Immigration Counseling in Sioux City, Iowa

On Sunday, June 27, 1999, a meeting attended by 24 adults was held at Whitfield United Methodist Church in Sioux City, Iowa. This is one of the sites of a new mission project of the General Board of Global Ministries called "Justice for Our Neighbors."

The Rev. Janet Horman--a United Methodist pastor and immigration attorney from the Florida Conference, working with the "Just Neighbors" ministry in Virginia--is director of the "Justice for Our Neighbors" program. On Monday, she gave out the first chapter of A Guide for Immigration Advocates. She followed this with an introduction to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and aspects of immigration law. Then we took a break to do Bible study on the immigrant experience as seen in the Bible.

On Tuesday, from 5:30 until about 8:45 p.m., 19 clients--Guatemalans and Salvadorans-- were served by 20 volunteers, including interpreters, intake workers, and six volunteer lawyers. Because of its Hispanic connection, our clinic was able to draw in Guatemalan and Salvadoran clients who needed assistance in filing for residency under a new law that benefits them if they were living in the United States in 1990. Follow-up work included sending faxes to the INS and making calls to the 800 number for the INS court.

We are interested in recruiting an attorney who would work full time for the project, enabling us to extend our service and education to more communities. We have the potential to coordinate activities between Sioux City, Des Moines, and Omaha. We could keep an attorney quite busy with training of legal-clinic participants and with advocacy and educational activities. We will continue to work hard to be worthy of the trust you have placed in us.