July 2008
JFON Network Update
JFON Texas Brings on a Regional Coordinator
For the past 18 months, JFON Texas has been blessed by the hard work and passion of Amy Spaur, one of seven young adults who participated in the Mission Intern Program. Following her 18-month stint in Columbia, Amy assisted JFON TX with volunteer and outreach coordination. Recently commissioned as a Church and Community Worker, Amy will continue as the volunteer and outreach coordinator for both the Dallas and Fort Worth JFON offices. She will be recruiting and training volunteers, speaking in churches and other community organizations about JFON and immigration in general. In addition, she will be organizing immigration symposiums, keeping our task forces and other interested parties informed of current immigration news, as well as assisting clients in the office. Click here to read about Spaur's mission experience or listen to a podcast chronicling her 3-year journey.
Columbus Junction, Iowa: Flooding Affects Clinic
Due to massive flooding caused by recent storms, the Columbus Junction clinic will be cancelled this month, but they are hopeful that the waters will recede in time for their August clinic. Although their church escaped the flood unscathed, many local businesses, homes as well as the city's water treatment plant are still under water. In the midst of this calamity, they are thankful that there have been no fatalities reported in their hometown and that the National Guard is by their side to help. Please continue to keep them in your prayers and thoughts.
JFON Iowa Position Posting
JFON Iowa is in the process of recruiting a second full-time attorney to serve their region. Applicants must meet the criteria for serving as a Church and Community Worker which is a missionary position with the General Board. Interested parties should contact Doris Knight at (515) 277 4719, or dorknight1@cs.com For a complete job description, click here.
JFON Summer Interns
Beginning early June through the end of July, JFON New York and Baltimore-DC is privileged to host two interns through the GBGM Summer Intern Program. Both Leolupe Afu (B/WDC) and Daphne Fernandez (NY) are college students who have chosen to explore the intersection of faith and justice this summer. In addition to helping at the monthly JFON clinics with intake interviews, translation, logistical support and other tasks that help promote hospitality at the clinic—they are helping with various administrative, organizational and coordinating tasks. Our hope is that this internship will give them an opportunity to explore ways in which their talents and career goals can be used to make a positive impact on the lives of vulnerable and marginalized people. Click here to learn more about the interns.
JFON National Staff changes
The season has brought many changes here at the JFON National office that will help us both strengthen and build the JFON network. Naomi Madsen will focus solely on refugee ministries—supporting the refugee ministry work of the United Methodist Church and affiliate churches engaged in refugee sponsorship and resettlement. Madsen continues to educate churches about refugee issues and works with the 45 Annual Conference Refugee/Immigration Coordinators (RIM Coors).
Alice Mar has been promoted to JFON Program Manager and Cheryl Pierce is the new JFON Program Coordinator. Cheryl brings with her many years of experience within Global Ministries as well as her energy and dedication. We are thrilled to welcome her to the JFON family.
Greetings from Cheryl: I am excited to introduce myself as the new Program Coordinator. My previous position as an Administrative Assistant in the General Board of Global Ministries’ General Administration unit, has prepared me to take on this new role with increased responsibilities. This is a wonderful and awesome opportunity for me and I look forward to getting to know you all, as well as sharing my gifts and talents with the JFON program.
Large Grants: Iowa IOLTA and MI State Bar
As a testimony to the great work JFON is doing to serve the legal needs of a very vulnerable population—the impoverished and those in prison— two JFON regions recently received large grants to support and/or expand their work in Iowa and Michigan
Iowa was awarded a $25,000 IOLTA Grant for July 2008-June 2009 by the Iowa Supreme Court. This grant is administered by state bar associations for the express purpose of providing quality legal service to impoverished persons.
Michigan was granted $21,500 from the Michigan State Bar Foundation. The majority of this grant will be used to cover the local portion of the CCW package for Susan Reed. The additional $5000 will fully fund their Detained Outreach project which serves inmates at the ICE Detention Center at Calhoun County Jail. JFON Regional Attorney Susan Reed provides counseling and Know-Your-Rights workshops twice a month at this institution, with the assistance of law students and volunteer attorneys.
Annual Conferences Speak Out On Immigration Raids and Detention
Following the recent immigration raid in Postville, IA, many United Methodists in Iowa decided to propose a resolution at the annual conference. The resolution, which was approved, condemns immigration raids and calls for its immediate cessation as well as the passage of comprehensive immigration law reform. Likewise, North Carolina, Kentucky, Western Ohio, Western North Carolina, and Mississippi have approved similar resolutions. These concerted actions have been the result of the work of the United Methodist Immigration Task Force, created by UM Resolution No. 118, and co-chaired by Bishop Minerva Carcaño and Bishop Max Whitfield. The task force learned of the proposed Iowa resolution and worked to encourage similar actions in other conferences. The purpose of the task force is to coordinate the work of the general agencies toward strengthening immigration advocacy and education within the United Methodist Church.
Immigration Detention
They do not call them “jails” but “detention centers” and they do not call the people “prisoners” but “detainees”. Why?
The U.S. government acknowledges that the jailing of undocumented immigrants is a matter of “administrative” immigration law and not criminal law. Most immigrants are “detained” because they have violated immigration law in some way but these are civil violations, like speeding and jaywalking. Generally people who commit civil violations are not imprisoned. Yet, the government does just this for immigrants. Many are held for months and even years because they entered the country without proper documents, overstayed their visa, or risked their lives walking through the desert searching for a new life in which they and their families would have a better chance for survival.
These “detention centers” are jails in all but name. Most immigration “detention centers” are actually housed within jails run by a county, city, or state where convicted criminals are imprisoned. Immigrants held for administrative reasons receive the same conditions and restrictions as convicted criminals. For example, an immigrant imprisoned at a Maryland county jail can only have one of her/his children visit and only on the first Saturday of the month – because that’s the rule for convicted criminals.
In truth, individuals jailed for immigration violations are actually subject to harsher conditions as they do not have the full Constitutional protection – from cruel and unusual punishment or inhumane treatment – afforded to convicted criminals who are U.S. citizens. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t have enforceable rules to ensure those protections. Without these protections, incarcerated immigrants are extremely vulnerable and indeed, there have been many discoveries of abuse and mistreatment of immigrants in these jails. Thankfully, in the past year and a half, the U.S. Congress has finally begun to turn its attention to these abuses and have held congressional hearings on immigration detention conditions.
The following links provide more information about immigration detention:
Slate.com article discusses the abuses inherent in ICE’s Operation Return to Sender http://www.slate.com/id/2192393
ACLU article about a lawsuit challenging the conditions at a Texas detention Center http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/31469prs20070827.html
For more on the continuing saga of the Don T. Hutto Residential Facilitiy in Taylor, TX http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/node/402
A San Diego Union Tribune article on the detention of asylum seekers and torture victims.http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080618/news_lz1e18aceves.html
New York Times article: Federal Report Recommends Improvements in Reporting Deaths of Immigrant Detainees http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/us/03detain.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
For more information on immigration “detention,” visit www.detentionwatchnetwork.org.
Our Work
From Nashville, TN
We have heard much about the immigration raids taking place at farms, food processing plants and other work places all across the States for the past few months. While ICE officials insist that they are simply upholding the immigration laws currently in place, lives are being destroyed. Laura* is one such person who found herself swept up in one of these raids.
Most of Laura’s life has been one of quiet desperation highlighted by moments of hope. She was born into a family of nine children in Retalhuleu, Guatemala and always understood that her brothers were more valued than she or any of her sisters. Since her family was poor, Laura’s father decided to send only the boys to school. Laura desperately wanted to go to school and she never gave up hope. Her dream of going to school was realized at the age of 10 when the priests at the Catholic Church she attended agreed to pay her school fees.
When Laura was 18, she was forced her to marry her boyfriend when her father learned of their relationship. Her husband later turned angry and abusive when Laura could not conceive a child quickly. Luckily for Laura, those outbursts were infrequent since her husband worked far away in Mexico. After three years of marriage, Laura finally became pregnant. However, the abuse and violence continued— even after the birth of their son.
Although Laura was under a cloud of tough conditions, she was able to see the suffering of many other women in her community. This lead to her involvement with Conalfa—an organization that promotes literacy and addresses the problems of Guatemalan women—including domestic violence, discrimination against Indigenous people and land tenure. The 1990’s were a dangerous time to be a political activist in Guatemala and many of Laura’s co-workers were killed as a consequence. Although she knew that her life was at risk, she refused to give up because she finally felt empowered to take control of her own life. However, even with a sense of empowerment to strengthen her, she lived under a constant state of fear. "As I got more involved in work with popular organizations and movements for indigenous and campesino rights, my family was turning more and more against me. I did not feel safe living there because of the work I did and how my husband was continuously threatening me,” said Laura.
In 1998, Laura’s father became ill and she needed to earn more money so she could care for him. She seized the opportunity to cross the border with the help of a coyote. Laura agreed to pay the coyote upfront 400 quetzales (about $60 US) and then pay the rest as she earned it upon arrival in the US. When they arrived in California, the coyote told her that he had arranged for her to stay with a Guatemalan man who would help her find employment.
The next few months for Laura would be a living nightmare. Cesar*, the Guatemalan man who was supposed to help her —instead enslaved Laura and raped her repeatedly—claiming that she owed him since he had paid off her debt to the coyote. Laura lost all sense of her hard-fought independence. But by some miracle, Melissa,* an acquaintance of Cesar’s, realized that there was something seriously wrong between Laura and Cesar. A couple of days later Melissa broke into their apartment and rescued Laura.
In April 1999, Laura moved to Michigan to be near some relatives. There she was able to find a job and pay off her debt to Cesar, which was handled through a trusted acquaintance who did not reveal her new location. Although the debt was paid in full, Cesar did not relent in his quest to locate her and traveled to Guatemala to find her. “He taunted my son, telling him that his mother was a whore and owed him money. It still hurts me to think that my son had to go through that,” said Laura. Her son soon fled to the U.S. to avoid having to confront Cesar again.
Unfortunately, Laura’s story does not yet have a happy ending. She was recently arrested during an immigration raid at the poultry plant where she worked and is now trying to fight deportation proceedings. She is seeking asylum protection from the U.S. government on the basis of the danger she would face from both her ex-husband and Cesar—if she were forced to return to Guatemala. Laura’s only hope is to be able to live in a country that enables her to live with dignity and safety.
*Not their real name.
