ELCA'S Presiding Bishop Asks Clinton to Support Immigrants

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is writing to President Bill Clinton and members of Congress, urging them to support a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that will allow certain undocumented aliens to become lawful immigrants.
Anderson's letter is on behalf of the Conference of ELCA Bishops who heard from Bishop Stephen Bouman that one congregation lost 11 families based on the Sept. 23 deadline for the extension of Section 245(i).
Bouman, bishop of the ELCA's Metropolitan New York Synod, told the ELCA bishops Oct. 5 that 11 families have been forced to leave one of the synod's newest mission congregations, Cristo Lutheran Church, Freeport. "These families are from Ecuador, Dominica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Colombia. Their pastor called my office weeping in frustration," Bouman said.
"When does our collective resolve take hold? Is there any way we can stand with each other in the face of this?" Bouman asked. The bishops asked Bouman to assist Anderson in the preparation of a letter to Clinton.
Anderson's letter will express support of Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and its extension beyond the Oct. 23 deadline. Section 245(i) allows many undocumented persons who become eligible for permanent residency to adjust their status or become lawful immigrants through a process in the United States.

"Facing expiration of this section at the end of September, many immigrants 'unlawfully present' in the United States since April 1, who became eligible for visas after Sept. 30, faced a difficult choice: either remain in the United States illegally or leave the country before Sept. 27 to avoid a three-year bar to admissibility," the letter explains. It goes on, "If they have been out of legal status for one year, these immigrants, many of whom have U.S. citizen families, will be barred from re-entering the United States for 10 years. Many people have had to leave. Many others face a similar choice in these days before the Oct. 23 deadline of the temporary extension of Section 245(i)."
Anderson points to the effect on Cristo Lutheran Church, the Long Island congregation that had 27 members forced to leave the country. Among them, he said, are an elderly couple from Ecuador who have been in this country for 20 years; a pregnant woman from El Salvador who left her husband, a U.S. resident, behind; a woman from the Dominican Republic who has been in this country for 15 years, left behing her husband a, U.S. citizen, and two teenagers who are also U.S. citizens; and a young man from Honduras, here for eight years, who left behind his wife, a resident, and two small boys, U.S. citizens.
"The experience of this congregation mirrors the national reality," Anderson writes. "None of the 27 departing members have been on public assistance except for the elderly couple who received food stamps and SSI benefits. All were employed and paid their taxes. Most are already in the process of residency but now must complete the process abroad. Most left loved ones behind."
The ELCA expressed concern about immigration issues and the hostile climate toward the "sojourner among us" at its Churchwide Assembly in August.
"Our churches and institutions are being revitalized by our new neighbors, even as this nation of immigrants has always been renewed by its newcomers," Anderson writes. "We understand that the issues are complex and do not yield easy answers. But the extension and permanent passage of Section 245(i) is a small, concrete way in which we can take a humane and sensible step toward a more just society for all of us."

[Editors: The text of Bishops Anderson's letter will be
available Oct. 23 through Brenda Williams, 773/380-2963.]

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or
NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html