wfn.org | ELCA synod bishop, U.S. senator focus on reuniting immigrant families

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

>ELCA News Blog

>May 26, 2009  

ELCA synod bishop, U.S. senator focus on reuniting immigrant families

by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service, Chicago

The Rev. H. Julian Gordy, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, is
supporting the Reuniting Families Act, a bill being reintroduced
to Congress by Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Charles E.
Schumer (D-N.Y.).  Gordy said the bill is an "important piece of
legislation (that) advances the common good by enabling family
members to reunite with their loved ones more quickly and by
reducing hardship faced by families at risk of being separated
and those who are separated."  Gordy and Menendez spoke during a
May 20 telephone briefing hosted by the Asian American Justice
Center, Washington, D.C.  Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Service (LIRS) issued a statement that day featuring Gordy's
comments.  LIRS is a cooperative agency of the ELCA, the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America.  It is the national agency established by these
churches to "carry out their ministry with uprooted people."

"As Lutheran leaders in the United States who recognize the
importance of the family in building strong communities, we are
deeply concerned that the U.S. immigration system keeps families
apart for years and sometimes decades," Gordy said.  "We see the
strain of this separation on American families and communities,
particularly during tough economic times."  Gordy said the
current family-based immigration system requires adult siblings
of U.S. citizens to wait 10 and up to 20 years to reunite.  "As
faith leaders who provide ministry and service to families world-
and nationwide, we see no benefit to anyone when families are
separated for this long," he said.

At the briefing, Menendez said he strongly supports the Reuniting
Families Act because "family unity is a cornerstone of our
society and something that all Americans equally value."  He said
the bill is about legal immigrants reuniting with their families,
focusing "on making sure that we reform America's family-based
immigration systems to end lengthy separation of love ones and to
promote family stability and foster economic growth that
immigrant families have provided throughout our history as a
country."  The current system has not been updated in 20 years,
Menendez said.  The bill would work to "build strong
communities," he said. "Legal immigrants who have the support of
strong families are more likely to work hard, pay taxes, (and)
start businesses that create jobs."  Menendez added that the bill
would also protect children, widows and widowers, protecting
"people who have already applied for a family visa from losing
their place in line after the death of a relative."  "I just
think that on all of the core values that we as Americans share,
this legislation (hits) squarely on all of those values, and I'm
looking forward to its success this year."

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog