9/5/17  From General Minister and President Terri Hord Owens:

“I mourn for the wound that is opened in the hearts of the more than three quarters of a million youth and young adults who, with their families, grieve because of the President’s unwillingness to maintain the work sustaining and education encouraging and community supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA recipients are our neighbors in nearly every community. They are our classmates in nearly every college,  university, and seminary. They are our friends in our workplaces–sometimes whether we know it or not. And they are key leaders in our churches; brave and faithful and full of determination to contribute consistently to build up the strength of their families and neighborhoods and congregations. Our relationships with these fine young people and their families help us to fulfill our call to welcome the sojourner and experience unity among the diverse tapestry of communities in our church and nation.

“Therefore, the President’s decision to end the DACA program without certainty of legislative action to protect those who have come forward to receive DACA status seeks to bully the breath from their life hope, and to browbeat our efforts to follow scripture’s command for hospitality.

“Likewise, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients are our church pastors, leaders, and strength from Haitian, Salvadorans, and other backgrounds. Therefore, threats from the administration to eliminate TPS for vulnerable populations are unmerciful. They harm our faith family directly and seek to replace the economic healing and health offered through TPS with danger and even potential death if recipients are deported to disastrous conditions in their homeland.

“DACA and TPS recipients have followed the calling of God in Jeremiah 27:9 to ‘seek the welfare of the city to where I send you;’ and our faith compels us likewise to support the well being and healing of those who offer their gifts generously to our nation.  We therefore urge immediate passage of The DREAM Act of 2017 by Congress which would offer stability to the lives of immigrant leaders, and we are committed to continuing work for compassionate immigration reforms that can support family unity, offer a stable future to hardworking immigrants, and enable them to fully utilize their God-granted gifts without fears of deportation.”

To follow this issue, go to the Disciples Home Missions Refugee and Immigration Ministry page