ELCA Women Protest Exclusion of Tanzania Woman

PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Delegates to the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Fifth Triennial Convention voted overwhelmingly to authorize the Women of the ELCA executive director "to lodge a protest in the strongest possible terms" to the U.S. government over its decision to deny a woman from Tanzania entry into the United States.
Women of the ELCA's Triennial Gathering is meeting here July 8-14 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The organization's three-year theme, "Listen, God is Calling," is being unveiled at the convention amid Bible study, keynote addresses, workshops, field trips, business sessions and elections. Nearly 3,200 women from throughout the ELCA and the world are attending.
Mary Laiser, secretary of the Women's Desk in the Arusha Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, was scheduled to be a presenter and assisting minister for worship here but was sent back home July 9 by U.S. immigration officials after she arrived in Detroit from Amsterdam on her way to the gathering. Immigration officials detained her because her visa extended beyond the expiration date of her passport, said Doris Strieter, program director for global advocacy and education, Women of the ELCA. The visa had been granted by the U.S. Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, she said. Laiser is now home in Tanzania, she said.
Traveling with Laiser was Elizabeth Megiroo, assistant secretary for the Women's Desk. Megiroo was allowed entry into the United States and participated in the Women of the ELCA gathering.
Laiser "was refused entry into the United States due to errors on the part of the U.S. government," said the resolution, which delegates adopted by a vote of 433-17 and seven abstentions.
In addition, Women of the ELCA convention delegates requested "a formal apology from the United States government to Mary Laiser for the unconscionable treatment she received," the resolution said.
The protest was directed to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Tom Ridge, director of the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, and U.S. Senators Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa. Women of the ELCA gathering participants were encouraged to convey the resolution to their own elected officials.
"There are grounds for exercising our objections in the highest possible terms," said Catherine "Cathi" I.H. Braasch, Women of the ELCA executive director, speaking to delegates.
Women of the ELCA has been working with the ELCA Division for Global Mission and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Baltimore, to learn more about what can be done for Laiser. Laiser was scheduled to appear at two ELCA Global Mission Events (GME) later this month in addition to the women's gathering here. The GMEs are July 18- 21 in Hickory, N.C. and July 25-28 in Minneapolis.
"We want to talk with her," said Anne P. Wilson, LIRS acting director, in an interview. "We'd like to find out how she was treated when she arrived in Detroit." LIRS staff will assist Laiser, Wilson said, adding that LIRS staff have been working on Laiser's case since she was denied entry into the U.S.
"Tanzania is on the list of countries of concern" to the United States, because the U.S. Embassy there was bombed, she added. -- -- -- Editors: Photographs from "Way-Making Women: A Way to Unity" and Women of the ELCA's Triennial Gathering are maintained at http://www.elca.org/wo/events/tg/tg02/connect/photos.html on the Web.

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