National Migration Week 2013 will be held from January 6-12 with a primary theme of “We are Strangers No Longer: Our Journey of Hope Continues.” This year's National Migration Week observance and theme commemorate the 10th anniversary of the historic joint pastoral letter of the United States and Mexico bishops conferences, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope. The observance of National Migration Week was begun over a quarter century ago by the Catholic Bishops to provide …Read More
The Economic Contribution of the Immigrant
Returning to our Immigration 101 course, the topic for this blog post is, “Do immigrants help or hurt the economy?” Another way of asking this question is, “Are new immigrants a burden on the country or do they make an economic (as well as other types of) contribution.” Before we take a look at the economic data, I thought that this study by the Pew Research Center was interesting. It found that the majority of white evangelicals, about 60%, believe that immigrants are a burden on the …Read More
The Biblical Story as a Migration Story
When reading the Bible one comes across many important themes. Salvation, forgiveness, and the unconditional love of God are a few. Another would be migration. My friend Joan Maruskin wrote an article calling the Bible the “Ultimate Immigration Handbook.” Joan writes that, “The Biblical story is a migration story. The Bible is the story of the uprooted People of God seeking safety, sanctuary and refuge and the living God giving directions for welcoming the stranger. From Adam and Eve, to …Read More
People of Faith Participating in the Political Debate
Hello to all who read this blog. As you know the first few blog posts have been educational in nature, as I have tried to do a mini-on-line, basic immigration 101 course. I want to continue that for a few more sessions, but in this post, I want to look at a related but different topic. Last Tuesday was Election Day in the United States. The election for president was once again very closely contested, pointing out the continued divisions in our country. President Obama won somewhat easily …Read More
Why Don’t They Come Legally?
Hello. In the last blog post I wrote about the undocumented immigrant. He or she is the person who is in the United States without proper immigration status. He or she could be a person who was here originally with a legal visa, but when that visa expired they decided to stay. Or it could be someone who “Entered Without Inspection” through the desert or across the river. In this post I want to consider the reasons that a person would come to the United States illegally. “Why don’t they …Read More