email of 7/8/2010 from General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church

Join the July 12 National Faith & Immigration Call: Isaiah 58 Continues

Dear Raymond,

Monday, July 12, we will host our monthly National Faith & Immigration Conference Call at 4 pm (Eastern time).

The number to call is 800-920-7487 and the code is 76723736.

There are many things to discuss, especially the continued Isaiah 58 National Solidarity Vigil & Fast that has been growing across the United States. It is creating momentum among people of faith who support just, humane reform that provides a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, reunites families and protects the rights of all workers.

So call in on Monday and urge folks in your networks to call in as well!

Upcoming weeks include:

Week 6 (July 11-17): Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan

Week 7 (July 18-24): Ohio, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Florida

Week 8 (July 25-31): Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alaska

More Immigration Updates and Ways to Respond

As many of you have heard, the Dept. of Justice filed a lawsuit July 6 against the Arizona on the grounds that the state's new immigration legislation illegally intrudes on federal responsibilities. We had met with the Dept. of Justice, the Dept. of Homeland Security and Obama administration officials urging them to take such actions. We welcome these initial steps of leadership from President Obama's administration.

As former governor of Arizona and current Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano recently testified before Congress, the border is as secure as it has been in decades. Billions of dollars have been spent. More is even being called for, ironically, by many of those in Congress who, at the same time, are calling for slashes in spending when it comes to things like extending benefits for the unemployed.

This is the classic tactic just in time for the November elections of focusing on the unsolvable — sealing the border entirely — rather than focusing on workable, humane solutions. This allows for people to blame others for not doing enough while making it impossible to do anything at all.

And suffering and chaos only continue for everyone involved.

I get a lot of e-mails, usually generated by groups opposed to workable, humane solutions, accusing us of all kinds of things that simply are not true. So, let me share briefly what we advocate for and why. Workable, humane solutions include:
Providing a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants (a pathway that includes payment of fines and back taxes, learning English and U.S. civics, and waiting for several years while those already waiting legally for admission are cleared first). Overburdening the undocumented with huge fines and extraordinary waits is retributive and does not solve the problem.


Reuniting families separated by migration. Some families wait for up to 20+ years to be reunited and any reform that does not clear the backlogs is not workable or humane. One major reason for illegal immigration is simply to be reunited with families. We can defend the rights of families and uphold the rule of law by simply clearing the backlogs through several small legislative fixes.


Protect the rights of all workers. Maintaining an undocumented class of workers hurts all workers in the United States because this drives down wages and prevents the right of workers to collectively bargain for higher wages and better working conditions. Businesses should be penalized for recruiting and hiring undocumented workers and hurting all workers. And the process for a pathway to legal status should be offered to all who are here and are undocumented. This is simply the best way to protect the rights of workers.


Enforcement should be smart and focused and should respect the civil and human rights of all immigrants. The best line on enforcement comes from "Welcoming the Migrant to the United States," the resolution passed by General Conference in 2008: "All nations have the right to secure their borders, but the primary concern of the Christian is the welfare of the immigrant." We have never advocated for an increase in illegal immigration. What we do advocate for in our meetings with Dept. of Homeland Security and White House officials is that the basic civil and human rights of immigrants be maintained and that enforcement be directed towards reducing the violence in the border states.

I hope spelling this out helps those who have legitimate questions. And there are legitimate questions! I also hope this helps out those of you who are passionate activists in support of immigrants and want to build bridges with those who have legitimate questions. We advocate for the best for everyone and I believe that is possible to do so with this issue.

Just "enforcing the current law" is like trying to make two-lane county roads from 50 years ago serve growing urban centers as the primary routes of transportation. As the context changes, so too must our policy. Otherwise we have laws that cannot be enforced. Unenforceable laws give rise to anarchy, which describes so much of what surrounds immigration policy now.

That is why we stress workable, humane solutions.

Further, as Christians we have to steer clear of the all of the unfortunate hate-speech that fills the airwaves. Legitimate questions deserve time and space to answer, and legitimate questions are ones that do not ignore or discount the basic civil and human rights of immigrants. Ridiculous e-mails without a shred of fact should not be where we get our talking points.

As followers of Jesus we must focus on what our missional call is in this issue: How do we as followers of Jesus stand with the vulnerable and poor in our midst who are immigrants? Then we must advocate for just reform that is effective and humane. This is the most biblical and most missional posture the Church can take.
Our mission as followers of Jesus is to create a space for those who have legitimate questions and those who are newly arriving to the United States where they can get to know one another, to learn from one another, and to recognize the Imago Dei, or image of God, in each of us. All of us are made in the image of God no matter what our legal status is.

So, let us walk together regardless of whether we have consensus. Let us love God together, love another and love those who come to the United States.
If we can do that, everything else is gravy.

In Christ,

Bill Mefford
Director, Civil and Human Rights
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society
www.umc-gbcs.org

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