The Biden Administration must do more to protect DACA than invite Dreamers to the White House and streamline the bureaucratic process that grants temporary residency to immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children, recipients of the program say. So…
In Virginia, immigrants are ‘exhausted’ but there is new hope
Donald Trump’s four-year war on immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers has taken a heavy emotional and financial toll on those populations that will possibly take years to heal, CBF field personnel Sue Smith said. “The people I work with are…
Huge hurdles ahead for Dreamers despite high court’s DACA ruling
“There’s always that fear that at any point in time it could be stopped or ended.”
Trump border policies treat asylum seekers as criminals, advocate says
Separating immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border was bad enough, but it was even more tragic when asylum-seeking families were ripped apart while trying to get into the country, immigrant advocate Sue Smith says.
Ministers offer a spiritual word to the stressed on Election Day
Remember 2012, when Obama versus Romney seemed like a contentious presidential election? It was enough for a group of Mennonite ministers, who responded back then by launching the Election Day Communion movement. The idea was to inspire Christians to use…
Mission work takes on legal dimensions for Va.-based field personnel
Mission work and ministry are taking on a dizzying array of new looks in the 21st century. Just ask Greg and Sue Smith, Baptist missionaries who spent years performing traditional mission work in Latin America before opening a ministry serving…
Ministry leaders: challenges of 2015 offer growth in coming year
By Jeff Brumley Ministry and nonprofit leaders are reporting opportunities for growth in 2016 — and some of them credit the difficulties of the preceding year for that. Still, for others, and for many churches, the next 12 months may have…
Community rallies to rescue, nurture elderly immigrant
By Ashleigh Bugg Irene Calderón is 78 years old with a face full of sun-warmed wrinkles and a voice that lilts like music. “Ma-mitaa, cómo esta niñaa” — the words moved up and down when she laughs. The small Peruvian grandmother…
Richmond church sends team to assist in Peru
RICHMOND — “Everything began suddenly when a group of persons from Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond proposed a volunteer missions trip to Perú to help persons affected by the earthquake that hit the provinces of Pisco and Chincha, south…