Loving Our Undocumented Neighbor

NCF Office – February 4, 2025 3 Comments

Today’s blog contribution comes from Carolyn Vance. She shares with us an update on the political attitude changes happening toward immigrants in our country, God’s heart for immigrants, and how we can individually and as a fellowship respond to these changes. –Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor

“When immigrants live in your land with you, you must not cheat them. Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens. You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” –Leviticus 19:33-34

The ethics of Leviticus is one of love and respect towards immigrants: 

Treat immigrants fairly just like you would a citizen or yourself.  

No stipulation exists in scripture that immigrants be “legal” or “documented.” That is a human construct. We chose it and it reflects our values as a country – for order, yes, but also exclusion of “undesirables” and management of people for American profit, aka deportable labor.

The “why” of Leviticus is because “you too were immigrants in the land of Egypt.” Compassion. Neighboring. I dare say that the Jewish people have had a lot of experience being both immigrants and being unwanted throughout their history. This is to be remembered, God says, in how they treat immigrants.

Conversely, the “why” of the anti-immigrant position is not based in compassion or neighboring, but rather in selfishness: “We don’t want to share”, “We want to remain a “white” country”, “We don’t like “others””, “We got here first.”

In the first few days of the new presidential era we got exactly what some voters voted for:

• As of January 27, refugee resettlement has been suspended. People who have been waiting in refugee camps and have spent several years being vetted, won’t be able to come. These are people who have fled dire, dangerous situations. It’s a status assigned by the United Nations, followed by a long vetting process by the receiving country. They’ve been waiting, some for years and years. Those who are vetted and waiting to come will have to wait a lot longer, including Afghans that we made promises to.
• Asylum is basically shut down. No additional people can apply for asylum, no matter how dangerous their situation. Like Refugees, Asylum seekers are fleeing dangerous, dire situations, but do not have the “luxury” of waiting for placement in a refugee camp. They have to flee now. Flee or die or watch horrible things happen to their family, their children.
• Humanitarian parole has ended. This means Afghans, Ukrainians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Venezuelans who came over with this temporary status will lose it when it expires, often within a year of receiving it. No more can come with this status. Those that have received it will be undocumented when it expires and deportable, unless they have already applied for asylum. (1/23/25 news alert: even those who received parole and still have time left in their parole, may be deported early. The ending of parole appears to be retroactive, apart from legal action against it.)
• Temporary Protective Status (TPS) is also threatened. Thankfully the outgoing president extended it for another 18 months for Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan. A small reprieve.
• DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is threatened to end. Young people also called “Dreamers” who have DACA will lose their protection, their work permits and will be deportable.
• Birthright citizenship is being threatened, though this will definitely be litigated. A president cannot invalidate a constitutional amendment, in this case the 14th.
• And of course every undocumented immigrant and their family members are subject to deportation, family separation and trauma. 

We’ve got some tremendous challenges to face in the years ahead as a country.

Those of us in the immigrant services and advocacy community are bringing out “know your rights” lessons and urging vulnerable families to make “family plans,” legal documents with plans for temporary guardianship of minor children, should parents get swept up in deportation. Also we’re urging families to gather together all their important family information so that those left behind in the U.S. have access to information that they will need. 

So what is a largely non-immigrant church to do? NCF does include some immigrants but not in the thus-far targeted. I believe churches have a particular responsibility to be the truth tellers in the face of sweeping untruths about immigrants. We are called to live justly. We must be a “confessing church” (confessing what is true) as some German Churches did, in the midst of most German churches failing to, in the days when Jewish people were being made the scapegoats for all the ills in Europe. Today it is the immigrants who are the scapegoats for all the problems of America. Every period in history has its scapegoats.

“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”-Deuteronomy 10:18-19

Given that we are called to love God and love neighbor, how can we express neighborly love, to people we may never meet, to people who may not speak English well or at all, to people who may feel hidden to us? Following is a list I’ve compiled of ideas to get you started on ways to get involved and organizations that are working to make a difference for immigrants. Also, I’m always happy to talk about this issue with you as well. –Carolyn Vance 

Ways to get involved

1. Leaders and congregation: Speak out against unbiblical, untruthful, poisonous speech about immigrants, those words that are compassionless and anti-neighboring. Thank you to Ron Simkins who has been conscientiously doing this for some time. Speak truth to power and hold politicians accountable.  
2. Change the narrative from “criminals, rapists, invaders” to human beings. Bring a lens of humanity when you can. Think of the character assassination words as the equivalent of “N” words. Don’t let them go unchallenged. Actual immigrant criminals, a small proportion of all immigrants, can and will be dealt with by the criminal justice system when they’re caught.
3. Make the connection between Black Lives Matter and the value of immigrant lives. They are absolutely related.
4. Be familiar with the many scriptures that support immigrants and their just treatment. Here’s a couple reading plans you could use: 
5. https://evangelicalimmigrationtable.com/iwasastranger/
6. https://sojo.net/22-bible-verses-welcoming-immigrants
7. Stand up for immigrant rights and protect immigrant communities. If you have no connection to immigrants, give to organizations who do. (I’ll include some resources at the end.) “First they came for the socialist, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist …” Martin Niemöller
8. Support a local immigrant congregation – make a connection. Or make a connection to a congregation with a connection to an immigrant church if that is more doable. Move closer. Some immigrant congregations might be hesitant (understandable trust issues) with overtures by largely-white American churches. Can we be a bridge?
9. Some churches in the past have provided shelter or sanctuary. We have many unused rooms. Know that putting those two things together will come with a cost, perhaps a severe cost. The new administration announced they will no longer honor sanctuary in churches or other safe spaces. There are no safe spaces anymore.
10. Make the connection between the Holocaust and what is happening today. Watch the laws that are being passed, the methods that are being used, the admiration for the Nazis. I’ve heard Ron Simkins say more than once that everything the Nazis did, they did legally (because they orchestrated the laws to allow what they did.) Recently Julian said the same.
11. Know that we live in a state and local community supportive of immigrants. State laws support immigrants and prevent law enforcement from doing immigration enforcement. Our local law enforcement are supportive and do not care about a person’s immigrant status. That has been stated outloud and publicly. That is good news! But it will likely bring federal pushback.
12. Write letters to the editor.
13. Stay awake and alert and aware. 
14. Imitate the minority Confessing German church of the 1930s and 1940s rather than the standard church in Germany at that time.
15. Don’t give in to fear. Fear and outrage are the Modus Operandi of the day. Lift up those who temporarily have buckled. 
16. Think about what costs we would be willing to bear, because there will be costs, financial and otherwise. What happens if a national law is passed that makes it a crime to even transport an undocumented immigrant? Some states have passed such laws. Could a law be passed that would require citizens to “turn in” known or suspected undocumented immigrants? Will we follow the national law or God’s clear law in regards to immigrants? What if any word of support of immigrants will cause us to lose our tax exempt status? I think we need to think through some scenarios ahead of time, even if immigration is not going to be a primary call for NCF as a congregation. Some of these questions I’ve raised might seem outlandish, but I think they are actually very likely. Each day of the new administration reveals a more and more depraved view by the administration of human beings who have come to our country, with documents or not. Will we do justice or will we not?

Immigrant Resources and Service Organizations

The Refugee Center (TRC) They provide services essential to refugee and immigrant resettlement in East Central Illinois, and aid in the exchange and preservation of their respective cultures. They do phenomenal work. Challenge for the next 4 years: The drastic reduction in refugee numbers, will create funding issues for all refugee resettlement organizations, including TRC. They work with more than refugees, but this will affect staffing and therefore their ability to serve at their current level.

https://www.therefugeecenter-cu.org

201 West Kenyon Road, Suite 4D, Champaign, IL United States 61820

Email: admin@ecirmac.org Phone: 217-344-8455

Immigrants Services of Champaign-Urbana, or ISCU (formerly CU FAIR) Their purpose is to help immigrant families overcome their adversities and together build a future where their assets and talents fulfill their hopes and dreams. They provide services, furniture and household goods from their warehouse. Often they can meet needs that more grant-driven organizations cannot.

201 W Kenyon Rd, Suite 4-A Champaign, IL 61820

217-800-5725 ISCU@ISC-U.ORG

The Immigration Project They provide low-cost immigration legal services to low-income immigrants. They also provide access to social services. They are based in Bloomington-Normal but also have an office in Champaign. There is always more need for legal access than there is availability so their contribution is vitally important. Those in the asylum process (which often takes 5 years) have a much better chance of receiving asylum if they have an immigration attorney. Without that, no matter how valid their case, their chances of receiving asylum are greatly reduced.

www.immigrationproject.org

Address & Phone: 21 Landmark Dr., Suite B3A, Normal, IL 61761-9680; 309.829.8703

Mailing address: P.O.Box 1503, Bloomington, IL 61702-1503

Champaign Office: 409 Devonshire Drive, Champaign, IL 61820

The New American Welcome Center (NAWC) The NAWC works to make our community a place where all immigrants can thrive and flourish. They seek to pull together many community players in their efforts to make C-U a more welcoming community and created the Champaign County Welcoming Plan to continue to guide this ongoing effort. In many ways they are a “big picture” organization shepherding a process that results in the flourishing for all in our county. They also connect immigrants to community resources and provide some services, including immigrant legal services and family services. Though they are part of the University YMCA they are now located in Lincoln Square Mall. They also have an immigrant relief fund for immigrants:

https://nawc.universityymca.org/support-us/immigrant-relief-fund

Welcoming Plan: https://nawc.universityymca.org/welcoming-plan

Make checks to the University YMCA. In the notation write: New American Welcome Center.

CU Immigration Forum (CUIF) The CU Immigration Forum advocates for, welcomes, educates one another, networks and celebrates our immigrant neighbors and friends. Whether working for local immigrant justice, highlighting issues that our immigrant neighbors face, hosting local forums, creating shows in WRFU and UPTV or celebrating diversity through the annual Immigrant Welcome Awards, we stand with our immigrant communities.

See our Facebook page for public forum: https://www.facebook.com/CUImmigrationForum/

Website: cuimmigration.org or https://immigration-forum.blogspot.com/

Nearby East Central Illinois

Mi Raza in Arcola Mi Raza Community Center provides education, outreach and assistance to immigrants and their families living in Douglas County and the surrounding rural regions. Mi Raza also provides a quiet study area for students to complete homework or get tutoring and a safe play area for children.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Mi-Raza-Community-Center-100064779663869

(217) 268-3555 miraza.arcola@yahoo.com

State & National Organizations

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR): https://www.icirr.org/

American Immigration Council: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/