How can Presbyterians respond in their own communities to concerns about immigration? Those who live near the U.S.-Mexico border may feel they’re on the front-lines – seeing the human drama directly before them, with heartbreaking news day after day of families being separated and of people camped on the Mexico side of the border who aren’t allowed to stay in the United States as their asylum claims progress. But the impact of federal immigration policy is also being felt across the country, in big cities and small towns – with deportations, immigration raids at plants in rural America, and the realities of an economy in which sectors such as agriculture and construction depend on migrant workers. Presbyterians who care about these issues and the human pain involved are looking for ways to respond close to home – sometimes in deeply contextual ways. They’re visiting asylum seekers held in detention centers. They accompany immigrants to court hearings and medical … [Read more...]

Jim Renfrew is pastor of Byron Presbyterian Church in upstate New York. That’s “a very rural, conservative area” between Buffalo and Rochester, he said, and one where “it’s not easy to take an advocacy position on immigration.” Renfrew has found ways, however, to get involved with immigration work in his community and to keep the issue before his “purple” congregation – not so much by preaching about policy, but about telling stories to his congregation about the immigrants he’s met. “I think that’s the most effective way to humanize the story,” he said. “We’re talking about people who live in our neighborhood. We can fool ourselves into thinking that our neighborhood is homogenous. But the reality is there are a lot of farm workers from other countries. Currently they’re keeping their heads down,” and may not be as visible at the corner market and gas stations. Whether you see them or not, “our agricultural industry depends on these workers. These are the people who make the … [Read more...]