In 1986 the United States government passed IRCA: the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which essentially changed the nature of migration to the United States. While the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services described this act as a law to “control and deter illegal immigration to the United States,” it in fact granted asylum to 2.3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. This allowed migrants to apply for the legal immigration of their family members on the one hand, greatly increasing the legal migrant network to the United States. This also added millions of people to public benefits and social safety networks; a burden that many states were loath to bear. Another aspect of the IRCA was the reinforcement of border patrol, which disrupted the seasonal flow of migrants. With heavier border controls (that have only increased since 1986), undocumented immigrants were not deterred from entering the United States but rather were reluctant to leave, making the undocumented shadow population ever larger and spreading further into new receiving areas of the country.
The shadow population of undocumented immigrants is quite literally on their own, in need of a community willing to reach out and help them integrate into the United States. Shadow populations can be unhealthy for a community, literally and figuratively. Undocumented immigrants are too afraid to enter the public arena to report criminal acts (not necessarily committed by immigrants), thousands of undocumented workers do not have union representation and are exploited without fair wages, and healthcare is too difficult to attain so many migrants simply deal with sickness without access to even the most rudimentary healthcare (a subject that is increasingly coming under fire, often to the heightened disadvantage of the immigrant). In a time of nationwide economic downturn, the public outcry against illegal immigration is growing louder and the attitude toward immigrants is more hostile. How should the church respond to the immigrant community?
The PCUSA will become the proverbial ostrich if we simply keep our heads in the sand and hope the problem will just disappear. Immigrant communities are usually on the periphery of cities (unless we are talking about established immigrant-receiving cities like LA, Chicago and New York, though there are still separated pockets here as well) and we aren't going to be able to connect with these communities unless we seek them out. Undocumented immigrants are not going to go away, and it is simply a moral issue to be willing to help a neighbor in need. Churches are the historical social safety net of the world - we are the ones who need to stand up for social justice and instigate positive change. We can make a positive change in immigrant communities by reaching out and bringing them into a community of faith. While it is true that the majority of immigrants are coming from Catholic countries, this does not mean that they are not interested in becoming a part of a community of faith (especially with Presbyterians who are similar liturgically). Does your church engage the immigrant community? Are there ways in which your church home reaches out to immigrants, undocumented and legal? Or, what do you think about the idea of reaching out to these communities in general?
Here are a few ways I think the Presbyterian Church can help (thanks to the inspiration of a local Methodist Church in my area, West Nashville United Methodist, who works tirelessly with the local immigrant population helping them integrate into our great city):
· Free English classes
· Free computer / technology skills classes
· Spanish or bilingual services (bilingual seems a like a big step, I know, but you should see this church I’m talking about in Nashville. Instead of pouring their money into their facilities, they have invested in a translating system for the sermon and they put projector screens on the back walls that have the Spanish translations of prayers and hymns. It’s AWESOME. A gradual implementation from two separate language services to one bilingual service a month to a bilingual service every Sunday helped facilitate the change.)
· Free Spanish classes, so the English–speaking congregation can communicate on a whole new level
· Bilingual Vacation Bible School (the picture below is a photo taken from the VBS at West Nashville United Methodist – a bilingual wonderweek of kids from various ethnic backgrounds worshiping together in English and Spanish)
In conclusion, I’ll share a brief story about an undocumented immigrant family that worshipped at West Nashville United Methodist. This was a family of 5, with one little girl on the way. Just a few weeks before the mother gave birth to their new daughter, the father was apprehended for a minor traffic violation and was shipped to a prison in the south where he was not allowed to phone home. His wife, kids and church community had no idea where he was. If it wasn’t for WNUM, who tracked him down and helped secure his temporary release before he was deported, it would have been difficult indeed to reunite the family. The father was the only one in the family with a job, so without his help the mother and children had to rely on WNUM for food and other necessities like diapers for the newborn. What would have happened without this incredible action from the church? Before the family was deported to Mexico in September of 2008, the father gave a testimonial translated from Spanish to English to the church congregation. At the end, he said he was happy he was going back to Mexico, where he was going to embark on a mission to start the first Methodist church in his hometown. Now that, my dear PCUSA, is some effective mission work, and a real example of loving your neighbor.
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