Valley religious leaders call for humane immigration laws

McALLEN — One after another, they took the First United Methodist Church’s stage to tell their personal stories of immigration.

A nun who cared for a family at a shelter after they fled violence in Veracruz. A grown woman, now a U.S. citizen, whose parents endured a dangerous journey in illegally crossing the border years ago. A student attending college on scholarship with no future when she graduates.

“Every day, I wake up and think, ‘If I make the slightest mistake, I could be deported,’” the college student — who declined to give her name — told people from different faiths at the convocation on immigration reform. “I can’t imagine leaving this country behind because this is my home.”

Those personal stories were on attendees’ minds Thursday night as they pledged to support comprehensive immigration reform and develop support within their religious communities for humane laws.

About 60 clergy leaders from the Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist churches took part in Valley Interfaith’s second annual conference to promote immigration reform and educate religious leaders about its issues. The convocation follows Valley Interfaith’s October 2010 event where church leaders unveiled what they believed should be principles of immigration reform, such as upholding family unity, providing legal avenues for migrant workers and creating a path toward citizenship.

But Thursday’s convocation was highlighted by the personal stories of immigrants cornered by the nation’s laws.

Father Alfonso Guevara, the pastor of St. Joseph the Worker in McAllen, said the country’s current immigration laws are inadequate to respond to the real issues facing those families and others like them. Rather than pointing to inanimate statistics claiming more than 11 million illegal immigrants are working and living in the country’s shadows, he said, the personal stories of people whose lives could be altered if they got a minor traffic infraction create a real impetus for change.

“These laws are not in concrete,” he said. “They have to be changed so that we can benefit and care for the least of our persons.”

Valley Interfaith, a Weslaco-based nonprofit that promotes economic and social justice, also conducted educational workshops in English and Spanish on themes such as human trafficking, economic myths and realities of immigration and immigrants’ rights.

The convocation’s purpose was to bring committed faithful together to learn about the issues before they take those lessons back to their congregations, said the Rev. Javier Leyva with El Divino Redentor United Methodist Church. In his church, many of his families are directly affected by outdated immigration laws and are in favor of reforms.

“We want to make sure they know what the issues are and can make decisions or advocate for those issues,” Leyva said. “They can be a voice for those who are not heard or really can’t speak for themselves.”

The clergy leaders said bringing people from all faiths together shows they have much in common with their political beliefs on immigration.

Valley Interfaith asked attendees to commit, among other actions, to voting in November, contacting their federal representatives and teaching others principles of immigration reform presented at the convocation.

Discussing the topic keeps immigration a part of the country’s political discourse and encourages efforts to make the system more humane, said Bishop Daniel Flores with the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. He said society’s basic call is to adjust laws in a “way that they respect the justice and dignity of a human person.”

“Sometimes, it is said that the law is the law,” Flores told attendees after they heard the personal stories. “But we must say, the law does not exist for its own sake. It exists for the good of the human community.”

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and legislative issues for The Monitor. He can be reached at jjanes@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4424.

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