Not long ago, I was talking with a friend about the living conditions of migrant farm workers in Maneadero, Mexico. I had just made a trip to the Baja California town, and I described people living in tin shacks, packed ten to a room. Some folks sleep on the ground, in the dirt, under […]Continue Reading →
When Mario was 10-years old, and living in Mexico, he went to a Christian camp. By that time in his life, Mario smoked regularly and had begun drinking. He was physically abused and lived in an impoverished village. At the camp, he learned about Jesus, and about how he loves children like Mario. The […]Continue Reading →
For the past several weeks, my wife and I have been traveling throughout East Africa. Here in Kigali, we’ve been guided by my good friend, Theogene, who is originally from Rwanda, whom I got to know when he was living in my neighborhood in suburban Chicago, and who now lives with his wife and […]Continue Reading →
The elderly white man sat across the restaurant booth from his wife. They were discussing the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to rescind elements of Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law. “So you see,” he told her, “I think it’s a terrible shame that Obama’s getting rid of this Arizona law. Why won’t they let the police just do […]Continue Reading →
When I opened the non-descript, government envelope containing my husband Billy’s green card, I felt a deep mixture of exhausted relief and wild celebration. No more hyper worrying about getting pulled over. No more awkward conversations with acquaintances who ask too many questions. No more silent but ever-present thoughts of “What if he gets deported? […]Continue Reading →
Which state do you think is the home to more undocumented immigrants: Arizona, New Jersey, or North Carolina? If there’s one state that we hear associated in the news with illegal immigration, it’s probably Arizona, whose harsh state-level immigration bill passed two years ago, SB 1070, inspired copycat bills in various other states and […]Continue Reading →
Last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security proposed changes to the way that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service will consider certain family reunification cases. Though the complexity of the law—and what these proposed changes would do—makes it a bit confusing to understand, this proposed change is an answer to many, […]Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by Stephan Bauman Wide swaths of wheat and apple-laden branches lined the road as I travelled with a delegation of Christian leaders to visit the Broetje Orchards in Prescott, Washington on August 30th. The sky was vast and cloudless in southeastern Washington, the country’s largest producer of apples. Ralph and […]Continue Reading →
Today is Labor Day, which for the vast majority of Americans means little more than a three-day weekend and the end of summer. It seemed to me an appropriate occasion, though, to write about immigration. You see, most of immigration is explained by labor. While there are individuals who migrate because they are […]Continue Reading →
People have asked me why I am so taken with the undocumented immigrant. There are law-abiding people who need your help, they say.
Good point.
Why do the stories of the undocumented immigrants touch the deepest parts of my soul? Why do I remember their stories more vividly than all the others I have heard in my work at the Willow Creek Legal Aid Ministry? Why is it that I can still see the eyes of the undocumented immigrants when I close mine? Why do their stories, so different from mine, seem like part of my own story? After all, I grew up downtown Chicago in an upper-middle class white family. I have never gone without anything I need. I attended the best schools and enjoy any number of privileges. The undocumented immigrants I have met have experienced a very different kind of life, one with very little schooling, if any, and even less privilege. Continue Reading →
