When the alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”                                                                                  Leviticus 19:33-34

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 complex: economic necessity, war, or persecution. The U.S. has long been a nation of immigrants and we have consistently been conflicted about this. We gratefully welcome immigrants and their contributions, and we exclude them, discriminate against them and, at times, inflict grave harm upon them.

As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors. The Bible is unambiguous in caling 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

New Arizona Immigration Law  In April, Arizona passed new legislation governing immigrants, legislation that the UCC's Southwest Conference calls "the harshest anti-immigrant legislation in the country...that codifies racial profiling and creates an atmosphere of suspicion, hatred, and scapegoating of immigrants and U.S. Citizens." More info about developments in Arizona

Take Action 

NEW Host a film showing: Faith and Immigration, a campaign of Sojourners, has produced a guide to four films about immigration with discussion questions and theological reflection for small groups. Also included is a longer film guide summarizing other popular immigration films

Stories of Immigrants and their Allies  

• Who Looks Like an Immigrant / Racial profiling (view the video "Do I look Illegal?" on YouTube)
• Personal stores of people impacted by the new Arizona law, contributed by the Southwest Conference
• View 9500 Liberty -- the story of immigrants in Prince William County, VA (a Washington, DC suburb)
• Faces of Deportation: Families Impacted by North Carolina's Immigration Policies  Videos tell the stories of family members left behind when others are deported. 
  
  
  

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

• Talking Points from Church World Service
  
• From Christian Century: What kind of reform? Immigration policies on the table by Amy Frykholm
  
• Statement of Principles from the UCC's Immigration Coordinating Committee
  
• A New Path Toward Humane Immigration Reform  Principles for Comprehensive Immigration Reform from the American Friends Service Committee
  (scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the pdf of the entire document)

Resources for 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 General Synod’s thinking on this issue.  

General Information and Study Guides Numerous resources on immigration, immigrants, and immigrant rights, the New Sanctuary Movement, and study guides.

Detention, Border Enforcement, and the Border Wall Information on border enforcement, detention, arrests, deportation, and militarization of the border.

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

The DREAM Act

Organizations with many Online Resources 

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.

General Synod Resolutions From GS XXVI (2007), GS XIII (2001), and GS XXII (1999).

Witness for Justice Articles including "Stop the Workplace Raids, Don’t Be Fooled: Immigration is NOT the Real Problem with jobs, unemployment and wages; Immigrants are NOT "The Reason"! for our health care problems; Racism… an Unfortunate River of DENIAL in Arizona; and Silence is not an Option.

Immigrants and Public Education View a number of resources from JWM

Immigrants and Health Care  A Resource from JWM