Editor’s Note: This post originally ran on the G92 blog on November 14, 2011. One of the most admirable trends I’ve observed in American evangelicalism over the last several years is a renewed interest in adoption and foster care. Focus on the Family, for example, has done a remarkable and […]Continue Reading →
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Sojourners’ God’s Politics blog. Permission was given by the moderator to repost. When I go out with my Dad, he often wears a cap identifying him as a Korean War veteran. Over and over again, people tell him, “Thank you for serving.” […]Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by: Sarah Jackson After a long, exhausting day of traveling I collapsed into a little heap on the dirty Phoenix airport floor. I just spent three weeks traveling and was ready to be home. My return flight was delayed until the following day. My feet ached, the muscles in my body were sore […]Continue Reading →
One of the most admirable trends I’ve observed in American evangelicalism over the last several years is a renewed interest in adoption and foster care. Focus on the Family, for example, has done a remarkable and commendable job of partnering with local and state governments across the country with their “Wait No […]Continue Reading →
I don’t own a TV and haven’t for years. Some of my low-income immigrant neighbors—children in particular—are scandalized to discover that my wife and I don’t own a television set, and they’ve offered them to us as charitable gifts so many times that I’ve lost count. Last Tuesday evening, though, I really wanted to […]Continue Reading →
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 →
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.
Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by Anna Campbell Esther escaped El Salvador after members of a political group threatened to kill her. She was beaten, abused and scared for her life and her children’s safety. If she did not leave the country, she knew that she would be at risk. When Esther arrived to the United […]Continue Reading →
Next spring, I’ll be speaking for the second consecutive year on the topic of immigration at The Justice Conference, joined by other Christian justice advocates like Francis Chan, Walter Brueggemann, Miroslav Volf, and Lynne Hybels. Increasingly, I’ve noticed evangelicals grounding their concern for immigrants in an appeal to justice, with a sensitivity […]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 →