On June 25^th President Obama, Vice President Biden, and key cabinet members met with a bipartisan group of Senate and House leaders representing the spectrum of opinion on immigration. The White House characterized the meeting as the "launch" of a policy conversation and "an honest discussion about the issues...identifying areas of agreement and areas where we still have work to do, with the hope of beginning the debate in earnest later this year." The President's remarks after the meeting indicate not only his full commitment to moving immigration reform forward in the coming year, but also his desire to shift the debate from inflammatory rhetoric to genuine dialogue. As with other major initiatives, the President announced the formation of an immigration working group led by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Secretary Napolitano will work with members of Congress to reach solid, practical solutions. (Source: Migration Policy Center)
IIC Press Release: Interfaith Immigration Coalition Applauds President Obama’s Commitment to Fixing America’s Immigration Laws

Episcopal Life Online on the IIC Press Release:“Interfaith coalition applauds Obama commitment on immigration”

National Immigration Call: JOIN US!!!

Join us on our next National Faith and Immigration Conference Call, Monday July 6 at 4 pm EST, as we focus on providing a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants, with specific emphasis on the DREAM Act.

On Monday July 6 at 4 pm EST, you can join people of faith throughout the United States by calling 800-920-7487 and the code, 76723736.  

This will be an abbreviated call, with the focus on the DREAM Act. After receiving an update about this legislation and some upcoming opportunities for our August Month of Action – we will take action together and call our Representatives on Capitol Hill and urge them to support the DREAM Act.

 The second half of the call will be a time for action! Everyone will hang up, and make 3 calls to the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121, asking for your Representative and both of your Senators. To each office, we suggest you say:

Hi, my name is……………….and I’m from………….. As a person of faith, I support the DREAM Act, a bipartisan proposal that is sensible and humane, that would give young immigrants the opportunity to further their education, get on a path to citizenship, and secure their futures in this country once and for all.

Once we have finished these calls – we’re not done! Each of us can will then call at least 2 or 3 others in our faith communities, give them the Capitol Hill phone number, and urge them to make the same calls you did with the same messaging.

Let’s continue to make the voices of faith communities heard on Capitol Hill. We support comprehensive immigration reform and want to make sure students and families are protected! Call in Monday July 6 at 4 pm EST and let’s take this important action together!!

MONTH OF ACTION ON IMMIGRATION REFORM - August 1^st / September 7^th

Join faith communities throughout the country in August for a Month of Action. Your faith community can choose to host a prayer vigil, plan a Neighbor to Neighbor in-district meeting, or collaborate with other congregations and host a town hall with your member of Congress called, Breaking Bread and Barriers. All are focused on meeting with your Member of Congress and urging their support of comprehensive immigration reform. Below are all the materials you need to plan any of these events – now just add your creativity and determination! The focus is to mobilize faith communities in strategic states and districts to have contact with Members of Congress and urge their support for comprehensive immigration reform in the fall. The means of Member contact will vary, based on what the local faith communities feel is most effective and appropriate for their context:

• Host a prayer vigil and invite your Member of Congress

• Neighbor to neighbor in-district lobby visit

• Invite your Member of Congress to a potluck/town hall meeting called, Breaking Bread and Barriers, hosted by several congregations, with the purpose of having Congressional Representatives share their stance on comprehensive immigration reform, answer questions, and for the community to highlight positive contributions of immigrants.

Reform Immigration For AmericaSummit – June 3-5

Close to 700 leaders from immigrant community, labor, and faith organizations from around the country met June 3-5, 2009 at a summit in Washington, DC to build momentum for the passage of just and humane immigration reform. During those days 137,000 faxes were sent to congress asking for immigration reform this year.

Faith leaders also participated at a town hall meeting with members of congress (Rep. Gutierrez, Rep. Honda, Rep. Lofgren and Sen. Menendez). Rev. Anna Lange Soto, from one our congregations in Redwood CA, spoke at the event. You can see some pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ri4a/

Over the last weeks, more than 50 communities of faith gathered in churches and on the streets all over the country to pray for our elected leaders as they work to move comprehensive immigration reform forward. Several Episcopal Churches organized prayer vigils: St. Matthew/San Mateo Episcopal Church in Auburn, WA; St. John’s, Bisbee, AZ; Grace Cathedral, CA etc.

Please continue to remember those who suffer daily under our broken immigration system and to pray for action on immigration reform in your worship services. 

Help us send the message that immigration reform is an urgent, moral concern for people of faith around the country—post your worship service, prayer vigil or other event on our web calendar at www.interfaithimmigrationcal.org. 

Please share with us information and pictures (or video) of your event at awhite@episcopalchurch.org

Prayer Vigil in WashingtonDC  

Numerous religious leaders prayed for urgency and action on immigration reform on Wednesday, June 17^th at the historic Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. Approximately 150 people of faith gathered to pray for President Obama and Congress to have the courage to move legislation forward this year. Diverse faith leaders – representing the breadth of support for comprehensive immigration reform in America’s faith communities – joint hundreds of people of faith who have come from across the country to call for swift and meaningful immigration reform that unites families, protects workers, and treats all immigrants fairly and humanely. Among those speaking at the event: Rabbi Darryl Crystal, KAM Isaiah Israel, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Chicago, IL; Rev. Simon Bautista, Latino Missioner for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; Fr. Robert Wotjek, Archdiocese of Baltimore, MD Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd, Bull Run Unitarian Universalist in Manassas, VA.  
Press clips:

Roll Call: Immigration Backers Fear Back Burner By Jennifer Bendery June 17, 2009

National Catholic Reporter: Immigration Reform…Now By Michael Sean WintersJune 17, 2009

New York Daily News: Obama must follow vow to tackle immigration reform By Albor Ruiz June 18, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0o3rFsXfNI&feature=related

For more information go to: http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/blog/take-action/faith-leaders-and-children/
http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/blog/materials.

The Episcopal Church has endorsed the legislation introduced by Rep. Honda Reuniting Families Act HR 2709 and has sent a letter to members of congress in support of the legislation. We are also supporting the senate bill S.1085 introduced by Sen. Menendez and have singed on a letter supporting the bill that was sent with members of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. We have also supported two letters, one in support of the House bill and one in support on the senate version, sent by some organizations that are part of the Family Immigration Coalition.

EPPN Alert on WRD

The United Nations General Assembly has designated June 20th World Refugee Day to honor the millions of refugees as they seek to build a better life. Every day thousands of people are forced to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. They are united by hope for a better future and a chance to restore peace to their lives.

For more than 60 years, The Episcopal Church has been advocating for and resettling refugees. Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) was once part of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and is now one of ten agencies that work with the U.S. Department of State to resettle refugees. EMM receives federal funding, but relies upon the support of individual parishes and its affiliate network to provide direct services to refugees.

Take Action Today:
Ask Congress to support refugees by providing the necessary financial assistance to refugees abroad and for those resettled in the United States.

Episcopal Migration Ministries organized a live Web cast on World Refugee day with the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Smith (Connecticut) and Deborah Stein, Director of EMM.

You can access the PB sermon for World Refugee Day Chapel Service here: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78703_111026_ENG_HTM.htm

Read World Refugee Day Episcopal News Service Articles:

§         Panel discusses church's response to plight of world's refugees in live webcast

§            World Refugee Day turns spotlight on millions of displaced people worldwide

About 300 members of the Haitian Coalition for TPS and the Haitian Citizen United Task Force, Inc. traveled from South Florida to rally outside the White House today to highlight the critical need for Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.

In December of 2008, the United States began forcibly deporting 30,000 Haitians back to their country, a country ravaged by consecutive natural disasters last September. The two hurricanes and two tropical storms that hit Haiti in devastating succession during harvest season last year killed nearly 1,000 people and left 800,000 of the country’s residents in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. The storms destroyed at least $180 million in crops, exacerbating an existing food shortage.

Legislative and Administrative Updates

The Attorney General Eric Holder withdraw a decision written by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey which made it far more difficult for immigrants to reopen their immigration cases when they had ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Mukasey’s decision, Matter of Compean, 24 I&N Dec. 710 (A.G. 2009), held that immigrants in removal proceedings had no right to counsel under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. It further held that while the Immigration Judge could reopen cases when an immigrant was prejudiced by the actions of private counsel, the immigrant had to provide extensive evidence of this prejudice that was not required in the past. 

Reuniting Families Act introduced in the House

Rep Michael Honda, introduced the Reuniting Families Act, H.R. 2709, which presented a key component of comprehensive immigration reform: family reunification.  The legislation ends lengthy separations of loved ones, promotes family stability, and fosters the economic growth that immigrant families have provided throughout our history. Rep Honda said, “The Reuniting Families Act should be at the heart of comprehensive immigration reform, seeking to fix our broken immigration system while taking into account the current economic climate. Our family-based immigration system has not been updated in 20 years, separating spouses, children and their parents, who have played by the rules, for years, often decades. Our proposed legislation is in line with both American family values and with our short-term need to grow our economy and save taxpayer money.”

The Congressional Refugee Caucus has been reconstituted and is now chaired by Representatives Lofgren, Conyers, Chris Smith, and Lincoln Diaz-Balart.  Other members who have thus far joined include Reps. Grijalva, Gutierrez, Jackson-Lee, Linda Sanchez, and McDermott.

On Tuesday, June 9, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was granting temporary relief from deportation to the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens. The Orphans, Widows and Widowers Protection Act introduced by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) addresses the immigration-related hardships caused by the death of a sponsoring relative. This bill would go further to extend permanent relief to a broader group of orphans, widows and widowers of legal immigrants including the relatives of U.S. citizens, permanent residents and refugees. In general, U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can file immigration applications on behalf of immediate relatives.  Currently, if a sponsoring relative dies, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service will generally deny the petition after the sponsoring relative’s death. 

National: IMMIGRATION IMPACT: The Numbers Are In: Most Americans Want an Immigration Overhaul http://www.alternet.org/story/140533/ - Despite anti-immigrant groups repeated attempts to sway public opinion by scapegoating immigrants for the recession, new polling data suggests that the majority of likely voters actually support an overhaul of our broken immigration system--an overhaul that includes a path to citizenship for the roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants living in America.

From the ImmigrationPolicyCenter:

Students Storm Capitol Hill for National DREAM Act Graduation Day
Last week more than 500 students from across the country gathered in Washington, DC, to take part in the National DREAM Act Graduation Ceremony. Although only a symbolic ceremony, students from different countries and backgrounds stood as one in an effort to push Congress to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act), which remains another important step in the broader fight for comprehensive immigration reform.

Faith Leaders Crusade for Immigration Reform
Many interfaith groups have been the most vocal in calling on the new Administration and 111th Congress to "enact humane and equitable immigration reform in 2009."

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