IMMIGRATIONWhat is a faith-based organization to do?

The Rev. Anna Lange-SotoABLange@aol.comhttp://madreanna.org/immref/650-245-7759

On the Agenda:What faith values

should be included in the national debate

about reforming U.S. immigration policy?

A Faith-Based Organization

YahwehYahweh your Elohim is the Elohim of the Elohim

and the Adonim of the Adonim (master of masters) … (who) upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing. You must love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 10:17-19, as quoted in The Natural History of the Bible, Daniel Hillel 2006

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18, NRSV

Why don’t they just get their papers?

Immigrant StatusTemporary VisaPermanent Resident VisaNaturalized Citizen

See – www.uscis.gov (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services)

Need a Basis for ImmigrationImmediate familyBusiness investmentWork – no authorized worker availableAsylum

Danger because of who you areDanger from crime or illness generally not

acceptable

Temporary authorization:Visas: Visits, SchoolSeasonal work, when no authorized worker

available

Path To Citizenship

Ramirez Family – No Basis

4 US-citizen children; but no way to stay.Mom and Dad deported to Mexico. •What are the choices?•What if they were your kids?

Why did they come? The Rancho

Why did they come?The “Rancho” in MichoacánEnvironment

One-room house; out houses; earthen ovensHealth

Illnesses for which they have no immunityThe hospital is 2 house away.

EducationNo middle school or high school for the boys.

Work – The rancho can’t sustain them. Hunger.NAFTA and the price of corn.No available work

Why do they stay?FamilyCommunityEducationWorkChurchOnce they leave, can’t return for 10 years

Even if they have a basis for immigrationRemembering the suffering and expense of

entering the U.S. – They do not want to relive that experience.

Not an easy decisionNo one wants to risk deathNo one wants to be treated like a criminal

Death in the Desert

Arrest and Deportation

What’s the Opportunity?POLITICO (Gerstein Blog): Obama sets WH immigration reform meeting for

June 8http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0509/Obama_sets_WH_immigration_reform_event_for_June_8_.html President Barack Obama is inviting members of Congress to the White House for a

June 8 meething to highlight immigration reform, an administration official confirmed to POLITICO Wednesday.

 

"The meeting will be an opportunity to launch a policy conversation that we hope will be able to start a debate that will take place in Congress later in the year," the official, who asked not to be named, said.

 Asked if the session would be billed as a summit or a forum, like similar meetings on health care and fiscal responsibility

earlier in the year, another official said, "This isn't a forum or a summit with outside groups, this is solely a meeting with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the issue."

 Another aide said about possible labels for the meeting: "I don't know that we're going to brand this in any particular way." 

During a meeting in March with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Obama promised to host a public event on immigration, as POLITICO reported at the time. The New York Times reported last month that officials said the session would take

place in May, but POLITICO reported yesterday that the timetable seemed to have slipped. Sources close to the process said it was delayed by various logistical issues, including focus on a possible Supreme Court pick next week.

 

Immigration reform advocates have been pressing Obama to vow to pass immigration reform this year. He has promised make the issue a priority, but has stopped short of setting a goal of getting a bill through Congress by December.

 (Thanks to POLITICO columnist Gebe Martinez for the tip.)

MAKE IT HAPPEN!Before there are more deathsBefore more families get separatedSo that kids who grew up in the US can get to

college instead of languishing in minimum-wage jobs. We need them, including the valedictorians!

So that we know that our PIA brothers and sisters who are here without authorization will still be here the next time that we have a dinner, or an action, or the Heroes’ Luncheon.

Acknowledge the need for countries to “protect its borders;” AND…

THE “ENFORCEMENT” PIECE OF CRI

1. Undocumented aliens should have reasonable opportunity to pursue permanent residency.

i.e. Economics and Family Values

2. Legal workers should be allowed to enter the United States to respond to recognized labor force needs.

i.e., A well-managed flow of temporary workers permits and encourages workers’ families to remain in place and workers to return to their home countries.

3. Close family members should be allowed to reunite without undue delay with individuals lawfully present in the United States.

Up to 14-year backlog.Stopped receiving new applications.

4. Fundamental U.S. principles of legal due process should be granted all persons.

5. Enforcement of national borders and immigration policies should be proportional and humane.

The Vang Family –Deported after 18 years in U.S., two US-citzen children, a restaurant and a house

The letter of the law is not enough.

Justice

The Dhammapada: The Twin VersesVariations (2nd & 4th verses) by a Buddhist Priest of San JoseFor the Families United meeting with Rep. Luis Gutierrez and Rep. Mike Honda

With our mind, we make the world. Speak or act with meanness and unhappiness will follow you as surely as a cart follows the ox that pulls it.

With our mind, we make borders.Speak and act as if these borders separate

countries and people,then the stranger will be seen as an intruder.

 

With our mind we make the world.Speak or act with kindnessand happiness will follow you as surely as a shadow follows the person who casts it. With our mind, we make borders.Speak and act as if these borders

only separate countries but not people,and the stranger will no longer

seem so different from ourselves. For in this world, hate never yet has dispelled hate.Only love dispels hate.This law is ancient and will last forever.

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