American Baptist Women’s Ministries focused in 2014-2015 upon the issue of immigration. This continuing issue of justice and compassion will be in our headlines throughout the campaign cycle, but it is often difficult to sort the facts from the rhetoric. 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 October 2015
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In Their Shoes: Immigrants and Refugees, published by American Baptist Women's Ministries, 2013. Part of the In Their Shoes: Women Walking with Women Worldwide multi-media resource collection, Immigrants and Refugees includes Bible studies, program session plans, activities for children, recommended resources for your further study, and many other ways for you to reach out to the immigrants and refugees in your communities. Click here for more information.
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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. (Subscribe to the blog by copying the URL of the blog page into your blog reader.)
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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The Deported Veterans Support House, www.deportedvetranssupporthouse.com, supports deported veterans on their path to self-sufficienty by providing assistance in the realms of food, clothing, and shelter as they adjust to life in their new country of residence. They advocate for veterans and their families.
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The National Immigration Forum (NIF) has announced their Immigration 2020 Agenda, a blueprint for how the NIF plans to proceed over the next several years to release new research, sharpen a narrative, and advance local and national public policies that ensure American thrives. Click here for more information. You can also engage in local roundtables for specific cities across the U.S.
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Find a screening or host one of one of the following documentaries:
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"Abrazos: A Journey in Search of One's Identity," a film by Luis Argueta, www.abrazosthedoc.blogspot.com. This documentary follows a family of U.S. citizen children who travel from Minnesota to Guatemala to visit their grandparents for the first time. Abuelos y Nietos Juntos is a project of family reunification between the sons and daughters of Guatemalan immigrants in Worthington, Minnesota and their grandparents in San Marcos, Guatemala. If there are no screenings scheduled in your area, use the contact form on the website to find out how you can host a screening.
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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.