By the end of 2009, more than 440,000 immigrants will be incarcerated at a network of county jails and for-profit prisons at a cost of approximately $2 billion annually, according to the OII Web site, www.pcusa.org/immigration/.
Last year alone an estimated 360,000 undocumented immigrants were deported to their home countries according to the PC(USA)’s manager for immigration issues, and immigration counsel, Julia Thorne.
As compelling as the statistics are, Candie Blankman, pastor of First Church in Downey, Calif., began to research issues of immigration and undocumented workers for a different reason. Her own congregation included folks for whom the “issue” — debated, in sound bites, the media, and in government — were real and personal.
The main thing that I’ve been learning,” Blankman said, “is that it is much more complicated than simply legal and illegal.” What she began to discover in conversations with members of her congregation is that people are here in the United States without documents for a variety of reasons, some of which are entirely out of their control.
Needing advice and information, Blankman contacted Julia Thorne, who advised Blankman on a few situations. The pastor learned that Thorne was available to come, teach, and serve as a resource for those in local congregations and presbyteries regarding issues of immigration.
Out of this Blankman helped to spearhead a two-day “Forum on Immigration” hosted at the Downey church Sept. 18-20.
“What we are really hoping is to make it possible for people to have reasonable conversations,” she said, in explaining her hopes for the immigration forum. “It was designed not just to get information to people, but to give them opportunities to talk.” Often conversations around immigration tend to be polarizing and incriminating, not based on facts or connected to real people, Blankman added.
It was just such conversations that Julia Thorne sought to foster as part of the immigration forum. “We need some smart discussion and some smart policies,” suggested Thorne, noting that so often conversations are heated but with no foundation in what is really happening. Part of the challenge is that about “once a month the immigration laws literally get turned upside down,” according to Thorne.
But that doesn’t mean that the church need sit along the sidelines and do nothing.
“People need to know that they probably know someone who they could help,” Blankman suggested, noting that in her multi-cultural church and community there are many who are directly impacted in their daily lives by what, for many Americans, is simply an abstract issue.
“When you get to know someone whose life is daily affected by people’s attitudes toward immigration and immigration law, by the treatment they get because people don’t understand, it is heartbreaking and you’ve got to do something,” explained Blankman.
Thorne challenged those gathered not necessarily to ask what is legal or illegal, but to ask themselves, How does our faith inform what our views are going to be on immigration? The challenge, she acknowledged, is to balance compassion and justice with the practicality of daily living.
This does not mean no action is needed. Learning about Detention Centers, where undocumented immigrants are held, is one tangible step to take, according to Thorne. The Detention Watch Network (https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org) is one resource for people of faith who wish to supplement their opinions with action.
Connecting with local immigrant PC(USA) churches is another possibility. “What is nice about the PC(USA) is that our churches aren’t isolated — there are ways to connect with immigrant communities in our own denomination,” Thorne pointed out. Accompaniment of those who are undocumented or those who are new immigrants can connect helpers with “the stranger” who might have a difficult time navigating the legal systems.
Thorne was quick to note that such accompaniment is best done with an attitude of appreciating and empowering, rather than viewing the relationship as someone of wealth or relative privilege simply “giving, giving, giving.”
Perhaps, Thorne suggested, we in the church should begin to think in terms not of legal and illegal, but of right and wrong. “The laws of any country at any time (do) not necessarily speak to the justice of God,” added Blankman. She noted that it was legal, during World War II, to intern Japanese Americans. But was it right?
Blankman acknowledged that some might wonder what a minister is doing involved in such things — shouldn’t she be spending her time preparing for Sunday’s sermon instead of meddling in issues that are so political?
“The first commandment is to love God and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself,” she recites.
