Since September 11, raids have increasingly become a part of immigration enforcement policy. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) set up operations throughout the US in order to check the immigration status of those employed or living in our communities. Agents round up workers and conduct interviews demanding to see paperwork and documentation. Many times workers are interviewed based on their appearance and some of those arrested are legal residents or citizens. Such broad and massive stings sweep up many people including those who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, between 2006 and 2007 …
Human trafficking is a modern day slavery of global proportions. Trafficking is not something that happens only in economically depressed countries but across the globe there is an underground network that brings humans to those who demand labor, services, and sex. In fact, The International Labor Organization, a UN Agency, estimates that there are at least 12.3 million children, women, and men in forced or bonded labor and commercial sex servitude at any given time. Even here in the United States, it is estimated that every year approximately 17,000 people are trafficked into the country and an unknown but significant …
Office of Multicultural Congregational Support list of suggested resources, prepared as part of our office’s mission to identify and provide resources meaningful to the growing diversity in the church
Detention Watch Network is pleased to offer this new resource for establishing immigration detention visitor programs -- a compilation of many members’ considerable expertise.
DWN members assist immigrants detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) in many ways. Some are lawyers, social workers, or chaplains working directly with people in detention. Others are community organizers and advocates, working to change the policies and practices that violate the human rights of asylum seekers and other immigrants who come to this country seeking protection and life and that tear apart families and communities. Others are individuals and their families …
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Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table Participants Book is a seven-session curriculum for congregations that explores the relationship between the way we eat and the way we live, published by the Presbyterian Hunger Program. The study uses scripture, prayer and stories from the local and global community to explore five key aspects of our relationship with food:
Immigrants, documented and undocumented, impact the labor market in the US and the US labor market impacts the rates of immigration which affect the price of goods and services in the US. The taxes that immigrants pay contribute to the overall economy of the US including social programs. Further, immigrants are more likely than US born individuals to open their own businesses and this supports US job creation. Many immigrants are highly skilled and bring technical expertise that furthers US scientific and technological innovations.
Non-profit organizations and faith based groups across the country help organize efforts to bring about change in US immigration laws, offer direct services to immigrants, and provide resources for individuals to undergird their efforts. Immigration is a national issue and requires the support and actions of people everywhere in order to be effective.
The northern and southern borders are the home to millions of people and the port of entry for nearly $830 billion of goods. Additionally over half of the visitors to the US arrive through the use of land ports of entry. While there is a need to protect the interests of the United States, the measures that have been enacted over the last decade have come at great social and economic costs.
Farms rely on immigrant labor to help plant, tend, and harvest the fruits and vegetables that are grown in the US. These are low-paying low skill jobs that historically US citizens have been hesitant to take. To help meet the needs of farmers, the US government has a temporary worker program known as the H-2A temporary foreign agricultural worker program. However, demand far outweighs the availability of these visas. There are three million agricultural jobs that are available each year. Yet in 2007 the Department of State issued 50,791 H-2A visas. The very limited number of visas available for immigrants …