World Relief Commends the Administration’s Recent Announcement of the Review of Cases in Deportation Proceedings

August 22, 2011

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
 

####

World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, is a
faith-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.

Loving the Stranger Network Blog appends the following disclaimer on all posts: “Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.”

Congressman Mike Honda on the California Dream Act

From The Los Angeles Times letters section, Sunday, July 31, 2011

Dream Act may blaze a trail

Re "California Dream Act signed into law," July 26

Akin to California's cutting-edge leadership on a range of issues, the governor now leads the country on immigration reform.

In passing the Dream Act, California is enabling thousands of California students to constructively contribute to our economy.

The Dream Act is just the first step. We must pass comprehensive immigration reform quickly. Deportation of millions is clearly not viable. Deporting America's undocumented immigrants would cost us far too much.

Congress needs to step up on comprehensive immigration reform, and commitments by courageous states like California pave the way.

Michael Honda
Washington
The writer is a Democratic representative from San Jose [California].

We append the following disclaimer on all posts: “Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.”

Guest Post: What is a U. S. Person?

This is new one on me.  Last week I had to certify under penalty of perjury; that “I am a U.S. Person.”  We were signing some financial documents and on the page where you give your social security information there was the new phrase “U.S. Person.”

A United States Person is defined variously by different government agencies. The gist of it is that if you are a citizen, a legal resident alien or a corporation formed under US law you are a U.S. Person.  Some implications of being a U.S. Person are:

·      The NSA is not supposed to spy on a US Person without a court’s permission. 

·      The IRS has permission to tax US Persons. 

·      You don’t have to live in the USA to be a United States Person. 

·      You don’t have to be a person to be a United States Person. You can be a corporation or a group.

 

Since we had to invent United States Person to keep everyone in nice neat categories I suggest that our rules are too complicated.

 

U.S. Person appears to be a term invented to fill up the space between those who are not subject to US law, taxes and constitutional protections (Foreigners) on the one side and those who clearly are (US Citizens and resident aliens) on the other extreme.  US Person includes trusts, partnerships and corporations that are formed under US law.  It doesn’t seem to include foreign investors doing business in the US who don’t have permanent resident visas and it doesn’t include persons living in the US who don’t have green cards.

 

As a service I have below the fold included several US Government agencies definitions of U.S.Person and links.

Guest Post: How Can the Law Assure Social Order?

By Robert Chao Romero

A key biblical principal is that God has established the institution of government to maintain social order (Romans 13: 1-7).  How is the follower of Jesus to respond, however, when government knowingly violates the legal guidelines it has created for itself in order to guarantee this social order?  This is one of the central issues involved in the immigration debate in America—though not in the way that many Christians typically frame the issue. 

According to the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case of De Canas v. Bica, “[p]ower to regulate immigration is unquestionably exclusively a federal power.”   This important case stands for a simple, and uncontested, legal principle:  it is the job of the federal government to regulate immigration.   States and local governments do not have this authority.  Only the federal government can create laws and policies which determine who gets to stay in this country and who can be forced to leave.  Only the federal government has the authority to check the immigration status of individuals and make decisions about visas, asylum, and deportation.   With limited exception, states and local governments cross the line into unconstitutional territory every time they try to engage in these types of activities.  One basic exception to this rule is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is allowed to enter into special agreements with local law enforcement agencies which authorize them to enforce immigration laws.   According to these “287(g)” agreements, ICE provides basic training to local police and then delegates to them some of its authority to regulate immigration.  Outside of these special agreements it is illegal for states and cities to engage in the regulation of immigration.   This is the current state of immigration law and it is uncontested.  It is really that simple.

Arizona Senate Bill 1070, and the 14 copycat bills which have been introduced in states such as California, Illinois, Florida, and Texas, knowingly violate existing federal law and Supreme Court precedent.   SB 1070 and its modified version, House Bill 2162, empower Arizona police to investigate a person’s immigration status as part of a "lawful stop, detention, or arrest."   This provision flagrantly violates federal law because it takes the regulation of immigration out of the hands of the federal government and places it unconstitutionally in the hands of Arizona state authorities.    It basically says, “we the state of Arizona, by our own prerogative, authorize all of our police officers to regulate immigration by checking peoples’ immigration status.”   Again, this is not contested legal territory.  Regulation of immigration is entirely a federal prerogative. 

Hazleton, Pennsylvania provides another recent example of the way in which this legal principle has been blatantly disregarded.   By passing the “Illegal Immigration Relief Act” in 2006, the city tried to take the issue of undocumented immigration into its own hands by fining landlords who rented to undocumented immigrants and suspending the business licenses of people who hired them.   In other words, as reflected in the name of this legislative act, Hazleton sought to regulate immigration through the implementation of fines and the revocation of business licenses.   As the federal District and Circuit courts have since ruled, Hazleton’s “Illegal Immigration Relief Act” represents a clear unconstitutional attempt to regulate immigration. 

How is the Christian to respond to the Arizona state legislature, the city council of Hazleton, and other government authorities who consciously violate the legal norms which the U.S. government itself has established to ensure social order? Ironically, they themselves are breaking the law.  I leave this question for you to reflect upon and decide.  It is my hope that this brief discussion has provided a different angle on the immigration debate for you to consider and that through the legal perspective offered we might all be sharpened. 

Bio:

Robert Chao Romero is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies.  He received his J.D. from U.C. Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Latin American History from UCLA.  He is the author of The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 and various articles related to race in Latin America and the United States.   He is Founder and President of Christian Students of Conscience, a ministry devoted to training and mobilizing university students around issues of race and justice from a biblical perspective (cscrevolution.org).  

This article is cross posted from
UnDocumented.tv blog by permission of the author.

March 8, 2011

Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.

From a Birmingham Jail to Georgia and Alabama

Guest blog: Lessons from “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”

From Robert Chao Romero

“I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all’… I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: ‘What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?’… Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church.”

 These words, penned by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, still ring unfortunately true today. In his day, Dr. King was the leading Christian voice protesting the unjust Southern laws which enforced unbiblical segregation between blacks and whites.   Citing St. Augustine, Dr. King asserted that unjust laws are not really laws at all because they stand in contradiction to God’s eternal Law.   He found himself deeply disappointed with most evangelical and fundamentalist churches of the South because they failed to  publicly   challenge the southern segregation laws which stood in direct opposition to the biblical truth that all men and women, regardless of ethnic background, are made equally in the image of God.  

Many applications from “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” can be made with regards to undocumented immigration issues in the South today.   The state legislatures of Alabama and Georgia have once again penned some of the most hateful and unbiblical laws targeting ethnic minorities—in this case, undocumented immigrants from Latin America.   These laws are like Arizona SB-1070 on steroids.  The Alabama laws, passed earlier this month, bar undocumented immigrants from attending college, prohibit undocumented immigrants from applying for or soliciting work, and criminalize the rental of residential property to undocumented immigrants.  The Georgia legislation, signed by state governor Nathan Deal in May, authorizes police officers to question individuals about their immigration status in certain criminal investigations and threatens to fine undocumented immigrants $250,000, or send them to jail for 15 years, for using fake identifications in search of employment. 

This mean-spirited racist legislation from Alabama and Georgia violates both the letter and spirit of several biblical principles: 

1. God commands that immigrants are not to be mistreated or oppressed.  Exodus 22:21
2. God loves immigrants.  He provides for their needs.  Deuteronomy 10:18;
3. God calls us to advocate for immigrants and to defend their rights.  Proverbs 31:8-9. 
4. Jesus teaches that if we love him we will love immigrants.  When we love immigrants, we are actually loving him.  Matthew 25: 34, 35, 38, 40. 

 It is immoral and unjust to benefit from the labor of undocumented immigrants and simultaneously to blame them for all of our society’s social ills.   Undocumented immigrants contribute more than 2 trillion dollars to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product every year.  Our economy is entirely dependent upon them.   They pick our fields, raise our kids, and clean our homes.  They mow our lawns, fix our drywall, and renovate our homes.  They cook our food at American, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian restaurants, and when we’re done they wash our dishes as well.  They work in our factories, coffee shops, and every fast food establishment you could imagine.  They clean our workplaces and office buildings long after everyone has gone home to have dinner with the kids.

It is a sin to be ungrateful.  I think that it is especially a sin to benefit from all of the hard work and economic contributions of undocumented immigrants  and at the same time to scapegoat them for our nation’s, or our state’s, economic woes.   This is biblical mistreatment and oppression.  

It is also immoral to deny a university education to the children of undocumented immigrants.   Although this may be a popular position in Alabama, such denial of educational opportunity is utterly unbiblical and unjust.  A fundamental biblical principle is that no one should be punished for an action for which they had no control  (Deuteronomy 24:16).   To use a biblical analogy, if the parents eat sour grapes the children’s teeth should not be set on edge (Jeremiah 31:39).

In the same way, undocumented college students should not be punished for  crossing a border when they had no decision in the matter.   Most undocumented college students were brought to the United States when they were just small children or infants.  In fact, 60,000 such undocumented students graduate from high school each year in the United States.   Many of them are valedictorians and at the top of their class.  Tragically, thousands of these students are denied a college education because of state laws which bar them from the university.

As in Dr. Martin Luther King’s Day, I ask, where is the Southern Church?  “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of [Governor Deal] dripped with words of interposition and nullification” in May? “Where were they when [Governor Bentley] “gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred” less than two weeks ago?

Like Dr. King, I weep for the Southern Church.  I am a pastor and the grandson of a pastor.  I love the Church. My heart breaks, however, when I see the name of Jesus misrepresented by Christians who support or fail to challenge unbiblical laws such as those recently passed in Alabama and Georgia.

On a positive note, I am encouraged by the Southern Baptist Convention, which recently passed a resolution in support of  "a just and compassionate path to legal status, with appropriate restitutionary measures, for those undocumented immigrants already living in our country."  The resolution falls short of explicitly condemning the racist laws of Georgia and Alabama, but it is a step in the right direction.   As the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, and a prominent religious institution in the South, the Convention’s statement will hopefully prompt many Southern Christians to reconsider their perspectives on immigration in light of the biblical admonition to love immigrants and speak out on their behalf.

Robert Chao Romero is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies.  He received his J.D. from U.C. Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Latin American History from UCLA.  He is the author of The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 and various articles related to race in Latin America and the United States.   He is Founder and President of Christian Students of Conscience, a ministry devoted to training and mobilizing university students around issues of race and justice from a biblical perspective (cscrevolution.org).  

Please note that the views expressed by guest bloggers represent their own personal views, and not necessarily those of everyone associated with Loving the Stranger or any institutions with which the blogger may be affiliated.

In Immigration News This Week

Ian Danley writes that We are On God's Side in Huffington Post today. He says, "Believing that youth are partners in our community development work rather than problems to be solved, we have found profound leadership capacity in our young people. Our undocumented youth, along the way, have led us all." Read the whole piece here.

Pulitzer Prize winning Jose Antonio Vargas tells his story in My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant the New York Times.

"I’ve tried. Over the past 14 years, I’ve graduated from high school and college and built a career as a journalist, interviewing some of the most famous people in the country. On the surface, I’ve created a good life. I’ve lived the American dream.

"But I am still an undocumented immigrant."

Opinion on Associated Baptist Press has a piece called Scapegoating behind anti immigrant laws:

"Jesus said that insofar as people offer a cup of cold water to one of the least of these his brethren they have done it to him and insofar as they have refused to do it for the least they have refused it to him (Matthew 24). Does anyone really think Jesus didn’t mean illegal immigrants by 'the least of these my brethren?'"

In Whittier, CA we participated in an interfaith event on immigration sponsored by the Whittier Area Interfaith Council. I gave a talk on immigration and introduced one of my friends, a graduate of UCLA, to talk about his experiences in the US after he was brought to the United States when he was only 4 years old.

The Los Angeles Times featured an article on the problem of a lack of labor in states like Georgia where state laws on immigration have made it more difficult for employers to find workers to harvest crops in New Latino South: Fewer Hands in the Field.

The Los Angeles Times has also done op-ed pieces on immigration including: Immigration: Changes to Secure Communities are for the Better. "John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deserves credit for acknowledging that the program is in trouble and for providing a fix." Also, Help for Young Immigrants, "By some estimates, nearly a million young people in this country are living in a kind of immigration limbo. The United States is the only home many of them have known, but because they were brought here illegally as children by their parents, they live in fear of deportation."

[Update: Pastor Ian Danley's On the Underground Railroad is posted on Define American.] 

Father's Day Blues by Crissy Brooks

I ran into Bernardo on Monday. Bernardo is my neighbor. He is also an immigrant laborer, a husband, and a father. We met a few years ago when we worked on a daylaborer center together. We run into each other from time to time and this week it was apparent he was not doing well.

Bernardo’s wife is ill in Mexico. His son has dropped out of university. When things were good here and work was plentiful, he was able to support them. He was able to pay the rent, buy the medicine and pay his son’s tuition. The sacrifice and costs of being separated seemed to be worth it. But now there is little work and his wife’s health is declining. Bernardo feels like he is failing them and the added stress of being so far away was a visible burden I could see as he spoke of his family’s situation.

Families being separated because of economic hardship is not a new narrative. Some of the best Blues music of the south was born out of this harsh reality. During the Great Migration of the 1910 – 40’s, approximately 1.75 million African-Americans moved north where there was work, often separated from their families. The common theme of the Blues- “my baby’s gone and I will be soon…” wasn’t about a woman just walking out on him. It was about the socio-economic reality of being separated by necessity to find work. She (or he) left to work in the North. The music is great and telling because it gives voice to the authentic pain. The pain of being apart from those you love, the pain of making choices in desperation, the pain of the social realities that led to the situation.

I wonder what gives voice to Bernardo’s pain. Perhaps that is why I write about him here, to give the pain of his separation a voice. I understand that he had a choice. I understand that for generations many people migrating for all different reasons had choices. But I am not sure how much of a choice “starve here or leave your family and find work” really is. I have heard poverty described in terms of the availability of choices. If those are your two choices, I suppose you are quite poor.

Sunday, June 19^th is Father’s Day and I can’t help but think about the thousands, even millions of fathers out there like Bernardo. Fathers separated from their families because of their lack of available choices. Fathers who are sacrificing to provide food, education, and medical care, for the ones they love. And I wonder what my response to them should be?

What would I do given those choices, what would you do? It is easy for me to judge the choices of others. I consider myself quite resourceful and creative, sure that I could come up with some solution. But I have not had to face the choices that many of my neighbors like Bernardo have faced. Though we live in the same place, our realities can be quite different. Our challenge now is to build a new shared reality together that will hopefully be plentiful in choices for all of us.

STREET POLITICS--a guest blog

 …from David Schmidt

           About once a month, I voluntarily subject myself to the psychotic rantings of the anti-immigrant blogs and websites that pockmark cyberspace. More important than their comedic value or any masochistic tendencies of my own, I feel it necessary to hear what our opponents are saying. If we who are on the side of solidarity and inclusion are aware of the accusations being levied against immigrants, we will be more prepared to respond to these attacks, thus inoculating the general, confused U.S. public against any potential appeal they may have.

           Most of the time, I find outright lies, distortions and falsehoods that can be easily countered with the facts: “immigrants take our jobs, degrade our culture, bring crime and disease, bankrupt our hospitals, make our hallways smell of garlic and cilantro,” etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam. [more after the jump]

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Part 1

STAND/for the Vulnerable--from World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director:


World Relief Refuge and Immigration Advocacy Update, June 2, 2011

This information is provided by World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director, Jenny Yang.

1. Remarks by President on Need for Immigration Reform
2. Immigration Enforcement Funding
3. Reintroduction of the DREAM Act- take action now!
4. Introduction of the Domestic Refugee Program Reform bill- take action now!
5. Refugee Funding Update for FY11 and FY12- take action now!
6. UnDocumented.TV- Updated Blog!

1. President's Travels to the Border, Speaks Publicly on Need for Immigration Reform

Over the past couple months, the President has publicly renewed his committed to Comprehensive Immigration Reform. On April 19th, President Obama met with business, community, faith, and other leaders, and also with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on May 3rd. President Obama also gave a commencement address at Miami Dade College on April 29th where he continued to speak of his commitment to passing immigration reform and the DREAM Act.

On May 10th, 2011, President Obama traveled to El Paso, TX, where he made his second major public speech on immigration during his time in office.

This speech outlined the Administration's work in securing the border and the need for comprehensive immigration reform as an "economic imperative" for our country.

He mentioned the wide breadth of support within various sectors of the American community, including the business community, political leaders from both sides, police chiefs, labor unions, and "evangelical ministers like Leith Anderson and Bill Hybels."

During the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast on May 12th, 2011, President said that "immigration reform is a moral imperative, and so it's worth seeking greater understanding from our faith. As it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy, 'Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.' To me, that verse is a call to show empathy to our brothers and our sisters; to try and recognize ourselves in one another."

The President mentioned the work of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and UnDocumented.TV in his remarks, saying that it's "that moral compass, that conviction of what is right is what led the National Association of Evangelicals to shoot short films to help people grasp the challenges facing immigrants."

The White House's blueprint for reform called Building a 21st Century Immigration System [link downloads a .pdf]  reviews what the Administration has done so far in enforcing immigration laws and sets out a series of principles and policies for reforming the current immigration system.  The document
ends with a Call to Action, which lists a series of events the White House is leading that will bring together Administration officials and community leaders to discuss immigration reform.

More information on the White House efforts can be found here.

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Part 2

Legislative News from World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director:
  


Immigration Enforcement

Yesterday, the House began consideration of H.R.2017, the FY 2012 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act under an open rule which means that any member of Congress can file an amendment to increase or decrease spending for DHS operations, like immigration detention, Secure Communities, 287(g), etc. As reported out by the Appropriations Committee, the DHS appropriations bill would increase the number of daily immigration detention beds by 600 (33,400 to 34,00), increase immigration detention spending by $25 million above President Obama’s budget request, and increase Secure Communities spending by $10 million above President Obama’s request. A number of amendments have been filed that would further increase funding for immigration enforcement, including for border fencing, detention and removal operations, and 287 (g) programs.


Today, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up four bills, including H.R.1932, the Keep our Communities Safe Act of 2011. This bill would give the Secretary of Homeland Security authority to detain immigrants indefinitely if they are subject to a final order of removal and cannot be deported for some reason, or if they are subject to a removal order that has been stayed by a judge while their immigration case is on appeal. The Judiciary Committee is also expected to mark up bills pertaining to E-verify in the near future.


World Relief urges Congress to oppose HR.1932 as it commits precious U.S. taxpayer dollars to detain vulnerable migrants seeking protection in the United States while providing them with inadequate recourses to challenge their detention. World Relief also expresses strong concern about passing E-verify without a parallel path for earned legalization for undocumented immigrants and funding of expanded enforcement measures without full consideration and passage of comprehensive immigration reform.

Click here for part 3.

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

WR Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Part 3-DREAM

This information is provided by World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director, Jenny Yang.

DREAM Act Reintroduced

On May 11, 2011, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), Harry Reid (D-NV), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and 34 other co-sponsors, re-introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act (S.952) a bill that would give certain undocumented students a chance to earn legal status.  Co-sponsors include the Chairs of all of the relevant Committees (Patrick Leahy (VT, Judiciary), Joseph Lieberman (CT, Homeland Security), and Carl Levin (MI, Armed Services).  All Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee are also signed on.  A companion bill was introduced in the House by Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) (HR.1842).

The “DREAM Act” would allow our country to prosper from the contributions made by promising and hardworking immigrant youth.  These youth were brought to the U.S. at a young age, but are not able to fully integrate into American society because of their immigration status.  Many did not even know about their status until they applied for college and were surprised to find that they are undocumented in the only country that they consider home.  If passed, the DREAM Act would provide a six-year path to a green card for undocumented children brought to the U.S. more than five years ago if they graduate from high school and continue on to college or military service.

Approximately 50,000-65,000 undocumented students graduate from American high schools each year who are American in their upbringing, values, and culture, and yet because of their immigration status often unable to pursue higher education.  The DREAM Act would help break the cycle of underemployment, instability, and poverty endured by undocumented immigrants.  Last December, despite bipartisan support from a majority of members of Congress, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the DREAM Act.
   
Click here for more information about the DREAM Act.  For more on the DREAM Act, see this release from Senator Durbin’s office. 
 

TAKE ACTION NOW! Ask your Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor the bill!

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate. 

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Part 4

Rep. Gary Peters Introduces Bill to Reform Domestic Refugee Program
 

Representative Gary Peters (D-MI) officially introduced his legislation, H.R. 1475, on April 12th, 2011 entitled the Domestic Refugee Resettlement Reform and Modernization Act of 2011.  Currently, recently arriving refugees receive limited cash and medical assistance as well as access to housing and job placement services.  These benefits are intended to help refugees achieve self-sufficiency through employment during the eight month period for which benefits are provided.  However, structural deficiencies within the domestic resettlement program have made it more difficult for refugees to achieve self-sufficiency.  The impact is not just on the refugees themselves but also on local communities that are welcoming refugees where social services and philanthropic resources are more strained.

It is important that each federal dollar is spent wisely and that every program seeks to operate more efficiently.  This bill would thus institute zero-cost reforms to better maximize refugee self-sufficiency.  Specifically, the bill would:

• Revise the state funding formula used by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) so that it accounts for future refugee arrivals and more accurately distributes funds to state resettlement offices.
• Elevate the Office of Refugee Resettlement within HHS, giving it broader authority and ability to make structural changes and direct resources effectively.  
• Increase transparency within the Office of Refugee Resettlement and require greater analysis of program operations and barriers to refugee sufficiency.  

The bill currently has 27 co-sponsors (6 Republicans and 21 Democrats). You can keep up with the co-sponsor count at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1475. This bill will also be critical, especially given its bi-partisan co-sponsorship, in avoiding budget cuts, as it shows the ongoing, across-the-aisle support for the refugee program.

Contact your representatives and encourage them to co-sponsor this bill, and encourage others to do the same.
 

TAKE ACTION NOW! Ask your Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor the bill!

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate. 

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update June 2, 2011-Funding Update

FY11 FUNDING UPDATE + FY12 FUNDING ADVOCACY

The FY11 budget deal was approved as HR.1473 on April 15th, and refugee accounts were not substantially cut! We came out amazingly well. We actually got an INCREASE in funding relative to fiscal year 2010 (if you don't include the FY '10 Supplemental or the across-the-board cuts).  And we only took a $25 million hit in the ORR account, which we would have had anyway because they had "rollover" money from the prior year.  The across-the-board cuts only amounted to a .2 percent cut. Attached is a more detailed analysis, as well as the entire bill, and a summary is below:

• The Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account, which funds the R&P grant and overseas assistance to refugees, was funded at $1.69 billion, $160 million less than the total amount appropriated in FY10.  While this is technically a cut, this is a victory for refugee advocates, as the House had proposed a $827 million decrease in funding, and the overall reduction was only a 0.2% cut. Overall this is very good. MRA is lower than the level enacted in FY10 ($1.85 billion, which includes supplemental funding) but higher than the President’s request.

• ORR was also spared drastic cuts—the bill only rescinds $25 million in unspent ORR funds (mainly from state reimbursement of cash and medical costs and the unaccompanied alien children program), but the House had proposed rescinding $77 million in unspent funds from ORR, so again, this is a victory for refugee advocates.

• The International Disaster Assistance account was funded at $863 million, which is lower than what was available last year ($1.3 billion – which includes a big supplemental for Haiti), but actually higher than the president’s request. On ORR we are pleased that no funds were cut and they were able to keep some of the funds that were unspent.

  While we avoided massive cuts to the refugee program for Fiscal Year 2011, that's only until the end of September this year. Congress is already working on an appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012, and many members are proposing drastic cuts, even more drastic than we faced this year, for 2012.

We are asking for FY12 funding for MRA at least at FY11 levels of $1.69 billion, and FY12 funding for ORR at $825 million, the President’s request.  Please continue to call your members of congress, urging them to support adequate funding for refugees in FY12. Keep a look out for additional advocacy alerts and materials as the FY12 process moves forward. 
 

TAKE ACTION NOW! Ask your Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor the bill!

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

World Relief Refugee and Immigration Advocacy Update Undocumented.tv

This information is provided by World Relief's Policy and Advocacy Director, Jenny Yang.

 Our video campaign and blog at Undocumented.TV continues strong today.  The blog is updated weekly with various authors writing about immigration as it relates to hot topics of the day.  Our most popular blog posts include:

• Immigration and Justice-  by Jenny Yang, co-author of Welcoming the Stranger and Director of Advocacy and Policy, World Relief, based in Baltimore, Maryland.
• The Connection Between Faith, Human Trafficking, and Immigration-  by Sarah Eisele-Dyrli, editor of the blog No More Slavery <http://nomoreslaveryct.com/> , and  an active anti-trafficking advocate in Connecticut.
• Honoring the Law, Extending Mercy- by Matthew Soerens, co-author of Welcoming the Stranger and U.S. Church Training Specialist, World Relief based in Dupage, Illinois.
• How Refugees and Other Immigrants Preach the Gospel to Me- by Sharon Moore, recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and new occupational therapist working with older adults in Durham, North Carolina.
• Letter from an Undocumented Student- by Tony Pardo, writing under a pseudonym, a 22-year-old recent graduate of UCLA, originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, he resides in Southern California.
• Starbucks and Strawberries- by Andrew Wainer is an Immigration Policy Analyst for Bread for the World Institute in Washington, DC.
• The President at Chamizal - by Sami DiPasquale is the executive director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach in central El Paso, Texas.

 You can watch the award winning short film A New Dream on Undocumented.tv/watch and participate in a discussion forum there.

Jenny Yang is Director of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. Jenny has provide the information in these posts to people how have signed up for advocacy updates on World Relief’s Advocacy website. She is also co-author with Matthew Soerens of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate.

The Education of An (Unlikely) Immigrant Advocate

By Robert Chao Romero

When I became a professor at UCLA six years ago I was pretty naïve about the topic of undocumented immigration.  Even though I come from immigrant families from Mexico and China, I had never really been personally touched by this topic.  That all changed several years ago. 

My wife worked in inner city ministry in Los Angeles and had a former student who was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and facing deportation.   He was looking for an attorney to take his case and I told him, quite naively, “I’ll take your case if no one else will.”   Although I had been a licensed attorney for many years I had never practiced law and my knowledge of immigration law was limited to the classes I taught on the subject.   Little could prepare me for the crazy journey that was to follow.  Over the course of the next year and a half I got a crash course on immigration law, I personally witnessed the brokenness of the U.S. immigration system, and, most importantly, I learned innumerable lessons about God’s love for immigrants. 

Many of the lessons I learned flowed from Proverbs 31:8-9:  “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

The first lesson I learned is that most immigrants who are going through deportation proceedings cannot speak for themselves because there are no attorneys willing to take their case and be their legal voice.   90% of all immigrants facing deportation have no attorney.   Unlike criminal defense cases, there is no legal requirement that immigrants be provided an attorney to represent them.   When immigrants find themselves in immigration court the judge will often give them a piece of paper with a list of pro bono attorneys and legal aid law firms.  At first blush this piece of paper might give them hope.  After making many phone calls and facing many rejections, however, they learn a harsh reality:  there is a desperate shortage of pro bono attorneys who are willing to take on cases for immigrants.   Unless they can come up with $5,000 or more to hire an attorney, they probably stand little chance of having a fair hearing in court--even if they have a valid legal basis for their claim.   A further sad fact is that there are only a handful of Christian legal non-profit organizations in all of the United States which provide legal services for indigent clients—whether they be immigrants or impoverished U.S. citizens.  Most Christian legal aid organizations focus upon defending the free speech rights of Christians in the public sphere, but virtually none have the representation of the poor as their sole emphasis.  In all of Los Angeles, I found only one Christian legal aid organization (a very good one), but they were unable to take my friend’s case. 

For many immigrants facing deportation, this is often how their trial goes:  he or she sits in the courtroom alone with the judge, ICE attorney, bailiff, and translator.  The ICE attorney speaks harshly and disrespectfully to the immigrant and lays out many legal charges that even a trained lawyer would find difficult to understand.  Although the judge is supposed to be neutral, it often appears that he has teamed up with the ICE attorney against the immigrant.   Without a lawyer to explain the confusing legal charges and provide a defense, the immigrant stands little chance of receiving a fair hearing--even if they have a valid basis for remaining in the U.S.   As a result, thousands of children have been torn away from their immigrant mothers and fathers who have been deported without true access to justice.  

The take home point from this lesson is simple:  we must step up and fulfill the biblical mandate to speak up for immigrants facing deportation and defend their rights.   We need churches to establish legal funds for immigrants and we need Christian lawyers to volunteer their time to take on pro bono cases for immigrants facing deportation.   We also need to fund the few Christian legal non-profit organizations already in existence, as well as create hundreds of new legal aid organizations dedicated to speaking up for immigrants and the poor and defending their rights. 



Robert Chao Romero is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies.  He received his J.D. from U.C. Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Latin American History from UCLA.  He is the author of The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 and various articles related to race in Latin America and the United States.  

This piece is cross posted at Sojourner's God's Politics Blog.

Upside Down

Since today marks the date in which the controversial SB 1070 law is set to go into effect, I thought I would share some thoughts about this heated debate.

When this law was first brought to the public's attention a couple months back, I decided I better read the whole thing to see what it really said. I also read a lot of commentary on the law, from both sides of the debate. I was, and still am opposed to this law. As I read the law, I felt like I was reading something from World War 2 or even something similar to the Jim Crow Laws. I don't mean to over dramatize it, and I realize the injustice that most immigrants deal with in our country is not comparable to the Holocaust or slavery, but what is comparable is the blatant hatred for another people group. The language used in the law and also by the Arizona Governor and other officials supporting the law is plain dehumanizing. If you look or talk like an immigrant and don't have your proof of citizenship on you at all times, you are breaking the law. If you are undocumented and simply look for a job in order to feed your family, you are breaking the law. If you give a ride to an undocumented friend, you are breaking the law (If this law applied to California, I would technically be breaking this portion of the law just about every week!) I just don't think this is how God would have us handle the issue. Thankfully, most of the harsher parts of this law were blocked by a federal judge, but it still leads me to think deeply about what is happening.

As an activist for God's Kingdom, my constant thought is, "What is the Church's role in all of this?" When I look at scripture and how Christ interacted with people, I can't help but think that we can do better than this. I also find myself asking the question, "If God's Kingdom is upside down...what does this mean for us, right here, right now?"

I get it. Terrorism is scary. Unemployment is scary. Change is scary. People that don't look or talk like us can be scary. Poor neighborhoods are scary. But what if we threw out our rights as Americans and embraced the rights Christ has given to all of us: the right to live free, the right to love and be loved, the right to lay our lives down for a friend. What if we put other people before ourselves? What if we put, dare I say it, Illegal Immigrants before ourselves? I think this issue is difficult for so many people because if you look at it from a purely American perspective your conclusion will be something along the lines of, "They are breaking our laws. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our healthcare. They are taking our tax money." Very self centered, to say the least. But even if this was all true (which there are countless studies to show that these statements are not completely accurate), what would happen if we took our American glasses off and looked through a Scriptural lens. If we took serious the scripture that asks us to humble ourselves, share all we have with those in need, lose our lives in order to gain it, welcome the stranger, love ALL people as Christ loved us...then how would this change our perspective? How would we look at our tax money, our jobs, our health care? God's Kingdom is upside down. So why do we think we are entitled to more rights, opportunities and benefits than those who were born somewhere else, just because the kingdom of the world tells us we are? Some of you might be thinking, "But what about the scripture that tells us to follow the laws of the land." Yes, I think it is important to be law abiding people, when appropriate and when possible. But friends, Jesus broke the "law of the land"...so did Paul, Timothy, and most of the people from the New Testament. When it comes to people's survival vs. laws that do not align with God's justice, I think there is plenty of grace for those who chose to survive. I think God is calling us to extend that grace to our undocumented brothers and sisters. If you were in their place, wouldn't you want the same?

I think about a guy from the shelter I work at who was forced to smuggle drugs across the border and on his eighteenth birthday, ICE came to his foster home and arrested him. I think about my friend from my neighborhood who was brought here as a young child because his parents were desperate to make a better life for their family, and now he is an adult with virtually no rights. I think about the family who was just torn apart because of an unlawful raid that took place at a factory in Fullerton. I think about a friend who was abandoned in his home country by his parents, brought here legally to live with an adopted family, and is now out of status because his school did not file the correct form. I think about every single person who lives in the tension of should I do what is "lawful" or should I do what I have to do to survive.

Then I think about how we have responded to these people.

Church, we can do better. We can love these people better.

Balance of Law and Love on Immigration

I re-worked my review of Welcoming the Stranger for Amazon. It is posted there are ready for you to read and comment. Be sure to click on "yes" if you found the review helpful.

[Link above is fixed.]




Hopefully you'll find this book dangerous and even life changing.