisoners with bus fare home or a ride to your home town or where caught, along with their belongings. Private prisons won’t tell family when prisoners will be released, and they can’t wait in the parking lot. They release prisoners at night with no money, no ID, no shoelaces, no belongings. Prisoners, including US citizens, are having to walk 40 miles in the desert (because we’re warned not to pick up hitchhikers around prisons) once they’re released. And right now, this moment, the state of Arizona pays private prisons $14 million per month to detain undocumented migrants, and $10 million per month to house others. Per month.

Then there’s the problem that we’re prosecuting only 2-4% of the migrants that get picked up; the rest are catch-and-release. Or that detainees held more than 30 days are automatically having their belongings destroyed – including their IDs! (This means when they’re deported they can be arrested in Mexico – again – for not having ID.) Or that these migrants are uneducated and uncultured and the post-colonial mindset is that if you don’t understand just nod because it’s less of a chance you’ll be beaten. And as a native English-speaker I don’t understand court lingo. Do these Mexican men, filtered through a translator, know what’s happening? Or, and maybe most disturbing of anything, that there is no legal precedent – none – for prosecuting people en mass, that is, all at once. And that sounds kinda dangerous to me, because now, with this Operation Streamline, suddenly we have a new precedent. And, Joel said to us today, this goes against our common American value, what had been our customary legal right, that each of us, each of us, has the right to a fair trial.

So the biggest question to ask is: what do we do? We’ve asked that of every single person we’ve spoken with. Each has different answers, sometimes similar, sometimes different. We all share the same basic value that as a nation we need a strong, safe and secure border. In fact I’ve become more convinced of that being down here! But I also know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what we have just. isn’t. working. It does not match our values as a country. It is inhumane. It is treating people, created in the image of God, as collateral damage. It isn’t stopping migrants, it’s deliberately pushing them into the most dangerous territory we’ve got. It has to be changed, it has to be fixed, it’s not right and it’s not working.

I don’t know what the answer is. I’m not sure anyone does. But we need something, and it doesn’t look like elected officials are going to be able to accomplish it, at least until after the next election. That leaves us. People of faith, people of common values, people who care about our country. Only us.

One last thing, a quote from Joel: “Look, I really appreciate you being here, because without public scrutiny Streamline proceedings would be different. There aren’t any articles being written about it.” This too, has been echoed by every single presenter: thank you for caring enough to learn about this.

Juan was walking the roadway when we found him. Young and strong, skin the beautiful color of aged, rich tobacco, his hands were marked by hard work and the dirt that doesn’t leave, farmer’s hands, the kind of hands that make me think Jesus would have particularly likde holding them. He was wearing a dark plaid shirt, a dark sweatshirt tied around his waist, a gaudy black ballcap, carrying a gallon jug of water and nothing else. Broken, dirty shoes and dusty pants with a ragged hem, nothing else.

We drove by him first and I said, “A migrant.” Our guide, Carl from Humane Borders, turned around, he said, when he looked back and Juan was still on the roadway. “Usually you go by and they’re gone, diving into the ditch, they disappear. If they’re still viable they disappear. But he was still walking.”

Juan was undone by 7 days of walking in the desert. It was his third attempt. He began with a group, but got separated from them and got turned around, confused. He had no compass. He had no map. When we found him he was trying to get back to Mexico, but didn’t know which way to go. We were 10 miles from the border, driving the first paved road north, and he was defeated.

Juan stood with tears streaming down his face as we filled his water and gave him the remains of our breakfast. He shook out his leg as he talked, tired and nervous about what was to come. Carl shook his hand with both of his and put his hands on his shoulders — Carl doesn’t speak Spanish but his words, his blessing, his compassion were clear.

Humane Borders exists to take death out of migration. They provide and fill water stations in the desert, going back every week to be sure they’re filled. “We never know who we’ve saved, how many live. We’ll never know. We only know when we don’t save them.”

Carl was one of the founders of Humane Borders, he told us, because “I was raised Methodist and when we moved we’d check out the churches in town and pick one that fit. I’ve been all kinds of ‘mainline’ denominations. And I never received any kind of orientation or encouragement to go and do something about things myself. No one ever talked about social justice, about doing something myself about something that I think is wrong with our country.”

When he heard of an acquaintance beginning Humane Borders, he called and said “You’re doing what??” He read in the paper of deaths in the desert and wept. “I’m just a softie at heart,” he said. Political and social leaders in the 90′s talked about these deaths as “that’s just collateral damage.” So he joined Humane Borders. “We are on the far right of social justice,” he said, “everything we do is structured and legal.” Their work is two-fold: take death out of migration, and keep it in the public discourse.

Juan started walking ahead even before we pulled out. As we passed he wiped his eyes, walking steadily, stolidly along the road with his water bottle and a white shopping bag of the food we gave him. As we drove a white Border Patrol truck passed us going the other way, toward Juan, and a bus for collecting migrants was pulled into a turn-around. “We’re doing something,” Carl said. “We don’t know how many lives we saved. But today we saved one.”

As we said goodbye and prayed a blessing on Carl and Humane Borders, he said, “Come back again. Come back and bring your kids, your youth group and young people. I wish I’d had that kind of experience when I was a Junior in high school.”

We passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint and went on our way. I’ve been praying for Juan all day.

ELCA bishops call state immigration laws ‘shortsighted’
11-133-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) – Nearly 60 of 65 synod bishops of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) expressed their concern over new state
immigration laws in Nov. 2 letters to President Barack Obama and members
of Congress. In their letter, the synod bishops asked that both Congress
and the administration work together on a complete federal overhaul of
the U.S. immigration system and offered provisions for what the reform
should entail.
The synod bishops said federal reform should restore trust in
communities and include:
+ An earned pathway to lawful permanent residency and eventual U.S.
citizenship for immigrants and their families who learn English and pay
back taxes.
+ Expeditious reunification of families and protection against separating
families.
+ Expansion of legal avenues for workers to allow immigrants to migrate
to the United States in a safe and legal manner.
+ Decreased use of immigration detention, improvement in detention
conditions with increased access to medical assistance, pastoral care and
legal council and the increased use of community-based programs that
assist immigrants who do need to be incarcerated.
+ Improved border policies that treat all individuals with respect and
allow the U.S. government to focus on individuals involved in the
trafficking of people, drugs, weapons or other dangerous people seeking
entry.
+ Increased programs and resources to help immigrants participate fully
in U.S. social and civic life.
“The fair treatment of immigrants is a core religious value and
welcoming the stranger is welcoming a child of God,” wrote the synod
bishops.
Six U.S. states have passed immigration laws that are “shortsighted
and misguided,” the synod bishops wrote. Because this church values
family unity, justice, equity, compassion and the humane treatment of all
people, the synod bishops said they are concerned that the individual
immigration laws of each state “damage the social fabric of our
communities.”
“We are particularly troubled by the laws which would criminalize
churches, church ministries and church members that serve all people who
need assistance – regardless of their immigration status,” they wrote.
“The ELCA believes and teaches that all people are created in the
image of God and are beloved of God. In our scriptures, we are instructed
to care for the stranger and to love the immigrant living among us,” they
wrote, adding that the ELCA carries out social ministry programs,
initiates programs to aid all God’s people and partners with Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Service.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is one of the nation’s
leading agencies in welcoming and advocating for refugees and immigrants.
Based in Baltimore, it works on behalf of the ELCA, The Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The letters to the president and Congress were initiated by Bishop
H. Julian Gordy of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, and Bishop
Michael W. Rinehart of the ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, Houston.
“I am overjoyed that so many of our leaders are willing to speak
boldly for immigrants,” said Rinehart.
“This is a key moral issue of our day. Are we going to welcome the
stranger or are we not? Will we be the city on the hill or a mean-
spirited gated-country for the elite? Will our laws make immigration
impossible through exorbitant fees, racist quotas and decade-long waiting
periods? I hope not. The America most of us know and love has open arms
for huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” said Rinehart.
Gordy said he’s grateful that “our church has spoken clearly on
behalf of immigrants living among us, both in this letter, signed by a
large majority of our bishops and in the actions of our Churchwide
Assembly in August. It is appropriate that the church, which counts
migrants like Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam and the wandering
Hebrews as its spiritual ancestors and the migrant infant Jesus as it’s
Lord, speak against and resist these unhelpful state laws, passed in the
absence of comprehensive immigration reform.”
“Since the passing of anti-immigration legislation in Alabama and
Georgia, two of the states in the synod I serve, undocumented and
documented immigrants are leaving our communities and our congregations
to move to more immigrant friendly states,” Gordy said. “This exodus does
harm to our communities, farms and businesses. Such state laws do not
succeed in addressing our immigration crisis. They do, however, succeed
in fostering a spirit of hostility, suspicion and ethnic discrimination
in our communities. Our immigrant church must speak out and resist these
laws.”
The ELCA synod bishops’ letters follow two Nov. 1 letters sent to
the president and members of Congress by ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S.
Hanson, who serves on Obama’s advisory council on Faith-based and
Neighborhood Partnerships.
The 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to “declare its support of
and encouragement for all efforts to prevent the enactment of punitive
and unjust federal and state laws that target immigrants.” This action
also calls for leaders of this church to support comprehensive U.S.
immigration reform and the DREAM Act (the Development, Relief and
Education for Alien Minors Act), legislation that would provide a path
for citizenship for undocumented high school graduates.
The churchwide assembly is the ELCA’s highest legislative authority
serving on behalf of the ELCA’s 4.2 million members.
The full text of the synod bishops’ letters is available at

http://www.ELCA.org/immigration.

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 2, 2011

ELCA presiding bishop calls for immigration reform
11-132-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) – In Nov. 1 letters to President Barack Obama and
members of Congress, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) has called for comprehensive immigration reform
and support for the DREAM Act (the Development, Relief and Education for
Alien Minors Act), legislation that would provide a path for citizenship
for undocumented high school graduates.
In his letter, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson wrote that the absence of
reform has left several states to construct their own immigration laws,
which are often “shortsighted and misguided.”
“The ELCA needs your leadership,” wrote Hanson, urging the president
to engage Congress and U.S. citizens in the need for comprehensive
immigration reform and to explore compassionate policy reforms that
advance the common good.
Hanson is a member of the president’s advisory council on Faith-
based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
The 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to support immigration
reform and the DREAM Act. The churchwide assembly is the ELCA’s highest
legislative authority serving on behalf of the ELCA’s 4.2 million members.
“The biblical call to hospitality (has) inspired Lutheran
congregations across the country to discuss transforming communities into
centers of hospitality through relationship building and advocacy,”
Hanson told the president. Hanson also added that ELCA congregations are
working to lift up the experiences of undocumented youth and encourage
broader public support for the legislation.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the nation’s
leading agencies in welcoming and advocating for refugees and immigrants
and based in Baltimore, works on behalf of the ELCA, The Lutheran Church–
Missouri Synod and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In
addition, congregations of the ELCA and Lutheran social ministries
provide critical services to migrant populations, spread the word of
welcome and advocate for fair and humane immigration reform.
“As a national church body, the ELCA — our congregations, bishops,
schools and millions of individual members — continue to preach, teach,
advocate and work with and on behalf of (everyone),” Hanson wrote. “This
nation has achieved such greatness due to the resilience, labor and
intellect of immigrants. We will roll up our sleeves and work tirelessly
until this nation is once again a place of welcome and justice for
newcomers.”
The full text of Hanson’s letter is available at

http://www.ELCA.org/bishop/messages.