North American Methodists build bridges on immigration

By Elliott Wright*

TUCSON, Ariz. (UMNS) - Concern for people migrating across political borders is motivating increasing mission collaboration between The United Methodist Church in the United States and the Methodist Church of Mexico.

Simultaneously, United Methodist general agencies are stepping up their collective attention to U.S. immigration policy and legislation.

Bishops and others from annual (regional) conferences north and south of the U.S.-Mexican border met Dec. 1-2 in Tucson to formalize what will be called the Methodist Border Mission Network. It was the third meeting of its kind in the last 15 months.

The day before, meeting in Phoenix, representatives from most of the general agencies and the denomination's Council of Bishops set up an Interagency Task Force on Immigration, a possibility projected by the church's legislating General Conference six years ago.

This panel will focus on federal, state and local immigration policy and on education about immigration issues within the denomination. The emphasis is on just immigrant policy and comprehensive U.S. immigration reform legislation.

Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Phoenix convened the interagency group as chairperson of an immigration committee of the Council of Bishops. In addition, as host bishop, she presided at the meeting that set up the border mission group. Most of the participants in the interagency group also attended the Tucson sessions to make presentations on existing programs dealing with immigrants.

Cooperative work between U.S.-Mexican border conferences is not new, but it has taken on new urgency as, acting under current laws, the United States has slowed the flow of undocumented people moving north from Mexico and Central America. Those who do cross are often in dire need of human necessities. More and more people are being stranded along the southern border, and increasing numbers are being jailed or deported by the United States with no resources to return to their places of origin.

Bishops or their delegates from three Mexican and four U.S. annual conferences began meeting in 2005 to consider mutual concerns related to immigration. The series of meetings were made possible by a grant from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Bishop Joel N. Martínez of San Antonio, the board's president, has strongly promoted the initiative.

World without borders
The new bi-national group envisions a time when God's people engage in mission in a world without borders. Its mission is to "manifest our Wesleyan heritage in cross border ministries through mutually empowering collaboration between the Methodist Church of Mexico and The United Methodist Church."

"This new border mission network will begin with the acute matter of immigration, but we want to anticipate an expanded agenda in the future," Martínez said.

He noted that his conference and others along the northern border have sustained relations with corresponding Mexican Methodist conferences to the south. United Methodist Volunteers in Mission form one of the major means of interaction.

The Rev. Felipe Ruiz, who heads the immigration ministry of the Mexican church, said that 82 percent of the people crossing the border into the United States are from Mexico, with Hondurans, Salvadorians and Brazilians forming the next largest groups.

Saving lives
A major concern at both the border consultation and the interagency meeting was how the churches serve acute human needs and work to prevent the loss of life among migrants. Both gatherings acknowledge that migration - the movement of people - is a global reality challenging the churches.

Considerable attention in Tucson focused on the different ways in which the U.S. and Mexican churches experience the current immigration situation.

In the United States, the concern is that of hospitality and life-saving services. In Mexico, the ministry opportunities arise in relation to three groups: Central Americans passing through on the way to the border, the concentration of hopeful crossers along the border, and those being deported by the United States. Many people are being assisted by the Methodist Aid Center for Migrants, sponsored by the church in Mexico.

700-mile wall
Last September, the Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church of Mexico adopted a resolution questioning certain aspects of current U.S. immigration policy. The action questioned the wisdom of the proposal to build a wall along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile border. Such a wall, the bishops said, "will result in more immigrants dying in their attempt to enter the USA." Directors of the Board of Global Ministries endorsed this perspective in a resolution passed in October.

Bishop Milton Velasco Legorreta of Chihuahua and Bishop Jaime Vazquez Olmena of San Ysidro took part in the Tucson deliberations. United Methodists were represented by the Desert Southwest, Southwest Texas, California-Pacific and New Mexico Annual conferences.

United Methodist agencies and organizations taking part in the Interagency Task Force on Immigration include the Council of Bishops; Board of Church and Society; Board of Discipleship; Board of Global Ministries and its United Methodist Committee on Relief and Women's Division; Commission on Religion and Race; Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns; General Council on Finance and Administration; and the National Plan for Hispanic and Latino Ministries.

Programs highlighted included UMCOR's Justice for Our Neighbors, which sponsors 22 congregation-based legal clinics for immigrants in the United States, and the educational work of United Methodist Women on migration-related concerns.

*Wright is the information officer of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.