Quakers Take Action on Immigration Reform and Refugee Children Crossing the Border

Good news! On Sunday, May 10, Orange Grove Meeting approved a minute/statement calling for immigration reform and the humane treatment of refugee children crossing the border (see below). Orange Grove is now the sixth Quaker meeting in California to approve such a minute, and the Peace Committee of La Jolla Meeting approved a similar minute. More and more Friends in California are feeling a need to take some action and to let our elected officials know how we feel about this tragic humanitarian crisis which most experts agree has been caused by drug wars and gang violence in Latin America, and rampant drug use and counterproductive drug policies in the US. This blog is an update on what Friends are doing. Please let me know if I have omitted something significant.  

I plan to take the Orange Grove statement to the office of our Representative Judy Chu on May 19, and encourage her to continue to champion the rights of immigrants. I will be accompanied by seven middle schoolers from my Bible class at the Peace and Justice Academy who have been studying the immigration crisis from a biblical perspective. They learned that we are commanded by God to treat immigrants with kindness and fairness (Leviticus 19, Matthew 25, and Hebrews 13). They have also watched the powerful documentary "La Bestia" (about the "trains of death" that take hundreds of thousands of migrants through  Mexico, where many are robbed, rapes, killed, or suffer horrible accidents). Some of these middle schoolers went on a field trip to San Diego where they had a chance to see the situation there first-hand and gave a feeling sense of what is happening.

In addition to this minute, we will  encourage Rep. Chu to support repeal of the “Bed Quota,” which requires that 34,000 beds be filled with undocumented immigrants at for-profit, private detention centers or the government will pay a fine. This unconscionable law needs to be repealed. See       
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50601/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=16493&tag=bedquotafb

Julio Marroquin, executive director of the Centro del Inmigrante in Riverside, CA, came to speak at Orange Grove Meeting along with his wife Ruth on May 3. They both fled from El Salvador in the 1980s when bloody Civil Wars were raging in Central America, and were taken under the care of Eugene Meeting in Oregon as part of the Sanctuary Movement. Today The Immigrant Center in Riverside, CA, that he directs helps migrant families from Central America. He explained the history and causes of the current flood of immigrants from Central America, most of whom are fleeing gang violence and drug wars. What he and his wife shared was deeply moving and enlightening.

Lynnette Arnold (a member of the Refugee Children and Family Subcommittee of Pacific Yearly Meeting) has just returned from Karnes, Texas, where she visited immigrants in the detention center there, and also connected with groups seeking to address this crisis. She provides first-hand and very moving testimony about the situation of mothers and children being held in detention, and also provides practical ways we can help make a difference. See  https://alasmigratorias.wordpress.com/

Here's a letter that Lynnette circulated via her email network, I hope her letter and this blog encourages/inspires you to take some action to insure that immigrants are treated with dignity and respect.

Dear Friends - 

I have just returned from a trip to Texas to visit my friend Sonia who has now been detained for over 9 months with her three small children. While there I also participated in a big protest against this horrible practice, and have come back with some good news! 

Just last week, the Obama administration announced that they are reconsidering the policy of family detention! So it is crucial that we keep up the pressure! There is a campaign to send him letters calling for the end of family detention - it just takes a minute to fill out the online form: http://actions.humanrightsfirst.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11236 

As part of this effort, there is going to be a 24-hour fast on Monday in solidarity with the two hunger strikes detained moms have held. The goal is to get many people to pledge online to join the fast, so that these numbers can be announced in press conferences that will be held around the country on Monday morning. You can click on this link and scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up: http://www.refugeerightsnow.com/24hrsfast 

More updates about my trip to Texas, the current status of family detention, and other actions to take can be found in my most recent blog post (scroll down to the end of the article): https://alasmigratorias.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/shut-it-down-set-them-free/

Background for a Minute on

Immigration Reform

and the Plight of Refugee Children Crossing the Border

Immigration, and the plight of refugee children crossing the border, have become a growing concern among Friends in Pacific Yearly Meeting. The Latin American Concerns Committee of PYM has appointed a special subcommittee devoted to this concern; and the Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City is deeply involved in immigration and migrant issues. Four Meetings—Santa Barbara, Inland Valley, Humboldt and  Redwood Forest-- have approved minutes of concern regarding the plight of refugee children crossing the border and there will be an interest group on this topic at Yearly Meeting session this summer. The Peace and Social Order of Orange Grove Meeting shares this concern and approved bringing this minute to Orange Grove business meeting for its consideration.

As Friends, we believe there is “that of God” in every individual—whether born in the United States or elsewhere—and therefore support the efforts of the AFSC and FCNL to promote humane and fair immigration reform. In order to be effective advocates for immigrants among us, we encourage Friends to study the material provided by the AFSC: http://www.afsc.org/resource/just-and-humane-comprehensive-immigration-reform and also http://fcnl.org/issues/immigration/advocate_for_refugees_at_border/

We are especially moved by the plight of mothers and children crossing our borders to escape from violence in their home countries and encourage Friends to support local, state and national efforts to insure they are treated humanely.

"The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. " –Leviticus 19:34

Minute of action for the Orange Grove Meeting Yearly Meeting

We ask our clerk to send a letter to elected officials urging them to consider children and mothers crossing the border from Central America as refugees, thereby allowing for their access to resources and protection in accordance with the Human Trafficking law. We call upon the executive and legislative branches of our government to work together towards a comprehensive immigration reform program that will adequately address the unique issues associated with these refugees, such as the need for legal representation and humane treatment.

We also call up on our elected officials to pass comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for parents whose children are American citizens, as well as for those who were raised and educated in the United States but were born elsewhere, the so-called Dreamers. We believe that undocumented residents living and working in our country deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

Letters to Elected Officials

1) Dear President Obama, "We of Orange Grove Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) commend your efforts to bring about comprehensive immigration reform as well as DACA and your executive order on behalf of undocumented families with native born children. We believe that children and mothers crossing the border from Central America should be considered as refugees, thereby allowing for their access to resources and protection in accordance with the Human Trafficking law. We call upon you to work with Congress towards a comprehensive immigration reform program that will adequately address the unique issues associated with these refugees, such as the need for legal representation and humane treatment. We believe that comprehensive immigration reform should provide a path to citizenship for parents whose children are American citizens, as well as for those who were raised and educated in the United States but were born elsewhere, the so-called Dreamers. Undocumented residents living and working in our country deserve to be treated with dignity and respect

2) Dear Representative Judy Chu:   "We of Orange Grove Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) commend your efforts on behalf of immigration reform and the rights of refugee children crossing the border. We believe that children and mothers crossing the border from Central America should be considered as refugees, thereby allowing for their access to resources and protection in accordance with the Human Trafficking law. We call for a comprehensive immigration reform program that will adequately address the unique issues associated with these refugees, such as the need for legal representation and humane treatment. Comprehensive immigration reform should provide a path to citizenship for parents whose children are American citizens, as well as for those who were raised and educated in the United States but were born elsewhere, the so-called Dreamers. We believe that undocumented residents living and working in our country deserve to be treated with dignity and respect

3) Dear Senators Boxer and Feinstein: "We of Orange Grove Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are concerned about immigration reform and the rights of refugee children crossing the border. We believe that children and mothers crossing the border from Central America should be considered as refugees, thereby allowing for their access to resources and protection in accordance with the Human Trafficking law. We call for a comprehensive immigration reform program that will adequately address the unique issues associated with these refugees, such as the need for legal representation and humane treatment. Comprehensive immigration reform should provide a path to citizenship for parents whose children are American citizens, as well as for those who were raised and educated in the United States but were born elsewhere, the so-called Dreamers. We believe that undocumented residents living and working in our country deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.