What's so wrong about "Secure Communities?"

By Robert Chao Romero

Since the horrific terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States government has continually criminalized undocumented immigrants as scapegoats for the "war on terror."  ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was created in 2003 through a merger of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and sections of the U.S. Customs Service, and it's stated mission is to "promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade, and immigration."  Even though none of the perpetrators of 9/11 were undocumented, ICE has systematically targeted undocumented immigrants and their families for deportation over the past decade.  In the past two years alone, nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants have been deported.  Latino, Asian, and other immigrant groups have become scapegoats in the war on terror. 

Guest post: Blame me by Juan Martinez

In June Senator John McCain (R-AZ) blamed undocumented people who happen to pass through Arizona for starting one of the fires that burned thousands of acres in Arizona and New Mexico and are now threatening to cross the border into Sonora, Mexico. According to McCain if the borders were more secure there would be fewer fires in that area. (The only thing left for him to blame on undocumented people are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

This accusation–and others like it–demonstrates the tendency to make marginalized people scapegoats. This tendency of blaming other people has been common in the United States throughout its history. Blame is now focused on undocumented people who are mainly Latino. According to some right wing pundits, Latino undocumented people are the cause of unemployment, mediocre education and health services, criminal activity, and even deficits in state and federal budgets.

These accusations are so easy because no one contradicts the madness. Undocumented people cannot defend themselves, and many of the rest of us choose to keep silent in the face of these accusations. It is time for us to have the courage to stand up and challenge what is clearly false and unjust.

Even on the outside possibility that some undocumented person accidentally started a fire, the problem of wildfires in Arizona cannot possibly be fixed with by closing the border, as an accidental fire can be started by any one of us, even Senator McCain himself.

It is time for us as Christian leaders to speak with force and clarity against this type of inflammatory rhetoric. We must address the issue of undocumented people. But to blame them for every bad thing that happens to this group of immigrants only moves us further away from responding to the serious problems that our country faces.

Unless undocumented people are responsible for the rise of the price of oil or problems with the social security system…

Dr. Juan Martinez is the Associate Dean for the Centro para el Estudio de Iglesia y Comunidad Latina (Center for the Study of Hispanic Church and Community) and Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies and Pastoral Leadership, School of Theology. His education includes an MDiv from Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary and ThM and PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary.  Cross posted from Caminando con el Pueblo   in Spanish. Post here with permission of the author. Translated by Glen Peterson. 

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.”

Immigrants and faith leaders speak out about immigration reform

Faith leaders and immigrants in California speak out about the need for immigration reform. Check out what some of our friends say about the current immigration situation and the need for reform. The voices for immigration reform come from many different perspectives and Christian traditions in Los Angeles and Orange County. How will you respond when you read the Bible and God's concern for the stranger, the sojourner, the immigrant?





This video is from one of the Loving the Stranger Network partners, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice--Orange County (CLUEOC)

Guest Post: The Right to Wander, A Pastor Plants a Flag, by David Housholder

I’m going to plant a flag on this issue.

Please hear me, I respect the opposing view. I just don’t share it.

The truth is, God gave the whole earth to the human race and told us to go forth, be fruitful, and multiply.

Even when he gave Israel to the children of Jacob, he warned them to treat the foreigners nicely; that they would be evaluated, as a nation, by their hospitality toward them. All through the Old Testament stories, there are prominent foreigners sharing the lives of Israelites (e.g. Uriah the Hittite) at a high level.

I have Scandinavian heritage, and you have the right, in my ancestral homeland (the Swedes call it “Allemansrätten”), to wander across anyone’s property, as long as you respect their privacy and leave everything the way you found it. And you can camp for free on anyone’s land, as long as you don’t disturb anyone or make noise, for up to two nights.

I believe in the right of every peaceful man or woman on Earth to be able, unhindered, to:

• Travel anywhere on planet Earth he or she can afford to visit. As long as you pay your way and are not a burden.
• Seek and take gainful and respectful employment anywhere it is legitimately offered.

I don’t believe in gated communities.

I don’t believe in national fences that keep people in (Berlin Wall) or keep people out (Mexican border at Tijuana).

All God’s people have access to all God’s world.

People of Western/Northern European ancestry have no greater right to staying in my California county than people of Latino ancestry.

And I believe that a mobile population is good for the economy. Anytime free labor can find its way to free capital, there is prosperity for all. That’s the free-market libertarian in me, talking.

Mobility is a basic human right.

The big question is: Do you see people as an asset or a liabilty?

Sure there are people who are one or the other. But on balance, how do you see the human race?

America was founded on the idea that people are, on the whole (and with some exceptions), an asset. Look at the Statue of Liberty. We saw the “huddled masses” of peasant Europe as an amazing asset. They built the farms that now feed us. Their blood now runs through our veins…

Overpopulation is a total myth. Europe and Russia are starting to decline in population. Most of America is empty (every spend much time looking down out of the window seat?). Our rural areas are depopulating. Detroit has thousands of acres of emptiness and some of it is returning to native forest. Sure there are areas of overcrowding, but Anglo North America could easily handle two billion people. (Currently 350 million). Our biggest challengers in this new century will be China and India, because they are blessed to have more people. More workers. More ideas.

We have to re-think transportation and energy–but that’s been done before and we can do it again.

People are not bad for the earth. People are beautiful and creative. We are the crown of creation. Made in the image of God.

I live in California. We are so blessed to have hard-working Latino and Asian immigrants in our midst. They have, together with us, built this state. I have driven all over our great state for the past ten years, and most of it is….empty. There is room for all–especially those willing to work.

You can’t have free markets (and I’m a free market guy) without freely mobile labor. We can’t put a fence around America.

My wealthiest California friends say “Unless we let inexpensive labor connect with our abundant domestic capital, we may as well ship all of our manufacturing to China.” Sobering.

Fences just accumulate and build up tensions, artificially. It’s where weapons tend to congregate. The barbed wire fence across Korea is a source of great tension right now.

Truth is, fences don’t work anyway. The Great Wall of China was a colossal failure. And the “Iron” Curtain rusted in one generation. Walls will always be breached, just like in medieval warfare.

Eventually, European towns just quit building them because they were ineffective.
We have to learn to live together. It won’t be easy. There will be huge challenges.
We may have to get rid of the welfare state altogether to make for a workable world.
But building more fences is not the answer.

They won’t last.

They won’t work.

This article was originally posted on David Housholder’s Journal on December 29, 2010, cross-posted here with permission of the author. David Housholder is teaching pastor at Robinwood Church in Huntington Beach California. He finds his spiritual and cultural roots as Norwegian-American Lutheran and now considers pentecostals to be his tribe. He is the author of  The Blackberry Bush (Summerside Press, 2011) that deals with immigration. He does not like to wear shoes when he preaches, and believes socks were a really bad invention. He moved to California mostly to get away from socks.

We append the following disclaimer on all guest blogs: “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: 25 Hour Adventure to Mexico by Keturah Kennedy

Sometimes I wouldn’t believe my own stories if I hadn’t lived them.

One week ago I left an “American” 18 year old in Mexico.

Gio was on a bus to the Palm Desert when border patrol picked him up in Indio, CA. His bus was boarded and the riders were asked to prove their citizenship. Gio was brought to the US when he was 5 years old, attended California schools and for all intents and purposes was an American by everything except his papers. Gio is one of the best kids we’ve ever had come through our programs at Mika. He attended our after school program, has been mentored for the last five years and volunteered diligently tutoring elementary students through his last few years of high school. He currently attends Orange Coast College and helps support his family as the man of the house.

Last Friday when border patrol boarded his bus as he was headed to visit a friend, he was asked to produce his papers and he was detained when he couldn’t prove his citizenship. After he was intimidated and coerced to sign a voluntary departure form he was deported to a country he didn’t know at 3 o’clock in the morning. He was alone and scared.

At 3pm on Friday afternoon, myself and 3 other people drove to Mexico to help get Gio from Mexicali to Tijuana to a safe home where he could stay until further arrangements could be made. What was intended to be a 10 hour trip turned into a 25 hour adventure that included wondering the streets of Tijuana at midnight and diligently pursuing a safe place for Gio to reside.

I wish I could say everything turned out alright and everything is ok. But what is ok in this situation? I left one of my favorite kids in Mexico while I got to drive back across the border and show his mother the pictures from our journey. Everything Gio knows about Mexico he learned from the movies. Everything he knows about life took place in Orange County, California. I want to believe that the government is interested in deporting criminals and those at danger to our society and yet my experience of walking with undocumented teenagers tells me otherwise.

When will we as the people of God say enough is enough. Worshiping on Sunday morning was difficult in light of the fact that I left a child of God in a country that he didn’t know as home, and yet as a believer I have to trust that my God is greater and has a plan beyond what I can see right now.

This was originally posted by Keturah Kennedy on May 26, 2011 her own blog, Before I'm 30… as 25 Hour Adventure to Mexico. Keturah loves her city of Costa Mesa. She has a passion for participating in God’s Kingdom work in her city and uses her gifts in organizational development as Mika Community Development’s Director of Operations.

We append the following disclaimer on all guest blogs: “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: Feet

Today [written May 29]  I will start a 75 mile trek through the unforgiving Sonoran desert. I'll cross over the border in Sasabe, Mexico and travel to Tucson, Arizona with a group of people.

I've been in Arizona for a few days now and the reality of what I signed up for is starting to hit me. Walking for six hours a day under the scorching sun. No shower for a week. (I'm sorry in advance for whoever I end up sitting by in the airplane.) Being surrounded by creepy crawly things in the dead of night. I should mention the heat again.

It's hot here.  

Inferno hot. Set a cup of ice out at 8am and it's melted within minutes hot. Feel the sweat slowly creep down your lower back as you're simply standing in the shade hot. 

Oh yeah, it's hot.

But then I remember. Thousands and thousands and thousands of others have made this same walk under the same sun and under worse conditions. Way worse conditions. No food, water, protection.

Oh yeah, and at the end of this journey I get to go home. I get to love on my family. I get to laugh with friends. I get to eat whatever I want.

This seven day walk is to remember and stand in solidarity with those who have crossed the same desert. Many of the feet who have plowed the road before me never made it home. Their feet never reached their friends and family. 

Precious feet of our brothers and sisters, made in the image and glory of God, are gone. Too many have needlessly died crossing this border. There is absolutely no reason anyone should perish for lack of water. Seriously. No reason. 

As I look down on my feet shuffling along in the desert I will intentionally choose to be thankful for feeling the sun burn my skin, my tired muscles ache and my dry throat cry out for rescue. Why? Because when I feel, I know I am alive. 

When you look down at your feet, what will you be thankful for?

Sarah Jackson lives in Denver, Colorado with immigrants from El  Salvador. She is striving to be the hands and feet of love, justice and  mercy as she lives with the poor and marginalized in the community.  Every day she intentionally believes in the intoxicating love which  travels beyond borders. Follow Sarah's blog, Piece of Paz or connect with her on Facebook.

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.

Opinion: Scapegoating behind anti-immigration laws

Yet another state, populated largely by people who consider themselves Christians, has apparently criminalized Christian behavior toward illegal immigrants. At least according to the Associated Press which says in an article published in my local newspaper June 10 that Alabama’s new immigration law makes it “a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride.”

This an excerpt from Associated Baptist Press' Travis Loller.

Several states, mostly in the South, have recently passed laws criminalizing humanitarian aid to illegal immigrants. True, some of these laws (perhaps all of them) contain exceptions for government regulated humanitarian organizations and for emergency responders. However, where does that leave the average Christian who feels called by God to reach out and help an illegal immigrant in need?

Read the whole article here. 

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.] 

Guest Blog: Jar of Mayo

Sara Johnson is on a walking trip in northern Mexico near the border with the United States. This is the first in a series about her experiences there. 


Some of my most vivid childhood memories swirl around time in the water. Splashing in a pool for hours on end gave way to my nickname, "The Fish." On one particular pool day my mom packed a lunch for our family. We would be hungry after a full day of sun, sunscreen and pool time.  She packed all sorts of picnic foods. Sandwiches, chips, watermelon... and a jar of mayo? I remember seeing the jar and wondering why it was in the ice chest. It seemed so odd. 

My mom had a plan. She knew what she was doing. Time, love and energy went into packing the perfect lunch. Now here sits this jar of mayonnaise, a supposed random item to bring. But to my mom it made perfect sense. She knew someone would want it. She packed it with the hopes of satisfying someone's hunger. It was an intentional act of love. 

Now here I was, almost 20 years later, in the middle of the arid Mexico desert. This trip's focus was exploring the myriad complex sides of the immigration crisis. On a merely human level we can all see that people are dying. Moms, dads, little children, grandmas and grandpas are crossing the desert and wasting away- of thirst, starvation and medical injuries.

There are simple things we can do to prevent these deaths. One of them is providing water. That's what I was doing in the desert, filling large barrels of water for migrants to drink. (I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. Matthew 25:35)

Walking through the desert I came across a worn trail many weary travelers had used to stop, rest and eat. And then I saw it. A half-full jar of mayonnaise. 

Just a jar of mayo, right? But to me it represented a mother's love for those she cared for. I imagined a woman preparing food for the long journey ahead. Tears welled up like little pools in my eyes as I imagined a mother carefully and tenderly packing a lunch in preparation for their trek through the desert- sojourners in a foreign land. 

Someone packed this jar of mayo with the hope of it providing sustenance to those they loved. And now here it was, half-empty and abandoned.

Many half-empty, abandoned dreams are walking in the desert right now. Some are on the verge of death. There are dry, dusty mouths in the desert. Please pray they find water. And remember, humanitarian aid is never a crime.

This piece has been cross posted at Undocumented.tv/blog and piece of paz. 

Sarah Jackson lives in Denver, Colorado with immigrants from El Salvador. She is striving to be the hands and feet of love, justice and mercy as she lives with the poor and marginalized in the community. Every day she intentionally believes in the intoxicating love which travels beyond borders. Follow Sarah’s blog or connect with her on Facebook.

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.

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 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.

An Easter Meditation

…from M. Daniel Carrol R., on his Easter and the Immigration Question at Immigration and Other Matters Blog:

How might looking at immigration through the eyes of the cross and resurrection, and therefore the Lord’s Supper, affect our attitudes and perspectives… especially when millions of those who have come—both documented and undocumented—claim the Christian faith? What of the acceptance of the “other” and hospitality to the outsider? What of the sharing with brothers and sisters and of the testimony of unconditional love toward those who do not know Jesus, whether native-born or immigrant?

Read the whole article here.

Intensive 2 Day Faith-Rooted Advocacy Training: Friday, May 13-14

From CLUE--OC:

We are excited to invite you to CLUE Orange County's Intensive 2 Day Faith-Rooted Advocacy Training: Friday, May 13 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm and Saturday, May 14 from 9:00am to 3:00pm. Location is TBD. Will be in Central/South Orange County. Please RSVP by filling out the form below no later than Monday, May 9, 2011. Registration fee of $30 per person can be mailed to 309 N Rampart, Ste. A, Orange, CA 92868 Attn: CLUE OC. Please note: FRO training on the memo line or make your payment at the door via cash/check. Thank you.

Register online here.