Go and Do Likewise

Page 1

Go and Do

Likewise

Christians put hands and feet on the gospel when they minister to the physical, social, legal, and spiritual needs of their immigrant neighbors. Here we profile a handful of faith-based efforts to love the strangers among us.

born with her back to the county jail upon her hospital discharge. It is situations like these that JFON wants to see redressed and reduced, but when they occur, JFON seeks to help immigrants understand and navigate the complex American legal system. Potential clients call a phone number and in confidence tell a volunteer what kind of immigration issues they are facing. They are then invited to the next clinic, where they meet with a counselor and fill out a simple form detailing their situation. The clinics last three to five hours, with childcare and hospitality provided by church members. Clients then talk with an attorney who explains to them their options under the law and makes a commitment to work with them during the course of any future legal proceedings. This free legal work is worth an estimated $10,000, an otherwise insurmountable barrier to justice for these poor, undocumented workers. By this summer, JFON Nashville will have moved into its office in Belmont United Methodist Church, and Esquivel will have hung out her shingle as the church’s first full-time lawyer. This will allow them to increase from one clinic a month to three. They plan to host the clinics in several of the state’s largest cities, thereby easing the travel burden for the immigrants. Unfortunately, as Esquivel notes, in Tennessee all immigration cases are heard in Memphis, which sits on the far western border of the state. One Hispanic church in Chattanooga used their church bus to allow members to travel together to their hearings and to support each other. While the clinics are open to all immigrants, the majority of those served are Hispanic, primarily from Mexico and Guatemala. Many have been in the United States for one or two decades, but because of a 1996 change in immigration law, they have become increasingly vulnerable. With the latest push to enforce these laws, hundreds of immigrants are being rounded up in workplace raids or through routine traffic stops. While the focus of the ministry is to serve the very pressing legal needs of immigrants, Esquivel points out that church members of all stripes who get involved have their hearts changed in the process. JFON gives Christian advocates for

Advocacy: United Methodist Committee on Relief’s “Justice for Our Neighbors” National Network b y T odd L . L ake

It is one thing to wring one’s hands about the plight of undocumented immigrants, but quite another to actually do something to help them. Since 1999, the United Methodist Committee on Relief has fostered the creation of a national network of legal aid ministries that provide high quality, free legal counseling and services. Known as Justice for Our Neighbors (JFON), this network also engages in advocacy work on issues of immigration, often in partnership with likeminded community organizations. JFON is currently composed of 22 programs scattered across the country. The newest of these programs is just getting off the ground in Nashville,Tenn., thanks to Harvard-trained lawyer Katherine Dix Esquivel and her fellow Belmont United Methodist Church member Jan Snider. Snider began dreaming about how to help undocumented neighbors in 2007 after filming a story about a JFON program in Michigan.The two women contacted several United Methodist churches, formed a task force, brought in speakers for informal talks, and in 2008 began monthly clinics with the help of three local Methodist congregations. The vulnerability of undocumented immigrants — and the all-too-common lack of a humane, measured response by authorities — made front-page news last year in Nashville when Juana Villegas was stopped for a minor traffic violation on the way to a prenatal visit to her doctor. She was arrested and taken to jail, where she began to have contractions. She was not allowed to let her husband or three children know that she was being taken to the local hospital where she was cuffed to her bed.Two male police officers stood guard as she delivered a son; she was not permitted to take the nursing new-

PRISM 2009

30


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Go and Do Likewise by Evangelicals for Social Action - Prism Magazine - Issuu