Two ELCA pastors ask Congress to learn from largest immigration raid

by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service

Two pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
are calling on the U.S. Congress to evaluate the nation's
immigration system and use what happened in Postville, Iowa, to
develop a new approach for immigration raids. On May 12, 2008,
federal agents arrested about 390 workers at a meat processing
plant there, making the raid the largest at a single location in
U.S. history. According to the Rev. Stephen P. Brackett and the
Rev. David J. Vasquez, Postville is now an economically,
emotionally and socially devastated community since the raid.
Both pastors spoke during a Dec. 10 telephone news conference,
hosted by Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, to
discuss the lingering impact of the raid.

Christians have an obligation to call attention to the moral
dimensions of public policy related to immigration, said
Brackett, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Postville. "Today's
immigration laws, policies and enforcement have shown themselves
to be a very broken system. It's a system that harms families,
hurts communities and assigns blame to all the wrong places.
Immediately following the raid, blame was leveled at undocumented
workers" and later on the meat processing plant, he said. "We
need to move a step further and look to the body that has the
ability to do something about this," and "that's with Congress
and the president of the United States. Our lawmakers have a
responsibility to debate immigration policy in a respectful and
civil matter, and they need to take the politics out of it. They
need to look at offering a humane solution that upholds the
dignity of all human beings," said Brackett.

"We call on the new administration and elected officials to
please listen to Postville for the sake of those who are stranded
here (and) for the sake of our nation and our identity," said
Vasquez, campus pastor, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. Luther
College, one of 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA,
temporarily assigned Vasquez to coordinate humanitarian relief
efforts in Postville. Vasquez, who has testified before Congress
on the effects of the raid, said, "Postville has become the
whipping boy of a misguided immigration system." The raid
"merged immigration law with criminal law when criminal charges
(were brought) against a swath of people in a way that's never
been done before," he said. "Our community is worn out after
seven months of fear, chaos and ongoing demands," said Vasquez,
adding that efforts to invite senators and other elected
officials to Postville will continue despite the lack of
resources and the fatigue among people servicing the needs of the
Postville community.