By Founa A. Badet
This release is to accompany the day of prayer and fasting on Thursday, Jan. 16.
The Intercultural Ministries office and Intercultural Ministries Advisory Committee (IMAC) are encouraging our congregations and districts to help members to know their constitutional rights. As a denomination, we are striving to be a resource and referral space providing tangible information.
Our goal is to support the districts with a plan to help guide our undocumented, and even our documented Brethren. We are also noting that even those Brethren who are US citizens who have darker skin and/or accents are being accosted and threatened with detainment!
The districts should be very intentional. We are encouraging church members to make electronic copies of all legal documents and add them to their emails and the cloud (in case they lose the originals or do not have access to their phones). Any Brethren people of color outside of the US who are returning or leaving should also have paper and cloud copies of documents of their status in the US, contracts for work, congregational membership, etc. to minimize re-entry hassles.
We can start by informing the congregations of various resources: sanctuary churches, legal clinics, national immigration justice centers, and alerts to avoiding legal scams during this time.
We should also maximize our efforts by collaborating with other entities as much as possible within and outside of the denomination, not limiting ourselves so that we are not recreating but making the best use of what is available such as through the ACLU, Church World Service, Legal Aid, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, and other organizations.
Note: Churches and districts can make their own copies of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s “Red Cards” for distribution. These cards help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations, such as when ICE agents go to a home. Download from www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas.
We hope to provide an online Zoom meeting or drop-in event to provide Church of the Brethren leaders and members a regularly scheduled times and spaces to get on-the-spot immediate solutions and referrals support. Stay tuned.
— Founa A. Badet is director of Intercultural Ministries for the Church of the Brethren. Find out out more about the Intercultural Ministries at www.brethren.org/intercultural.
#MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving
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