Will You Add Your Name to Stand with Vulnerable Immigrants in the Midst of the Crisis?
Dear friends,
As the United States gradually re-opens, a new presidential proclamation has suspended most overseas processing of immigrant visas for at least the next sixty days – and potentially longer. Key programs designed to offer protections to those who have fled persecution, such as the refugee resettlement program and the process for requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, are currently on hold. Critical child-protection elements of a law that passed in part due to persistent advocacy from evangelical Christians, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, are put on hold in light of COVID-19.
Last week, leaders from the Evangelical Immigration Table sent a letter to President Trump. They affirm that temporary travel restrictions make sense when driven by public health concerns, but they express concerns over several specific new restrictions to lawful immigration to the United States. “Reducing legal immigration and setting aside laws designed to protect vulnerable people at this time will neither slow the spread of COVID-19 nor speed the economic recovery,” the letter says. “Instead, we are concerned that these restrictions will hinder economic growth, contribute to family separation, increase illegal immigration and put vulnerable children and families who have fled persecution at risk of further harm. We urge you to reconsider.”
Since you’ve lent your voice to advocacy efforts from the Evangelical Immigration Table in the past, I’m reaching out to invite you to add your name to this letter, expressing concerns over several recent restrictions to immigration and suspension of programs and laws designed to protect the vulnerable. To review the whole letter and add your name, click here.
Please invite other Christians whom you think would want to advocate to sign on as well. Once we reach a critical mass of signatures, we plan to re-send the letter to the White House with an updated list including your name and the other local leaders who sign on.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration, and I hope you and your family are well in the midst of this crisis.
In Christ,
Matthew Soerens
National Coordinator, Evangelical Immigration Table
