A Clear and Present Mission - Christianity Today

Several years ago, as Elmbrook Church's leaders assessed their outreach to the neighbors surrounding their suburban Milwaukee location, they sought to answer two questions: If our church were to disappear, would the community beyond our congregation weep? And what were the gaps in services to the under-resourced in their community that their church could help to fill?

Aware of a growing Latino immigrant population in nearby Waukesha, the church tasked Paco Cojon with finding answers to these questions. Cojon was a recent immigrant himself. His wife, Jenni, whom he had met in his home country of Guatemala while he was in seminary and she was a missionary, had filed an immigration petition so that they could move together to her hometown in Wisconsin.

After spending a year befriending and listening to members of Waukesha's Latino community, Cojon reported back to the Elmbrook Church leadership that, at that point, few of Waukesha's Latinos would likely even notice if the church were to close its doors. Cojon also discovered a significant gap in services to the immigrant community in Waukesha: there was nowhere to turn for affordable, competent immigration legal advice. He heard multiple stories of individuals who had spent immense sums of money on attorneys (or sometimes non-attorney "consultants") to try to resolve their legal status issues or to be reunited with family members abroad—often with no results.

The Need for Affordable, Competent Legal Services

Waukesha's dearth of immigration legal services is not unique. More than 22 million non-citizens reside in the United States, almost all of whom will need to interact with the federal immigration bureaucracy at some point, in addition to U.S. citizens and corporations who may wish to sponsor relatives or workers from abroad. To navigate the morass of U.S. immigration law, which rivals the tax code in terms of complexity, there are only about 12,000 immigration attorneys in private practice, many of whom charge fees that make their services inaccessible for low-income immigrants.

Unable to afford an attorney, many immigrants accept legal assistance from unauthorized practitioners. Some—imagine a volunteer filling out naturalization forms in a church basement—have the best of intentions but are not adequately trained in the law. Others, with less noble aims, prey upon desperate immigrants with too-good-to-be-true promises in exchange for thousands of dollars.

Storefront "notary public" services abound in immigrant communities, manipulating a false cognate between English and Spanish: a notario in Mexico has earned a credential beyond that of an attorney, but a notary public in the United States merely means someone can verify signatures on legal documents, not give legal advice. The results—even when the unauthorized practitioner means well—can be disastrous financially and, in the worst cases, result in deportation and separation of families. It's not a particularly good witness to the gospel when an immigrant drives by a church and thinks, "Those are the people that got my cousin deported."

To help immigrants get access to authorized, competent legal advice, the federal government has established a process for non-attorneys who meet certain criteria to practice immigration law and represent clients before the federal immigration service. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), a part of the U.S. Department of Justice, will recognize non-profit organizations (including churches) that demonstrate "adequate knowledge, information, and experience," who have access to relevant legal resources and technical assistance, and who charge, at most, nominal fees. Staff or volunteers at those organizations can, with adequate training, become accredited to represent clients before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and, with additional training and experience, immigration judges.

In recent years, Christian organizations, including World Relief (where I work), the Evangelical Free Church of America's Immigrant Hope, the Texas Baptists' Immigration Service and Aid Center (ISAAC), and the Mennonite Central Committee have offered the intensive 40-hour training in immigration law that generally serves as the first step for an organization seeking to become recognized by the BIA.

More Than Filling Out Forms

After learning about the BIA recognition process, Elmbrook Church sent Cojon and Jason Knapp (now Elmbrook's pastor of local mission), and two retired missionaries who had recently returned from Peru, Bob and Ruth Wantz, to one of these week-long intensive trainings in August. Four months later, after also completing the requisite on-the-job shadowing, Elmbrook submitted their application to the BIA for James Place, their storefront community resource center in Downtown Waukesha. Ten months after that, James Place was recognized and fully authorized to provide immigration legal counseling.

James Place now has two church staff members who are accredited by the BIA and three unpaid but highly-committed volunteers, mostly retirees who spend about 20 hours at James Place each week. In the two years since they were first recognized, they have collectively served about 300 clients from 40 different countries.

Elmbrook's legal services ministry at James Place meets a practical need, helping individuals walk through the process of applying for legal status, work authorization, or naturalization, or, for the many who do not qualify under current law, sympathetically explaining that harsh reality so that the individual will not be taken advantage of by swindlers who would happily take their money. In the process, legal counselors also have the opportunity to share why they offer these services—that they are followers of Jesus—and to pray for clients and their cases.

It's not good when an immigrant sees a church and thinks, "They got my cousin deported."

"Providing legal services is more than filling out forms," notes Tim Isaacson, a BIA-accredited representative at Immigrant Hope Atlanta, a legal services ministry based at an Evangelical Free Church of America congregation called The Open Table Community. "It provides an opportunity to listen to people going through complex, difficult circumstances. This is the glass of cool water that Jesus has to offer those in need."

Isaacson's pastor, David Park, concurs: "We cannot simply say to the immigrant family, 'Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,' but do nothing about their physical needs. The church must be a place where their dignity and worth is not based on their documentation, but on the fact they bear the image of God."

Transforming the Local Church

Providing immigration legal services is certainly not a simple, entry-level ministry. It requires a great deal of training and ongoing technical support, notes attorney Courtney Tudi of World Relief, which currently provides support to 12 church-based legal services sites in addition to 19 BIA-recognized programs that it operates directly. Tudi cautions that churches that become BIA-recognized to provide services should also purchase an affordable malpractice insurance policy, as even a well-trained staff person or volunteer could make a mistake that could have serious consequences. The stakes are significant—but so is the potential impact both on the immigrant community and upon the local church.

The Bridge Community Church in Logansport, Indiana, is a compelling example. Unlike Elmbrook Church, the largest church in its state, The Bridge is small. In fact, when Zach Szmara became the pastor of the historic congregation less than three years ago, the church's attendance had declined to about 20 people per week.

In early 2013, when Szmara heard from leaders within his denomination, The Wesleyan Church, about the possibility of churches providing legal services, he jumped at the prospect, hoping it would help to revive his struggling congregation. He trained that summer, shadowed an immigration attorney in the fall, and submitted the church's application for BIA recognition in January of this year. By February their recognition was approved. (Most churches experience a lengthier process, often six months or more).

Szmara now sees clients most Mondays and Wednesdays. In his rural Indiana town, where a pork processing plant has attracted many immigrant workers but there is no immigration attorney, the need is unmistakable. "This week alone we've done ten consultations, and we have six scheduled for next Monday," he told me recently.

Some of those who have come for legal services have returned for Sunday worship services, which are now offered in two languages. The congregation has grown to about 80 regular attenders, most of whom were not previously part of any local church. About half of the congregants on any given Sunday are Hispanic, but Szmara has been surprised by how many new English-speaking, native-born U.S. citizens have joined the church, eager to be a part of the multi-ethnic church that God is building.

The Coming Tsunami of Need

As he has heard the stories of immigrants in his community and now his congregation, Szmara has also become an advocate for immigration reform, convinced that the U.S. immigration system is in need of revisions. In April he traveled to Washington, D.C. for an event called Pastors for Reform, sponsored by the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of evangelical denominations and organizations that advocates for reform consistent with biblical principles. There he met with staffers for several Indiana Members of Congress, urging reforms that would include a combination of increased border security, a more market-sensitive visa system, and an earned legalization process for most of the estimated 11 million immigrants who are present unlawfully.

While the need is already great both in rural Indiana and throughout the country, if and when such immigration reform legislation is passed, the need will become "a tsunami," says Damon Schroeder, executive director of The Immigration Alliance, a coalition that aims to equip and support at least 1,000 BIA-recognized church-based immigration legal clinics to serve one million immigrants by 2017.

The odds of the current Congress passing immigration reform legislation are slim, particularly after a politically polarized response to thousands of unaccompanied immigrant minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border last summer. As a result, President Obama pledged to act within the authority of the Executive Branch to enact limited immigration reforms before January. While no one knows precisely what those reforms will be—the Executive Branch does not have the authority to grant Lawful Permanent Resident status or citizenship, but could allow certain categories of undocumented immigrants to apply for employment authorization—they might affect several million of individuals, most of whom would need to consult with a legal professional to assess their eligibility for any new benefit.

The Obama Administration took a similar (though more limited) action in 2012, instituting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows individuals who entered the United States prior to their 16th birthday and who meet several other criteria to request a deferral of their deportation and apply for employment authorization, with which they can apply for a Social Security number and (in most states) a driver's license. More than 600,000 individuals have applied so far. DACA applicants have accounted for the majority of the clients served by Elmbrook's James Place, The Bridge, and other church-based immigration legal service providers.

Vineyard Columbus in Ohio, which became recognized by the BIA just as the DACA program began, has completed more than 200 DACA applications. Two years later, the first DACA applicants are now returning to renew their work authorization documents. Beth Watkins, who leads Vineyard Columbus's immigration legal counseling ministry, reports that the ongoing relationship with many of these young people has also been an opportunity to invite individuals into their church community.

With the potential for expanded Executive Action in the coming months and eventually broader legislative reforms, The Immigration Alliance's Schroeder sees an opening for local churches. "Providing trustworthy, affordable immigration legal services is a unique way to live out the Great Commandment—loving our newest neighbors in tangible ways—and the Great Commission, joining in God's mission of making disciples of all nations, right within our own communities. My prayer is that the North American church, which too often has viewed immigrants only through a political lens, would not miss this divinely-appointed missional opportunity. 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers'—so far—'are few.'"

What We Learned from the Unaccompanied Minors … about them, and about ourselves.

Last summer thousands of unaccompanied immigrant minors arrived along the U.S.-Mexico border, capturing headlines. In June alone, more than 10,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended, most from countries in Central America with extremely high rates of gang-driven violence.

By August, however, possibly as a result of shifting weather, U.S.-sponsored campaigns in Central America discouraging individuals from making the journey, disruption of criminal smuggling networks, and increased efforts by Mexican immigration authorities to apprehend individuals before they reached the U.S.—the number of unaccompanied child migrants apprehended fell to about 3,000, a relatively normal level.

While media have refocused their attention elsewhere, though, most of the children who arrived over the summer are still in a process awaiting final court hearings to determine if they will be deported or allowed to stay lawfully in the U.S.

While public reaction to this "border crisis" was polarized, many local churches and Christian organizations were—and are—providing a compassionate response:

Providing for Basic Needs: Churches in McAllen, Texas, and elsewhere along the border partnered together to provide food, temporary lodging, and a chance to wash clothing for just-arrived families (who, under the law, are treated differently upon apprehension than unaccompanied minors).

Sheltering Children: Faith-based organizations (among others) are working under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide temporary shelter, educational opportunities, and psychological care for children and to reunite them, when possible, with family members already in the U.S. where they will await court hearings.

Spiritual Support: Detention centers for children work with chaplains to provide spiritual care for children, most of whom self-identified as either Roman Catholic or evangelical Christians.

Advocacy: National evangelical leaders and Christian anti-trafficking organizations lobbied against proposed changes that would have weakened federal legal protections for unaccompanied minors, changes which thus far have not become law.

Discipleship: While many national evangelical leaders advocated for the well-being of unaccompanied minors, the response from Christians "in the pews" was decidedly mixed; the "border crisis" exposes a significant and ongoing need for church leaders to address the issue of immigration as an issue of discipleship—not merely as a political.—MS

Matthew Soerens is the field director for the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of evangelical groups advocating for immigration reform, and the co-author of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate (IVP, 2009).