Bernard's Story

The first time I heard about Bernard Pastor and his story was from Troy Jackson, a pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bernard was in custody at that time and there were very few precedents of these stories turning out well. The narrative did turn out well in this situation. But the whole story has not has not yet played out. I share this because of its similarity to hundreds of youth who I have known in the last 20 years. It illustrates the need for justice, compassion, the DREAM Act, and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

This is the story of how one community changed a young man's life. You can learn more about what happened with Bernard, his faith community and his larger community at this website and video. What follows here is a short introduction.

Bernard's Story from Bernard's Story on Vimeo.


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.”

Assemblymember Roger Hernández on Immigration (CA AD 57)

California Dream Act (AB 131) Passes Assembly on May 5, 2011. It is now headed for the California Senate.

From the 57th California Assembly District's Roger Hernández web site:

(Sacramento) – Assemblymember Roger Hernández (D-East Los Angeles County) joined the rest of his fellow Democrats in the Assembly to support Assembly Bill 130, the California Dream Act, when it came up for a vote on the floor of the State Assembly. Assemblymember Hernández told his colleagues AB 130 is needed so undocumented college students can apply for and receive financial aid. Assemblymember Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), author of AB130, has introduced a similar bill every year since 2005. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed the legislation repeatedly. Here’s more from Assemblymember Hernández in this Assembly Access video.

California's 57th Assembly District falls within eastern Los Angeles County and includes the cities of Azusa, Covina, Baldwin Park, Industry, Irwindale, La Puente, West Covina and the unincorporated communities of Avocado Heights, Bassett, Charter Oak, Citrus, East Arcadia, Hacienda Heights, Ramona and Valinda.

Governor Jerry Brown has already said that he would sign this kind of bill when passed by California's Assembly and Senate.

Find out how your California Assemblymember voted and thank him or her for supporting eligible students. How will your State Senator vote? Find your senator here and let him or her know that you support the California DREAM Act. 

For more on other California legislators and congressional representatives and positions on immigration see what America's Voice has to say about Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-CA) here.

I hope this becomes a recurring series of informational posts on State and Federal legislators and their positions on immigration, immigration reform and DREAM Act related issues. If you'd care to submit a blog post on this topic or another immigration and faith related issue, see our guidelines here.

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.

My DREAM for Change

The DREAM Act. What is it, officially? It's a Bi-partisan piece of legislation that would provide paths to citizenship for young people who meet a specific list of requirements. What is it to the thousands of undocumented youth working their butts off with little to no payoff? It means a future. It means opportunity. It means hope.

Let me break it down for you.

Over the last 2 decades, when migrating to the US became the response to poverty and oppression in Mexico and Central America (other places too, but most undocumented immigrants are from this region), parents would uproot their entire family and make the difficult journey here. Many of the children were very young. Upon settling in the US, parents would enroll their children in school and they would begin their pursuit of the American dream. These children grew up, learned English, assimilated to American culture and slowly detached from their home country. Their memories of their life in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador became few and far between. They said our pledge of allegiance at school, learned about our government on the news, were entertained and integrated into our pop culture, and sang our national anthem at sporting events.

They were becoming American in every way except on paper.

Many didn't even know they were "Illegal" until they noticed all their friends getting driver's licences or applying for part time jobs and asked their parents why they couldn't do the same. And after high school? Well many of these students went on to college, working as babysitters, house cleaners, tutors, construction workers, painters, gardeners just trying to pay the ever growing fees for tuition and books. Many did not make it past the first year in college. Some gave up on their education because it was just too difficult. Others were left with little options, forced to work more and study less until they stopped classes altogether.

But some made it through.

Some toughed it out and found an inner strength that can only be understood when witnessed first hand. Those that graduated with their BA, their masters or even their PhD, defeated all odds and got through college with NO LOANS, NO FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID, NO WORK STUDY, and in some cases NO IN-STATE TUITION.

Now what do we, as a responsible country, do with these nurses, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and engineers who are not able to put into practice the education they worked so hard for? Even more importantly, what do we, as a community of Christ followers, do with the dreams of thousands who wait in limbo? I only see 3 options.

1. Deport them all.

2. Let the status quo remain.

3. Create paths to citizenship.

I don't think Jesus is for mass deportation. The group of people we are talking about are innocent. They did not chose to break the law in coming here. They have worked hard and want to be apart of this country. In many cases, they do not know or remember much of their home country. Would it really be right to rip them away from everything they know and send them back to a place that really is foreign to them? I look at scripture and who Jesus is and I can not seem to reconcile this option with my faith. I'm really not sure how anyone could.

The status quo does not work. We have thousands of people living life in limbo who have little to no rights. I'm not sure about your Jesus, but mine is not ok with that! He is the defender of the weak. He stands up for the oppressed. He calls the Church to do the same. I can't settle for sitting back and doing nothing while so many are suffering. My faith won't allow it.

So this brings us to the 3rd option. What if we created a comprehensive path to citizenship for these young people? What if we invited these determined, hard working, intelligent, good people to come out of the shadows and live in their full potential? This is exactly what the DREAM Act would do. It is not amnesty, rather a way for deserving young people to earn their legalization. This is more than a piece of legislation. This is the future of countless young people. We need to do what's right.

Now let me take a minute to address the critics. There are far too many lies and misconceptions going around about the DREAM Act. It is my opinion that most of these false statements are rooted in one of two things: fear or entitlement. Many are afraid of what this might do. They are afraid it would encourage future illegal migration. They are afraid these students, once given citizenship, will then sponsor their families to become citizens, and so on and so forth. They are afraid it will cost too much money...the list of fears could go on and on. Many also feel entitled to their rights and privileges as American's, which means there has to be someone who is NOT entitled. They say things like, "Well what if they take the spot of an American citizen student in a university that is already difficult to get into?" of "Those are MY tax dollars, why should someone else benefit from that?" The attitude is that these undocumented students are less deserving of rights than American born students are. I would be very careful about this mentality...it is pretty blatantly anti Jesus.

Besides, there is very little legitimacy to these statements of fear and entitlement. I could write for days about all the myths out there and address just about every single one with factual statements proving this really is the only option for our country. You can find some of that here.

I, however, am more concerned with the day we all meet Jesus and when He asks us if we loved the stranger and looked after the poor. I want to be able to humbly look Him in the eyes and thank Him for who He made me through this fight. I want to praise Him for allowing me to know Him better through my feeble attempts at loving the stranger and taking care of the orphan and the widow. I want my brothers and sisters to be able to do the same.

We all need to be a lot less concerned with the impacts on us as Americans and focus our energy on being administrators of His justice, grace and love.

My Purple Prayer Bead

There is a large, purple bead by my bed. It was given to me by a 7 year old and it reminds to pray for all of the girls at the shelter.

Tonight, at the shelter, I met a 15 year old girl. This 15 year old was arrested when her youth leader was pulled over (without breaking any traffic laws) while driving her and other students home from youth group. When asked to show ID, the undocumented youth leader could not so the officer preceded to check the IDs of all in the car. Those without proper documentation were apprehended, including this 15 year old. The youth leader was deported and this 15 year old sent to the shelter. She actually praises God that she is in the shelter because she feels she is there for a reason. This 15 year old feels a calling on her life to love those who do not feel loved. She has found joy in the ugliest of situations and is trying to share that joy with the other girls. She is sharing that joy with her new friend, a 14 year old who also lives at the shelter.

This 14 year old is a mom to an almost 2 year old with special needs. She was repeatedly raped and became pregnant at the age of 11. This 14 year old has come to the realization that she is not capable of parenting her son at this time and so has agreed to let him go live with a foster family while she continues to work on her issues and prepare herself to be the mom she wants to be. She has made an extremely difficult and selfless decision. Fortunately, she has found support, purpose, and friendship in a little 7 year old.

Self proclaimed "best friend" of the 14 year old, this 7 year old has managed to create family amongst a bunch of broken, lonely teenage girls. She can make anyone smile and although she misses her parents very much, this 7 year old is very concerned with how the other girls are doing. She sits through our Friday night Bible studies aimed towards teenagers, I think, because she wants to ask for prayer at the end. She wants prayer for all the girls and their cases. She doesn't have much of anything, but she had a purple bead and she told me that she really wanted me to have it.

Three incredible girls that are no doubt changing my life. I believe we need these girls to teach us about Jesus' unending joy and peace, boldness in Christ, selflessness, grace, community, and the power of prayer.

I pray we do not deport them.

A Prayer for the Immigrant--Prayer Vigil at APU

On April 23, 2009 students from the Latin American Student Association (LASA) at Azusa Pacific University held a prayer vigil to bring attention to the situation of some immigrants to the United States.



Visitors to the vigil were handed cards with pictures of immigrants whose stories they could follow visually and with words that explain how people decide to migrate, how the travel and cross borders and both the successes and failures they find in a new country.





This prayer for the immigrant is written by and offered by the students of LASA. To read this prayer in Spanish, click here.

God of Cultures, we pray for the millions of immigrants who are living around the world in countries that may be hostile "strangers." Teach us to look beyond the borders of the nation and city in which we live.

God of the Poor, we pray that immigrant families and especially children who have restricted access to shelter, food, health care, and education would cease to be marginalized by the systems in which they live and instead be treated with dignity. We pray that they would be provided with covering shelter, nourishing food, sustaining health, and a nurturing education.

We pray for those who were born in the United States whose thoughts and actions may be fueled by racist and ethnocentric attitudes towards those who were born elsewhere. We pray for the abolition of individual and institutional racism.

We pray for those who live in constant fear of deportation and separation from their family. We pray that families would be able to remain together.

We pray that you would help us remember that all people possess inherent human dignity as your children, made in your image, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic status, or legal status; in the undocumented sister and brother, let us see your Spirit, O Lord.

Help us not forget that you were an immigrant; that your family fled to Egypt when you were a child to escape Herod’s decree to kill every infant boy.

God, help us see you in the eyes of the migrant and to recognize your presence amongst the oppressed.

Amen