Help Stop Raids on Central American Families/ A Human Rights Issue/You Can Help

Pres. Obama: Stop the raids on Central American families. As people of faith and moral conscience, we are outraged by the Obama administration's violation of human rights by raiding and deporting immigrants and refugees seeking asylum. We pledge to resist these acts of violence and persecution by offering up our voices, actions and bodies to stand with our immigrant and refugee brothers and sisters.  Click here to join the movement. Yesterday, I called the White House and Senate and asked that our government stop the raids on Central American families. As an immigrant from Ireland who came to the U.S. in 1956, I feel compassion and solidarity with the families being torn apart by imprisonment and deportation.  I asked myself, what would Jesus do? In Matthew 25 the answer is clear:"Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers and sisters that you do unto me."   Join me  in advocating for these desperate families who live in fear of  persecution and imprisonment in the United States because they are seeking asylum in response to violence in their homeland  in Latin America. Together we can create a more just and compassionate world. Reach out in love. Make the call today.  Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org Right now - young mothers and children are being rounded up by immigration officials in cities across the country. ICE officers show up at their doors unannounced, deceiving them to gain entry, waking up sleeping children, and taking away their families to detention centers where mothers and their children are jailed until they are deported back to the rape, murder, and domestic violence they are fleeing. Tell President Obama this is a violation of human rights.  At Southside Presbyterian Church here in Tucson, Arizona - we feel as if we are once again living through a nightmare that is all too familiar to us. Back in the 1980s when Central Americans were fleeing the horrific violence of civil war, they came to our country seeking asylum but were met with deportation orders and were sent back to the death squads they sought to escape. And so communities of faith did the only thing we could: We formed an underground railroad and declared sanctuary for Central American refugees. When human life was on the line, we knew that the only ethical act was resistance. Will you join our powerful act of resistance and solidarity by adding your voice to our moral call? Our faith traditions are very clear that our very salvation is dependent on what we do in this moment. And in this moment - as people are running for their lives from horrific violence - the gift that we as religious leaders and faith communities have to offer is the gift of sanctuary. Since May of 2014, Southside has become immersed once again in the work of sanctuary when we welcomed a local undocumented father facing deportation into sanctuary - after about a month we were able to get him a stay of deportation and he was able to safely leave sanctuary. But another amazing thing happened when he entered sanctuary - other communities of faith started to discern whether they could do the same, and the movement began to grow. With your voice and your actions, you can keep this movement growing and show the Obama administration you will not stand by while they terrorize thousands of immigrant and refugee families. Every day we are talking to a new congregation and every day we are hearing of a new family devastated - but we have been here before and as we keep mobilizing and organizing churches and start moving people into sanctuary, it is our prayer and our hope that the Obama Administration will soon realize that they have been through this with us before. Even though they tried to do everything they could to stop the Sanctuary Movement over the past 30 years, they could not stop people of faith and conscience who knew that their faith compelled them to resist through the work of sanctuary - and thousands of lives were saved. Your support in this moment is critical - sign the pledge to stand with our immigrant and refugee brothers and sisters. As politicians and presidential hopefuls play games with people's lives, as the Obama administration uses raids as a tactic of fear - preachers in pulpits across the nation are preaching a very difficult gospel: A gospel of hospitality, of welcome, of love for our neighbor - an ethic of resistance. And pew by pew, congregation by congregation, the movement is growing and we are getting ready to open our doors to prevent deportations. The movement won't stop until there is not one more family living in fear of deportation. When they ask you what you did in this moment, what will you say? Join the movement of resistance. In solidarity, Rev. Alison Harrington Groundswell