immigration Archives

Searching for God’s kingdom

Posted August 28th, 2019

Living in Honduras during the spring and summer has felt especially difficult and intense. What started as a labor dispute between teachers’ and doctors’ unions and the government has become agitation against government corruption and economic desperation. Classrooms from elementary to university have been closed at various times, and public hospitals have not been attending patients. Taxi and bus drivers have been occasionally involved in blocking streets and shutting down cities. The U.S. Embassy was vandalized and has been partially closed.

How to speak truth to power

Posted July 24th, 2019

Nearly 400 people took part in Tuesday’s Office of Public Witness webinar offering listeners, among other suggestions, tips on how to respond to people seeking asylum or refuge in the United States — and ways to lobby their member of Congress to alter the laws and budgets that impact people fleeing their country for a new life in the U.S.

New hymn seeks justice for those fleeing for their lives

Posted June 28th, 2019

Lyricist Carolyn Winfrey Gillette offers up “Christ, You Spoke to Us of Children” by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service LOUISVILLE — “Christ, You Spoke to Us of Children” is… Read more »

Detention center reports strike PC(USA) staff as part of disturbing trend

Posted June 26th, 2019

As reports of inhumane conditions in child detention facilities near the United States-Mexico border surfaced over the weekend, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) staff working on immigration and asylum issues, like many observers, were shocked and saddened.

‘I find myself crying a lot but also deeply encouraged’

Posted June 20th, 2019

The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis was delivering an impromptu sermon at the end of a long, hot day riding around Western Kentucky on a bumpy bus when she turned to the story of a leper who approached Jesus. “The leper said, ‘If you choose, you can heal me,’” Theoharis said. “‘If you choose, you can heal me.’

Partnership ministers to refugees and immigrants

Posted June 12th, 2019

The Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador (IRCES) is a unique church partner. Though small in number, it is big in vision and commitment to the gospel. Grounded in their reformed identity, they are always making time to analyze and discern their call, based on the context in which they serve. From way south of the border, our partners are watching and anticipating the direct impact of U.S. immigration policy as they turn to longtime U.S. mission partners and confidants to ask, “What are you going to do about this? How can we face this together?”

‘Yo hablo el amor’

Posted May 8th, 2019

Immigrants seeking a home in a new land and Arizona residents needing home repairs are both learning the language of love through the work of a couple serving as Young Adult Volunteers at the Tucson Borderlands YAV site on the U.S.-Mexico border.

If you visit the U.S.-Mexico border, return home and tell your story

Posted January 28th, 2019

Rather than trusting media or government versions of what’s going on along the U.S.-Mexico border, Presbyterians are better off engaging with people and partners in the trenches of the immigration issue.

Syrian woman shares personal journey to give hope to new immigrants

Posted January 24th, 2019

She arrived in Italy on Feb. 4, 2016. Of the flight that brought her and her husband and their two small children from Beirut to Rome, she remembers only the emotions she felt on the plane, and the flowers and hugs they got when they landed.

Most Presbyterians oppose government proposals to limit refugees, immigration

Posted December 18th, 2018

Presbyterians view immigrants more favorably than they did in 2011 and are more involved in immigrant ministries than they were in the past. These are the key findings of the May 2017 Presbyterian Panel survey on Immigration, Refugees, and Immigrant Ministries. The results were released earlier this month.