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Families Belong Together marches - please join tomorrow, June 30

6/29/2018

Dear Friends,

We realize this is short notice, but we only recently got our own updates on these marches.

Families Belong Together marches across the country will affirm our commitment to both reunification of children and parents separated at the border and also affirm our opposition to the "Muslim Ban" recently approved by the Supreme Court. We think these policies are horrific and violate the key promise of America as a refuge for all people. It, too, breaks up families by denying entry to those whose families are already here.

The marches are tomorrow, June 30 in dozens of cities in even the smallest of towns. In California there are marches from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Fort Bragg and Eureka. Find one near you and join in!

Please affirm your commitment to fighting for families, affirming the sanctity of families kept intact with sane immigration policies. We need to make clear that this nation wishes to carry on rational immigration standards that benefit new arrivals as they did for our ancestors.

To find a march in your area, please go here, get details on locations, and RSVP for tomorrow's march.

We must be silent no more on behalf of those being harmed by angry fears and bad decisions. Let your presence be testimony for the love of our fellow humans no matter from where they come. Families Belong Together whoever they may be.

Thank you!

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We are repeating our darkest days, worst decisions. The Muslim ban today.

6/26/2018

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Dear Friends,

Do not mistreat the alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt
(Exodus 22:21)

A brief history of American immigration:

In 1834 Boston Protestants burned an Ursuline Convent in a riot against growing Catholicism and, to some extent, the presence of French Canadian nuns.
Discrimination against if not outright barring of Irish Catholics was the norm from the mid 1830s to the “Know Nothing” era of the 1850s.
In 1882, although Chinese labor had been a critical part in building the nation’s cross-continental railroads, America imposed the Chinese Exclusion Act barring immigrants from that nation.
In 1907 the US created the “Gentleman’s Agreement” protocol in which Japan would no longer issue passports to their citizens desiring to live in America.
In 1923 a court decision barred immigrants from India and stripped naturalized Indians of their US citizenship
During the Great Depression virtually all immigration was barred, and over half a million Mexican migrants were sent back to Mexico.
Jewish immigration was also stopped, causing untold hardship to those fleeing fascism. The St Louis bound for New York with Jewish refugees was turned away consigning Jews to probable death.
In 1942 propelled by fear and anger, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 directing all Japanese and Japanese-Americans to internment camps for the duration of the war.

And what can one add to the horror of forced migration since the 17th Century as Black African slavery. No rights, no freedom, no citizenship for over 300 years, massive exploitation.

All of this and more was done to people who we, as people of faith, consider to be the backbone of our complex society. We make promises. We don’t keep them.

Today’s Supreme Court Ruling upholding a Muslim ban – and make no mistake, that’s what it is – is a reversal of history and an appeal to the worst parts of American history and to our worse natures. This ruling capitulates to fear not to reason, not to love, and not to the very principles we claim to honor as Christians.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions just called those of us opposed to this ban, “The lunatic fringe”. No, we are speaking to our core Constitutional and faith values.

Despite our national commitment to Religious Freedom, religion is being used to bar thousands who are fleeing oppression and who now cannot come to America to seek refuge. Mark you, if those seeking asylum and are Christians from the designated nations now barred entry, this ban will not be upheld. This isn’t about national security. This is about religious discrimination of the worst order.

With the chaos of our Southern border and reversal of the existing laws about the treatment of refugees, the separation of families and internments of children, now we have barriers to Muslims from countries that have done no harm to us at all.

We are descending to rival our darkest actions, our most base nature. History will not judge us well.

This decision cannot stand. We must raise our voices everywhere against the retreat to fear and demonizing of our neighbors. We are called to do this. It must be our charge.

Thank you.

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Blessed are the Children. Help us protect them now!

6/20/2018

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Update: Keep tuned for updated action alerts following Wednesday's executive order. There is still a lot of work to do, especially in reuniting the families that have already been separated!

Dear Friends,

California Council of Churches is embarking on a nationwide movement with beloved allies to stand against the oppression of immigrant children and their parents. It is https://stopfamilyseparation.org

Why are we doing this?

The actions being taken by this nation against refugees and their children cannot stand. We, as people of faith, must act and do so both in the name of our nation's principles and as those motivated by core faith values.

When our country's Attorney General, Jefferson Sessions can cherry pick Romans 13 to demand that we blindly follow whatever our administration does, we must come back, full tilt, to stand for the fullness of what we believe. The decision to stop refugees who are lawfully applying for legal status and to take their children into custody is neither consistent with democratic laws nor with fundamental human rights nor with our faith teachings in even Romans 13.

We are seeing images that are so appalling, so un-American, we almost have no words. In an abrupt overthrow of existing law, President Trump and AG Sessions have declared that refugees are making illegal entry into our country. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our laws guarantee that those petitioning for refugee status be protected, that families be housed together, while their cases are being evaluated. These are people running for their lives - running from violence in their own countries, running from domestic violence, and threats to their children.  They are obeying the laws that are on the books - they are coming into the US at appointed ports of entry - and suddenly having their children ripped away, with no word where they are.

The children are terrified, locked into what are supposed to be temporary holding pens for those waiting for deportation. They have nothing - no clothes, no toys, nothing. Most of all they have no idea where their parents are and the parents have no idea where their children are.

Our elected officials have sought entry into these holding pens to no avail. But the few journalists and physicians who have gained entry at one of the better facilities say conditions are unspeakable. The children are terrified, and there is no system to assure they can ever be returned to their own parents. No records are being kept properly. Only the boys have been seen at a distance. No one knows where the babies and girls have been placed. No one.

Saying this is reminiscent of Nazi Germany is not an overstatement. The same practices exist now that existed then. And this is our nation engaged in this massive abuse of human rights. We are now the nation practicing crimes against humanity.

We all know Scripture calls us to embrace "the alien" recalling the days of bondage in Egypt. When we omit that fundamental moral teaching and blithely replace it with an offhand misinterpreted call to obey are government blindly, we must rise up on behalf of the children and their parents. We cannot let this stand!

Please join us as we begin taking our voices to the public arena to witness for justice and humanity. Please stay in touch with us as we move through this horror to end the inhumanity and threats to these fragile and vulnerable children. We have embarked on a new collaboration in the company of United Methodist Women and our allies at Texas Impact.

We are starting with a petition to AG Sessions and ask that you join us, sign the petition, and begin using your voice as a person of faith to counter the actions of harm made worse by the pretense of religious approval.    Well, we don't approve of our government in these actions!

https://stopfamilyseparation.org

Please sign the petition. Pass it onto your friends, family, neighbors. We cannot keep silent in the face of this despicable abuse of human beings.

We cannot be silent in the face of these atrocities. The faith community must make our beliefs known. Please join us in ending this harm. We must speak out for these children!

Thank you!

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Families Belong Together marches - please join tomorrow, June 30

We are repeating our darkest days, worst decisions. The Muslim ban today.

Blessed are the Children. Help us protect them now!

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