Two months ago, Terez Metry arrived at a Department of Homeland Security office in Nashville with her husband, a U.S. citizen, expecting a routine step in beginning her green card application. The couple had prepared documents for a Form I-130 petition and anticipated an…
Court blocks Trump’s arrests of already vetted refugees
A federal court has temporarily paused a Trump administration policy allowing the arrest and possibly indefinite detention of refugees lawfully resettled in the United States. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston granted six refugees, Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts…
5 things I wish every U.S. citizen knew
It’s hard to believe 14 months into Donald Trump’s Reign of Terror 2.0 anyone still believes the administration’s rhetoric around its immigration enforcement practices. I’m a female pastor in a progressive Baptist church in Texas. It isn’t as if I’m…
Fighting fear and dehumanization in Richmond
Actions speak loudly, but words also count in a time when many who should be speaking out about injustice remain silent. A public statement read by a group of Christian leaders Feb. 27 on the steps of First Baptist Church…
‘The administration is implementing policies hostile to refugees’
A coalition of refugees and immigrant rights groups has sued the Trump administration to stop it from continuing to arrest and detain certain lawfully resettled refugees. The action targets the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s new “Refugee Detention Policy” authorizing…
ICE officers rounding up legally resettled refugees in Minnesota
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are now aggressively rounding up legally resettled refugees in Minnesota and preparing to widen the search across the country, a national immigration advocate warned. “ICE officers have actually shown up at their doors and, if…
Memphis churches demand justice for Afghan refugees
A coalition of churches in Memphis, Tenn., has joined the chorus of voices demanding justice for lawfully resettled Afghan refugees targeted for detention and deportation by federal immigration authorities. “The challenge we’re finding is that many of the of the…
An Advent call for advocacy for our Burmese brothers and sisters
When entered into faithfully, Advent is a frustratingly wonderful season of awkwardly waiting for God to act on the promises God has made. Advent is a season firmly planted in kairos time, yet it requires an annual examination of chronos…
In Lebanon, sexual abuse and economic abuse go hand in hand
“I don’t know if I’ve started ignoring everything because I got used to the ugliness, or because the smell of cannabis makes it easier not to care.” With these words, Ftoun, 15, a Syrian refugee working in cannabis fields in the plains…
Where Refugees Were Seen as an Opportunity from God
Joakim Lundqvist never thought he would be pastor to hundreds of people named Muhammad.
Immigration advocates urge court to stop Trump’s order
Immigration advocates pressed a federal appeals court Sept. 3 to reinstate injunctions against the Trump administration’s indefinite suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. A three-judge panel of the Ninth District Court of Appeals in Seattle heard oral arguments that…
As one born among us
“When an immigrant resides with you, you shall not oppress the immigrant. The immigrant shall be to you as one who was born among you; you shall love the immigrant as yourself.” Those words from Leviticus 19:33-34 belong to…