Day Five: Fresno Urban Immersion

This morning we visited with Dina Gonzales-Pina from Fresno Pacific University. She is the director of spiritual development at the university, and she also is involved in leading a scholarship program that helps the children of undocumented immigrants to attend the school. We met one of those scholars and got to hear about her journey. Then Dina talked to us for a while about the issue of immigration in America. She is a big advocate for helping to find a sensible path to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants and their families living in America. Our group discussed comprehensive immigration reform for while, and a lot of the policy changes that were recommended seemed to make sense.

Next we went to the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministry, or Firm. That organization serves the large refugee population in Fresno that entered the San Joaquin Valley because of the agricultural economic opportunities. A large Hmong and Laotian refugee community of over 30,000 people live in the area. FIRM supports refugees and provides services to help them adjust to life in a new culture. We visited with some refugees at the center who were in an English language class, and I helped a few people with a project they were working on. After that we ate a traditional Laotian meal, and we even participated in a Laotian dance together. I must admit that I just do not have any dance skills.

In the afternoon we went to Evangelicals for Social Action and Love INC. They work in the area to collaborate with churches to help Christians to become involved in transforming their communities by loving the city. Love INC serves as a clearinghouse for churches who have people that come to them to meet material needs. The churches refer individuals to Love INC, where they are screened to make sure the needs are legitimate. They then cooperate with the churches to provide care and aftercare for the individuals. It was a unique way for churches to have a resource that helps them to serve people in need more effectively.

In the evening the Fresno City Summit started, and we had the opportunity to hear from Noel Castallenos who is the president of a national organization called the Christian Community Development Association. He was a very dynamic speaker who motiviated the audience to get involved in development work in their communities. He used a lot of Scripture to provide a biblical foundation for Christians to become active in reaching people outside the walls of their churches. We also networked with Christian leaders from all over Fresno who are interested in making a difference in Fresno.

The immigration discussion at Fresno Pacific was probably one of the most compelling parts of this day. The immigration issue is very polarizing politically in the United States. My position is that I think that our demonstration of the love of God trumps any government policies that are currently in place. In other words, even if people have come to the United States illegally, they still deserve to be loved as neighbors and children of God. Then, when it comes to policy, I am a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship that makes sense. I am not an advocate of amnesty, nor am I an advocate of mass deportation of millions of people or building a bigger wall between the United States and Mexico. Comprehensive immigration reform understands that the current immigration system is broken and has been broken for a long time. In this class, we reviewed a document from the Immigration Policy Center that serves as a primer for comprehensive immigration reform. The document says that "Comprehensive immigration reform is a systematic overhaul of the country's immigration laws that focuses on building checks and balances into our immigration framework." The key elements of the proposal are:

1. Solving the law enforcement and humanitarian dilemma posed by roughly 12 million people living and working in the United States without legal status.
2. Ensuring that immigration enforcement enhances national security and community safety without undermining due process protections.
3. Ensuring that the pull of jobs does not lead to new illegal immigration.
4. Ensuring that immigration policy supports families and American values.
5. Integration and naturalization of immigrants.

The immigration issue is not a neutral issue for churches in America. We should get involved to help to bring about solutions to the modern complexities involving all stakeholders. The important thing for me is that we don't lose sight of the stories of how families are being impacted by the brokenness of the current system. Actually meeting and spending time with an undocumented person helped me to really understand how important action is on this issue.

Besides advocating for comprehensive immigration reform when I return to Pittsburgh, there were other things that I will apply from what I learned today. For instance, the Love INC concept would really be a helpful tool for churches in the Pittsburgh area. I do not know if a clearinghouse exists in Pittsburgh or not. If something like that does exist, I would love to connect North Way with that resource. If it does not exist, it would be great to get some churches on board and get something like that going in the area.