World Relief Commends the Administration’s Recent Announcement of the Review
of Cases in Deportation Proceedings
August 22, 2011- Baltimore, MD- World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National
Association of Evangelicals, applauds the Administration’s August 18th announcement
regarding an interagency process to review the 300,000 plus cases in deportation
proceedings. This process will identify low-priority non-criminal cases that should not
be prosecuted under an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, as well as cases that may be
eligible for actual immigration benefits. The process will focus the Administration’s
resources on the removal of high-priority cases, such as convicted felons and individuals
who pose a serious threat to national security.
“This is a tremendous step towards a fair and effective immigration system,” said
Stephan Bauman, President and CEO of World Relief. “We urge the Administration to
dedicate the necessary resources to ensure that this process is quick, efficient, and
comprehensive. We trust that immigrants who are hard-working, contributing members
of our society, mothers and fathers of U.S. citizens, students, and many who served in the
military will not be prosecuted and, when eligible, will have the ability to receive legal
status and fully integrate into our society.”
This administrative review ensures that during a time of fiscal constraint, our resources
are being used as effectively as possible to enhance our national security by targeting
those who pose the greatest risk to the United States. For years, the deportation of noncriminal
aliens has torn families apart and misplaced limited government resources on
those in our country who are working hard and supporting their families. This new
Administrative process ensures that the priorities the Administration set in place of
deporting those who are most harmful to our country are actually reflected in our
immigration processing.
“This is the right step forward toward ensuring that many immigrants who are
contributing to our communities are not deported, often back to a country they no longer
know, leaving their jobs and families behind,” said Dan Kosten, Senior Vice President of
U.S. Programs at World Relief. “While the consideration of relief under this policy will
only be applied to cases actually in removal proceedings, the existence of a majority of
immigrants who would not benefit from such relief highlights the urgent need for
Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Only by reforming our
immigration laws will the root problems of immigration be addressed to strengthen our
country’s heritage of welcoming those who are willing to work hard and contribute to our
country.”
We applaud this action taken to ameliorate some of the current injustices of the
immigration system by identifying and granting relief to meritorious cases, and World
Relief remains committed to continuing our work with the local church to provide
immigration legal services and assistance as this process moves forward.
Jenny Yang
Director of Advocacy and Policy
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World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, is afaith-based international relief and development organization committed to serving the
most vulnerable populations through the local church. World Relief currently works on
five continents, in some of the most impoverished areas of the world. In the United
States, World Relief focuses on serving the foreign-born, including providing
immigration legal services to refugees, asylees, parolees, victims of trafficking and other
vulnerable immigrants in twenty-four cities around the country. World Relief also
supports churches in developing immigration legal services programs. Since 1979,
World Relief has resettled over 236,000 refugees in the United States.
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