The question of undocumented immigrants From a Lutheran faith perspective, answers differ Undocumented immigrants. Illegal aliens. Unauthorized residents. The sometimes politically charged monikers are often the only public names given to the estimated 12 million people living in the U.S. against federal immigration laws. In the shadows, yet equal to about 4 percent of our population, they’re the focus of a considerable amount of energy—both positive and negative—in border states and the interior, in presidential debates and town meetings, in think tanks and living rooms, on airwaves and city streets.  And in Lutheran churches? The position of the ELCA, related organizations like Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and many ELCA members is one of advocacy for undocumented immigrants. But opinions on the issue do vary (somewhat as a reflection of the rest of the country) among ELCA members—from clergy to elected public officials to lay people to academics.Ultimately, many people want the same goal: to fix a broken federal immigration system while respecting humanity. The ELCA Message on Immigration states: “Newcomers without legal documents … are among the most vulnerable. Congregations are called to welcome all people, regardless of their legal status.” This resource for congregational deliberation—rather than moral imperative—derives its tenets from the Bible, such as Romans 15:7: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, a member of Nazareth Lutheran Church, Coulter, Iowa, said: “I have great empathy for people trying to better their lives and take care of their families. But as someone sworn to uphold the Constitution, we can’t ignore the fact that people are breaking national laws by coming into the country without documents.” Such a dichotomy has been part of Lutheran thinking for centuries. “The notion of caring for people without any discrimination as to their origins, that’s part of the Christian tradition,” said Jean Bethke Elshtain, an ELCA member who is professor of social and political ethics at the University of Chicago and Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Emphasis on civic order “That said, there’s a very strong emphasis from [Martin] Luther on down in traditional Lutheran theology on the need for civic order in society,” Elshtain said. “There is no barrier in Lutheranism for states to say we need to protect our border, to make the process as orderly as we can. So you could see there would at times be tension between the two strands: As a Christian, I’m obliged toward welcoming; as a citizen, admitting and accepting that the state has the function of maintaining civic order.” In the past few years, a desire for civic order has come with an increase in activities that aren’t “welcoming.” According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a record 237,000 immigrants were deported in 2007—about 16 percent more than in 2006—and work-site arrests rose almost eightfold between 2002 and 2007. In addition, Detention Watch Network, co-founded in 1997 by LIRS, says the U.S. detained 280,000-plus people in 2006, more than triple the number of people a decade ago. The federal government has focused on these and other enforcement efforts in recent years just as legislation to solve the issue has stalled. Five years ago, President George W. Bush called for a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws, the first since 1986. (The visa program was last changed significantly in 1990, even though demand for workers increases yearly.) But division within the Republican Party quashed his proposal. Three bipartisan bills addressing illegal immigrants were defeated in the past two years—McCain-Kennedy in 2006, the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) and the Senate’s immigration reform bill in 2007. “This is an issue that cuts across political parties,” said Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., president of LIRS, a cooperative advocacy and justice agency of the ELCA, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “Because of the upcoming election, we don’t expect any comprehensive immigration reform until late 2009 or 2010. In the meantime, we’re going to have more suffering and dysfunction, more enforcement, more families being separated.” About 5 million children in the U.S. have at least one parent who is undocumented, according to the Urban Institute and the National Council of La Raza, and kids are sometimes left behind when parents are detained or deported. In February 2007, LIRS co-wrote a report called Locking Up Family Values (download .pdf) after observing immigrant families in two federal detention centers. The visits revealed activities—mostly at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center (a former Texas prison)—from children as young as 6 sleeping in cells separated from parents to pregnant women and others receiving what visitors considered inadequate medical care. The report recommended that ICE “discontinue the detention of families in prison-like institutions.” It led the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the Department of Homeland Security over conditions. According to DHS, “ICE not only made significant changes prior to [the settlement] agreement, it ensured that the remaining issues were reviewed and issued required modifications to ensure compliance at Hutto.” ACLU said “conditions at Hutto have gradually and significantly improved.” In addition, families that included 25 children, plus an additional child, were released, according to LIRS. ELCA goal: Family reunification “Our advocacy will continue to insist that family reunification should be the primary objective of immigration laws,” states the ELCA Message on Immigration. Approved in 1998, that message is currently getting a face-lift, which is expected to be presented by year’s end to the ELCA Church Council. “We’re dealing with things—like 9/11 and the overwhelming influx of immigrants—that weren’t on the radar in ’98,” said Roger A. Willer, director for the Department of Studies with ELCA Church in Society, who is overseeing the development of the message. “The new message will be congruent with the theological basis set forth in 1998.” Drawing on Bible passages such as “You shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34), Luther’s question “How do we know that the love of God dwells in us? If we take upon ourselves the need of the neighbor,” and the ELCA history as a “church of immigrants and with roots in immigrant churches in a nation of immigrants,” the message is designed as a tool for reflection. “It is expected to guide church policy,” Willer said. “But we don’t expect that every member will believe everything a message says. We expect church members to give it careful consideration as they think through their life of faith.” The ELCA’s 19 state public policy advocacy offices, in addition to LIRS and other agencies, use official messages to lobby legislatures and inform and involve congregations. Many members don’t read messages or know they exist, said Teri J. Traaen, assistant to the bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod and director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Arizona. And many aren’t aware of how they come about, said Norene N. Goplen, director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Oregon. A small survey of bishops, clergy and lay people says they’re right. Both Traaen and Goplen have also noted from visits to many congregations in their synods that opinions on illegal immigration are diverse. “Within our congregations, at least on a quiet level, there is disagreement,” said Bishop Kevin S. Kanouse of the 120 churches in the Northern Texas–Northern Louisiana Synod. “That really played itself out in a very concrete way at Good Shepherd.” The Irving, Texas, congregation had been offering space to Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria de Guadalupe for a monthly usage donation for more than six years. Recently, Santa Maria’s pastor, Pedro B. Portillo, had been publicly working with city officials to reduce the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants. (The Dallas Morning News reported in November that “Irving has drawn attention for the vigorous manner in which city police cooperate with federal immigration officials” and that “more than 1,600 people have been deported following their arrests by Irving police.” The city’s population is 191,000.) Portillo had scheduled a town-hall meeting at the church in November with some city officials to “help the entire community understand city services and ask the chief of police why Irving had been arresting so many illegal aliens,” he said. Some members of Good Shepherd’s council voted to cancel it. “I don’t speak for others,” said Art Schneewind, council president. “I didn’t want our sanctuary being used for that kind of a thing.” Santa Maria decided to move out the day before Good Shepherd members voted to renew its contract, each without knowing the other’s actions. Breaking the law? Opinion nationwide varies among parishioners and clergy on a number of topics on this issue. Breaking the law—on the part of the immigrants—is probably the most apparent. Called to Be a Public Church, the ELCA’s civic participation guide, notes in a section written by LIRS that being an illegal immigrant is a civil offense, not a criminal one. “If our country doesn’t have any laws, then you need to let me know that,” Schneewind said. “The law is clear,” said Cynthia E. Nance, dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville and member of the LIRS board of directors. “But there are some moral and fairness issues, and it reminds me of Jim Crow: The law was clear—you could not enter through that door—but that doesn’t mean it’s right in the higher sense.” From the advocacy arms of the ELCA to pastors leading educational efforts, the church tries to use facts as a basis for discussion, such as: The number of undocumented immigrants has risen by 3.5 million since 2000, reflecting a favorable economic climate in the U.S. and an unprecedented backlog for applications for people to take the legal route; and the jobs they take are often those in the service sector that most Americans don’t want. Nevertheless, people won’t always agree on how to fix the broken system and what to do with the immigrants who are already here illegally. Perhaps we are called to struggle with why we don’t agree. “We are not a law-based religion,” ethics professor Elshtain said. “One of the interesting things about the Christian tradition is that people have a lot of interpretation and soul-searching to do.” |
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| Eris R. - 2/25/2008 |
| I want to be good christian, but I can't in my mind condone illegal alians. They sneak accross are borders to take jobs and start families, then cry of the injustuse when there caught. I just don't understand. I can't help but sympathize with there plight, but how can they expect anything else. |
| Stacy K - 2/26/2008 |
| You describe the perspective of many and I appreciate that you are willing to discuss! It is understandable to feel negatively toward people whom you think are "sneaking" or doing other negative things. This is why we all need to hear even more personal stories than the Lutheran offered, to learn that there are as many different experiences of immigrants as there are immigrants themselves. We may be led to believe, by other media sources, that the majority of people are "sneaking" but most are not - and if you were to meet and know immigrants in your own community or in your state you would hear how many have attempted to "follow the rules" and the current immigration system, broken as it is, has failed for them. As a Christian you need to know that there are many sisters and brothers in Christ trying to find sanctuary from persecution for their faith whose claims of threat and fear are deemed unfounded, who are denied any legal means to come or if they are here on a visa to stay after their case is denied. I know several families who have decided to stay in order to insure the safety of their children, the chance to education without persecution, the chance to live free from harrassment and threat of violence. I know too that these people are paying taxes, washing dishes, delivering newspapers, caring for our parents and grandparents in nursing facilities, cleaning their bodies, washing their laundry, cooking their food, accompanying them as they die. Meet your immigrant neighbors and hear their stories - God in the biblical narrative invites us to journey with immigrants because we too are an immigrant people. |
| Marian D - 3/12/2008 |
| I work with a mission group that serves people in Mexico and their plight is indeed horrible. There are horror stories of mothers putting their babies down while foraging in landfills and the babies being covered up, Indians who live in caves (by choice) freezing to death every winter, children as youg as 4 imprisioned for stealing food and water. Unfortunately the government does nothing to help the indigent. There is no welfare, no free housing, no free education and on and on. I understand why they want to come here and I believe that they do a lot of the jobs that most Americans feel they are above doing. But, there should be a way to have these workers come in to work for the season or whatever specific time period and then return. I feel that the Mexican government is laughing all the way to the bank. We tend to their poor and the immigrants work and send their earnings back to Mexico to spend in their economy. Our mission, Isaiah 6:8 works to educate these people, provide feeding stations, build schools, churches and homes for the kids. We minister to those in prison. Until the US puts pressure to bear on the Mexican government, this situation will continue. Pray for all concerned. We can be good Christians by bringing about change in their living conditions. |
| John Zimmerman - 3/16/2008 |
I don't fully understand why my church is supporting "illegal Immigration" and "Homosexuality." Could someone out there fully explain this to Me? John Zimmerman |
| Kurt - 3/17/2008 |
The church is supporting these things because we are, YOU included, simutaneously saint and sinner. To presume that we know that one sin is less or greater than another, is to presume we know the mind of God. It is to place yourself above another of God's created beings, above your neighbors. What we do know is that Christ was given to us, for us, and that nothing anyone can do or not do makes one worthy, and justified. Grace alone thru faith, and faith itself is a gift from God. We are called to live in the dynamic tension created by LAW and GOSPEL. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." |
| Stephen L. Miller - 5/16/2008 |
Kurt, Breaking laws is not biblically supported. "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's". Romans 13:1 "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." Homosexual behavior is definitely NOT biblically supported. Love people, help people, but the church should not "support", "condone" or be "tolerant" of sinful behavior. |
| William KANYIKE - 6/26/2008 |
| I'm undocumented immigrant currently residing in US of course not working. I'm working on my documents but while waitng life is extreemly heard. No shelter, no what! Is there any way the Church can help me? As soon as i get documents i'm willing to work but now i need your help. You can reach me on [redacted]. I'm in Waltham MA. God bless you. |
| Mike - 6/7/2010 |
By illegally entering the United States aliens are creating an enormous problem and imbalance. I don't believe that law breakers are earning their keep. They only work for cash, don't pay taxes and don't have any interest or respect for the American culture. They refuse to learn English and yell "Viva La Mexico" in our schools and fly the Mexican flag. This will be the downfall of America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church is certainly contributing to it. Not that many years ago in Germany, the Lutheran church remained silent while Hitler was beating up, robbing and murdering Jews who WERE legal citizens of Germany and had been for 400 years. And, as his writings attest, Martin Luther would have been a proponent of that injustice. But, these foreign people are not American citizens and are not sneaking into our country (countries) except to take what is not legally or rightfully theirs. |
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