wfn.org | Bush Should Allow More Refugees, Says ELCA Presiding Bishop

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 9, 2002

BUSH SHOULD ALLOW MORE REFUGEES, SAYS ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP
02-112-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The number of  refugees admitted to the United
States should be increased to at least 90,000 in 2003, said the Rev.
Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) in a May 7 letter to President George W. Bush. Hanson's
letter noted what he called  "a steady decline in our nation's
commitment to refugees over the last decade."
     The ELCA Church Council, at its April 5-7 meeting, urged ELCA
members to advocate for just immigration and refugee settlement
policies, and asked Hanson to write to Bush to express the church's
concern for refugees.
       "This concern grows out of over 60 years of experience in the
organized resettling of refugees by the Lutheran church in the United
States and our concern for the treatment of refugees following the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11," Hanson wrote.
     In 1992 there were 142,000 refugees authorized for resettlement in
the United States, Hanson said.  In 2001 the number authorized for
resettlement was about half, he said.
     "While your presidential determination of Nov. 21, 2001,
authorized the admission of 70,000 refugees this year, only
approximately 11,000 have been admitted so far, and the fiscal year is
already more than half over," Hanson said.
     In his plea to increase the number to 90,000 in 2003, Hanson said
it will require amending the budget request for Migration and Refugee
Assistance.  Funds from this account support resettlement and provide
"life-saving assistance" to million of refugees overseas who will never
be resettled, Hanson said.
     In addition, Hanson asked Bush to support proposed legislation to
improve the situation for refugees who are unaccompanied children.
     "Presently, unaccompanied children are caught up in a system that
often jails them as delinquents even though they may have committed no
crime, and it seems determined to deport them even though there may be
legal grounds for them to remain," Hanson said.  "No child should have
to navigate this system alone."
     The ELCA is prepared to carry out its responsibility toward
refugees and has demonstrated that through its partner organization,
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Hanson said.  LIRS is a
joint ministry of the ELCA, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Latvian
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Lutheran churches in the United
States established LIRS to carry out their ministry with immigrants and
refugees around the world.
     "We call upon our government not to shoulder the entire burden but
to do its part and be our partner in acts of compassion, with concern
for the human rights of refugees," Hanson's letter concluded.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html