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Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
November 1, 2019
Bill Branch, a retired pastor and Presbytery executive, is also a National Response Team member for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. In July, Bill and his accompaniment partner, Beth Newell, participated in Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s border accompaniment program in Agua Prieta, Mexico. The following reflection is the first installment detailing their encounters and experiences at the U.S./Mexico… Read more »
October 9, 2019
Susan Krehbiel, PDA Associate for Refugees & Asylum, delivered the following sermon on Sunday, September 29, 2019 at First Presbyterian Church of Lansing, MI. The reflections about Elena and Reynaldo are from a trip she took to El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juarez with leadership from the Presbytery of Philadelphia immediately before she delivered this… Read more »
June 10, 2019
How do we—as a community, a church, and a nation—care for the vulnerable? This is a question we are compelled to examine, particularly when it comes to refugees and forced migrants. Whatever your opinion of U.S. immigration policies, people (such as those attempting to enter through our southern border) are living in precarious situations,… Read more »
May 20, 2019
RENACERES, Red Nacional de Emprendedores Retornados, is a network of Salvadorans who have been returned to El Salvador from the U.S. or Mexico. It is just one of the integral partnerships that the Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador (IRCES) has formed in launching a new ministry to returnees (a term they have chosen for… Read more »
April 3, 2019
We would like to thank John Tieken for sharing this reflection of the visit he and fellow Grace Presbytery members recently made to the border. Members of First Presbyterian Church of Henderson, TX—John, Michele Goff, Scott Hurst, Tom Laney, Claudia Morgan-Gray, and Kathy Porter—share their observations of what refugees and asylum seekers experience during their… Read more »
March 25, 2019
It is hard to imagine that globally 68 million people— 25 million refugees—have been forced from their homes. Faced with the largest humanitarian displacement in modern times, the U.S. Government has set the lowest resettlement target since the passage of the 1980 Refugee Act for fiscal year 2019. And yet, of this lowest goal of… Read more »
November 30, 2018
The past few months have seen intense focus on the United States/Mexico border as the latest so-called migrant caravan approached, with some predicting mass riots and chaos that seemed in direct contrast to the thousands of people peacefully awaiting their chance to present for asylum. This past weekend, however, the growing desperation and frustration of… Read more »
November 8, 2018
In the spotlight since its mobilization in early October, the migrant caravan continues to receive media attention as it moves toward the U.S./Mexico border. Estimated numbers of the group hover around 7,000, including families—UNICEF estimates the group contains at least 2,300 children—all seeking asylum within the United States. While the story of the caravan is… Read more »
August 14, 2018
Border Arrivals The number and demographics of Central American asylum seekers coming to the U.S. border through Mexico have been shifting over the past several years, at a time when the overall number of people approaching the southern border is down. One of the most significant changes was the increased number of young families, primarily… Read more »
May 2, 2018
A summary of our response in Puerto Rico thus far: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has disbursed grants totaling over $1.5 million in Puerto Rico 8 emergency grants to all three presbyteries and the synod church damage grants to help with repairs of churches conducted a PDA leadership solidarity visit in November to churches in the three… Read more »
