One of the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center was a man from Peru who worked on the 92nd floor of Tower One. He was a permanent resident of the United States, and at the time of his death, he was in the midst of helping his wife become an official resident of the US. In August, the couple had their first interview with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and she received conditional resident status. With her husband's death, her status was in jeopardy. UMCOR helped her apply for permanent resident status through the Justice for Our Neighbors (JFON) program.
JFON clinics have worked overtime since September 11 assisting those who were direct victims of the attacks and those who are suffering because of new, more restrictive legislation and executive orders affecting immigrants. More and more immigrants are being detained. Non-citizens may be detained for seven days while the government decides whether or not to bring immigration or criminal charges against them. Before the attacks, immigrants were able to travel freely between US cities. Now they are being stopped and asked about their immigration status on domestic flights. This affects people with green cards as well as those who are undocumented. Noncitizens traveling internationally are even more vulnerable. In October a JFON client was extradited for failing to disclose a charge that had been dismissed over ten years ago. JFON is assisting him with a request for a waiver from the London Consulate. Otherwise, he is barred from entering the US for five years. People who were eligible to legalize their status in the US by applying for green cards through family or employer petitions are no longer able to do so. Instead they will be driven into an underclass even more unwilling to seek counsel.
Refugees seeking to resettle in the United States have also been affected. Federal government actions virtually halted refugee arrivals and resettlement following September 11. In the last three months of 2001, UMCOR welcomed only three refugee families to the US. In the year 2000, 99 families were resettled during the same period.
The civil liberties of immigrant members of our communities are under threat–and that affects all of us. We are a nation that defines itself by our commitment to civil liberties and human rights. If we fail to protect the rights of immigrants, we are failing our ideals, and our own rights will be in jeopardy. Even more important, Jesus calls us to "love your neighbor as yourself," and to reach out to "the least of these." If we fail to protect immigrants, we are failing our calling as followers of Christ.
The JFON immigration clinics are taking crucial steps to allay the fears of the immigrant community and to sensitize citizens to their plight. The clinics provide immigrants with valuable legal assistance and an opportunity to participate in a community that they often perceive as foreign and hostile. Church volunteers and congregations who participate in the JFON clinics are learning to value the common humanity of those who are members of the undocumented population. Please join in this ministry by giving to Advance #901285-1, "Justice for Our Neighbors."
By assisting immigrants whose struggles have increased with the restrictions and legislation following September 11, UMCOR is faithfully responding to God's call to care for the strangers in our midst.
Photo Credit: copyright © Diana Barnett, September 2001, Used by permission. The picture(s) on this page was taken in Manhattan within a week after the collapse of the World Trade Center. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
