In a world becoming increasingly globalized, more people are leaving their homelands to seek better lives and opportunities in new countries. Their reasons for leaving are diverse and often complex. Economic necessity, war, drought, and persecution are among the more common ones.

Some of these immigrants come to the U.S. Currently about 13% of our population was born outside the U.S., some 40 million people.

Ever since settlers began arriving from the eastern hemisphere, the U.S. has been a nation of immigrants. But we have also been a nation consistently conflicted about this. We have gratefully welcomed immigrants and their contributions, and we have excluded them, discriminated against them, and inflicted grave harm upon them.

As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors. The Bible is unambiguous in instructing us to welcome aliens and strangers in our land, and to love them as we love ourselves. In these times, let us listen to the voice of the still-speaking God. We will learn how to respond to these new sisters and brothers residing among us.

RESOURCES

Worship and Bible Study: sermons and reflections, prayers, and other worship elements; a comprehensive listing of all Bible references to immigrants and refugees, and a theological exploration of immigration and overview of the UCC’s General Synod’s thinking on this issue

General Information: numerous resources on immigration, immigrants, and immigrant rights,

Organizations with many resources online

  
National Immigration Law Center 

Immigration Policy Center

National Lawyers Guild Immigration Project

Pew Hispanic Center 

Detention Watch Network  (tracking raids, etc) 

The Transborder Project  of Americas Program

American Immigration Law Foundation  

Immigration Policy Center  and its excellent electronic newsletter Immigration Impact 

Immigration resources by Interfaith Worker Justice

The Illinois Mayan Ministry of members of the Illinois Conference of the UCC

Immigrants in the Workplace and Workplace Raids: information about immigrants in the workplace, workplace raids and how to prepare for and respond to raids, and an examination of immigrants and "our" jobs.

Detention, Border Enforcement, and the Border Wall

The U.S.-Mexico Border Policy Report by the Border Network for Human Rights titled Effective Border Policy: Security, Responsibility And Human Rights at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Amnesty International report on immigrant detention, Jailed without Justice 

A particularly stunning 4 1/2 minute video on the border fence International League of Conservation Photographers. 

Study Guides

The Immigratopm Dilemma, a six-week study guide to immigration from the Friends Committee on National Legislation 

From Sojourners, a six-week study guide Strangers in the Land

From the UCC Illinois Conference's Illinois Maya Ministry, a four-week study guide of Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway, a powerful, true depiction of migrants crossing into the U.S. 

Looking Upstream: How the WAL-MARTing of Mexico Creates the Immigration Crisis from the UCC Illinois Conference's Illinois Maya Ministry: a PowerPoint presentation with accompanying background notes to accompany each slide.

The New Sanctuary Movement

A resource from the 8th Day Center for Justice, Chicago, IL   

Centro Romero

Centro Romero is a UCC immersion center located on the U.S.-Mexico border south of San Diego, CA. The Center facilitates educational, transformational immersion experiences focused on globalization, economic policy, immigration, environmental concerns, and community empowerment. 

In addition to three to seven day cross-border experiences, the Center also offers a 10-day Travel-Study Experience. Through these more extensive experiences, the Romero Center provides participants with the opportunity of learning about Mexico, Mexican Protestantism, migration issues, culture and popular religion with the objective of better contextualizing the immigration issues that are commonly discussed in the United States and to look at them from a “globalize” point of view. Trips are designed with the objective of engaging community members, community leaders as well as religious and political leaders in Mexico so participants can learn as much as they can about Mexico and its problems and responses and how they understand the immigration concerns that are affecting the U.S. today.

UCC Congregations' Ministries with Immigrants

General Synod Resolutions

• A Call for a More Humane U.S. Immigration Policy: End Migrant Deaths; Support Immigrant Communities   (General Synod 26, 2007)
• Emergency Resolution to End the Death of Migrants on the United States-Mexico Border by Offering Water in Christ’s Name  (General Synod 23, 2001)
• Border Justice Issues: A Challenge for the 21st Century Church (General Synod 22, 1999)

Witness for Justice Articles  (concise views of issues) 

• Stop the Workplace Raids calls for an end to work place raids by immigration authorities.
• Don’t Be Fooled: Immigration is NOT the Real Problem explains that the shortage of good jobs in the U.S. is not due to immigration but lax enforcement of worker protections in the workplace.
• Immigrants are NOT "The Reason"! debunks myths about immigrants and health care.

Immigrants and Public Education   View a number of resources from JWM

Immigrants and Health Care    Resource from JWM