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1. Among latest illegal immigrants: Iraqi Christians
Saturday, as immigration advocates around the country prepared for Monday's rallies, U.S. Border Patrol agents near Brownsville, Texas, arrested three men who had illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. But these aren't Mexicans: They are Iraqis. What's more, they are Chaldean Christians, who told the immigration officials that they're seeking religious asylum after death threats were made against them.

"The first words out of their mouth were, 'Iraqi Christian, Iraqi Christian, Iraqi Christian,'" their lawyer, Humberto Yzaguirre, told The Brownsville Herald. "They said Baghdad was a mess. … They told me that they have seen some of the terrorists kill Christians within their sight." One of the men owned a liquor store, which was burned down by Iraqi Muslims.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in October reported that such religious asylum seekers from Iraq "may not be receiving the protection to which they are entitled under the Refugee Convention." Assistant Secretary of State Richard Greene responded to the commission, saying that the government would work with the UN refugee agency "to ensure that vulnerable Iraqis receive appropriate protection and assistance until durable solutions can be found."

The Iraqis, who pled guilty to illegal entry, will be sentenced on Friday.

2. Appeals court backs ban on social worker's evangelism
Daniel Berry, an employee at the Tehama County (Calif.) Department of Social Services, kept a Spanish Bible on his desk and, in December 2001, put a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" sign in his cubicle. Not acceptable, said his employers. Citing a 1997 memo, they told him, "the Bible and other religious non-verbal communications cannot be visible to your clients." The department also denied his request to use a conference room for voluntary prayer group meetings. Such actions, said the department, would violate the First Amendment's prohibition on government-endorsed religion. But such bans, Berry responded, violate the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom.

Monday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided against Berry.

"The department's clients seek assistance from Mr. Berry in his capacity as an agent of the state. Accordingly, they may be motivated to seek ways of ingratiating themselves with Mr. Berry, or conversely, they may seek reasons to explain a perceived failure to assist them," Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote. "It follows that any discussion by Mr. Berry of his religion runs a real danger of entangling the department with religion. This danger is heightened by Mr. Berry's admission that unless restricted, he will share his faith with others and pray with them."

The court also ruled that Berry "is not deprived of his Bible. He may keep it in his desk drawer and may read it whenever he does not have a client with him in his cubicle. Displaying the Bible implicitly endorses a religious message, and it is precisely that message which the department reasonably seeks to avoid."

3. Texas Supreme Court to hear church discipline case
Peggy Penley's messy 2001 suit against Buddy Westbrook and his Ft. Worth, Texas, CrossLand Community Bible Church is about to go to the Texas Supreme Court. (Weblog gave a brief overview in June 2004.) The Legal Liberty Institute is defending the church, and says it could be a test case on church discipline. Penley's lawyer says it has less to do with Westbrook's role as pastor than with his role as a state-licensed professional counselor. It's definitely a case worth keeping an eye on.

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May (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50