The movie abUSed: The Postville Raid details how the small farming and manufacturing community of Postville, Iowa became the center of debate over immigration. Woody Guthrie’s age-old song ‘This Land Was Made for You and Me’ plays, as the movie begins, over a backdrop of scenery from small town America. The lyrics mirror Psalm […]Continue Reading →
Guest blog by: Will Coley Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. – Philippians 4:8 With so much news and information bombarding us each day, it’s good to take time to reflect on […]Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by Samuel Tsoi In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform legislation, a central demand by advocates is the just and humane treatment of undocumented immigrants and ending the deportation of the majority of undocumented immigrants who do no harm to communities. Record number of immigrants has been deported since 2008, […]Continue Reading →
As I sat there—hour after hour—I was flabbergasted by the way that the receptionist treated the various people who arrived at the front of the line. Her standard greeting was a stern “why are you here?” (not, “good morning, how can I help you?”) and she would berate people for not knowing what and where their “A Number” was. She also did not speak Spanish; I ended up spending part of the day translating for Spanish-speaking immigrants whom she began to yell at after they did not understand her instructions.
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Most Americans—polls consistently show—recognize that the mass deportation of the approximately 10.8 million immigrants living in the United States unlawfully is not the best solution to our country’s immigration problems. Mass deportation, any way that you look at it, would be incredibly costly: the Department of Homeland Security estimates the cost at […]Continue Reading →
Last Saturday, I committed myself before God, my church community, and my family and friends to take Diana Wood as my wife, “for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.” In fact, by the time that this blog […]Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by Dawnielle Miller She approached me at the end of a service at church wanting to know if she could have a private meeting with me. We went downstairs and she asked me if I could help with her son’s asylum court case. This was new territory for me! I knew nothing about […]Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by Bernard Pastor Many of you prayed for me; others don’t know me. I was at the forefront of the immigration debate during the last month. On November 16, 2010, I was involved in a minor traffic accident. I was driving without a driver’s license, delivering Bibles. My father is a minister in […]Continue Reading →
The story leading up to the day we got those deportation orders is complicated. My mom, biological dad, and I emigrated to the U.S. from China when I was three. We were on our way to becoming permanent residents when my parents divorced. My mom lost the right to be included under my dad’s employer-sponsored permanent residency application. Having no other means at the time to attain permanent legal status, she outstayed her visa and became undocumented. My step-dad came into the country illegally to work, and remained that way ever since. My mom and step-dad’s deportation notices came out of the blue. It came after they married, had children, began running their own restaurant, and lived many years of everyday life. In that instant, their normal expectations of continuing to work hard at their business, save for retirement, and raise their children to adulthood together in the community they had come to call home suddenly reversed into unattainable wishful thinking.Continue Reading →
