On this page, you will find resources and suggestions of ways you can educate yourself on this critical issue. Children need our help; families need our support and advocacy; nations—including our own—need our prayers.
For Your Study
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"Pastoral, Practical, Prophetic, and Personal: A Resource on Immigration," published by the ABCUSA immigration task force.
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Read "Women on the Run: First-Hand Accounts of Refugees Fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico," a study conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, released in October 2015
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Read "The Refugees at Our Door," a New York Times op/ed article from October 10, 2015, by Sonia Nazario, author of Enrique's Journey, about the current status of people feeling Central American violence.
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Southwest Border Unaccompanied Alien Children Statistics FY 2016 from U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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The Power of One: The Story of the Border Angels, by Enrique Morones with Richard Griswold del Castillo.
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Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible (second edition), by M. Daniel Carroll R.
Links
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ABCUSA participates in the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, which provides educational materials and opportunities for advocacy.
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The National Immigration Forum is an immigrant advocacy organization with representatives from all sides of the issue. The website has resources, information about policies and advocacy, and a blog.
What You Can Do
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Read this article, "Mission work takes on legal dimensions for Va.-based field personnel," and explore if God is calling you to receive training on immigration law. Visit the Immigrant Legal Resource Center for upcoming trainings.
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Visit the website of Border Angels, www.borderangels.org, an all-volunteer non-profit organization that advocates for human rights, humane immigration reform, and social justice with a special focus on issues related to the U.S.-Mexican border. Border Angels engages in community education and awareness programs that include guided trips to the desert to place water along migrant crossing routes as well as the border to learn about the history of U.S.-Mexico border policy and experience the border fence firsthand.
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Visit the website of DREAMer's MOMS, www.dreamersmoms.org, whose vision is to represent immigrant women working towards immigration reform at a national level.
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Find a screening or host a documentary:
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Luis Argueta is the producer of another award-winning documentary, "abUSed," http://abusedthepostvilleraid.com/, about the Postville Raid, a U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a kosher slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant in Postvile, Iowa, in May of 2008. This resulted in nearly 400 arrests of undocumented persons. Only some were allowed to remain in the U.S. on a U-visa; the remainder were convicted and deported. The impact of the raid, arrests, and deportations on the families, business, and entire community of Postville was devastating.