wfn.org | Lutheran Bishops Advocate for Rights of Immigrants and Refugees

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Lutheran Bishops Advocate for Rights of Immigrants and Refugees
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>October 30, 2009  

Lutheran Bishops Advocate for Rights of Immigrants and Refugees
09-243-JD

WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- Protecting children and keeping immigrant
families together were repeated concerns raised by a committee of
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) bishops discussing issues
of immigration. The group met with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Service (LIRS) staff and others to discuss the status of immigration
reform and refugee protection services, and visited with members of
Congress here Oct. 28-29.

The Rev. H. Julian Gordy, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta,
said, "We would like comprehensive immigration reform right now. We want
it to be humane -- a kind of immigration reform that protects U.S.
borders but also protects family interests so that families aren't
divided." Gordy chairs the ELCA Conference of Bishops' immigration
concerns committee and was among seven bishops who visited with
congressional members and White House administration.

"We want the raids to come to an end and find other ways of dealing
with employers who are actively recruiting undocumented workers," said
the Rev. Steven L. Ullestad, bishop, ELCA Northeastern Iowa Synod,
Waverly. "We want the policies of this country to take into consideration
families and communities that are affected by the raids."

According to Ullestad, the children and community of Postville,
Iowa, were "adversely affected" by the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) raid on May 12, 2008, the largest U.S. immigration raid.

"It is not only the immigrant children who have suffered and
experience the nightmares and the terror, it is all the children of
Postville," said Ullestad.

The Rev. E. Roy Riley Jr., bishop, ELCA New Jersey Synod, Hamilton
Square, said that his synod has a number of outreach ministries to
immigrants, including participation in the "Be Not Afraid" LIRS program
and an immigration task force.

"Because we have such a significant amount of outreach to immigrant
communities, it means that for us we have gotten to know these people and
their families," he said. "When you know their stories, you can begin to
understand how the system in which they are involved works for or against
them."

The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly agreed 873 to 82 to urge
comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration policies and processes, and to
call for suspension of immigration raids until such reform is enacted.

Based on the assembly's recommendation, the ELCA Church Council, the
church's board of directors, will be presented with a proposed social
policy resolution, "Toward Compassionate, Just, and Wise Immigration
Reform" next month. The proposed social policy resolution will call for:
+ reuniting families and integrate the marginalized
+ protecting the rights of people at work
+ establishing just and humane enforcement
+ revitalizing refugee protection and integration
+ addressing root causes of forced migration

LIRS is a joint ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod.

>--

Information about LIRS is at http://www.lirs.org on the Web.

Audio from the interview with Bishop Gordy is at
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/091030Gordy.mp3 and that from the
interview with Bishop Ullestad is at
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/091030Ullestad.mp3 on the ELCA Web site.

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