From the American Baptist Home Mission Societies website:
American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) was represented at a July 31 immigration reform rally in Washington, D.C. While emphasizing the plight of unaccompanied children crossing the border between the United States and Central America, the rally advocated for an end to deportation and an extension of deferred action to all immigrants currently in the United States.
Participating in the rally was the Rev. Aundreia Alexander, Esquire, ABHMS national coordinator of Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services, who stresses the long overdue need to reform the broken U.S. immigration system because it cannot address the backlog of approximately 10 million undocumented individuals—many of whom have lived in the United States for decades.
“They have established lifestyles here. They work, they may own property. They are actively involved in their churches,” she says. “In many cases, they’re serving in leadership positions in their church—maybe they’re even pastors.”
In addition, ABHMS sponsored round-trip transportation to the rally for nine members of the New Sanctuary Movement (NSM) of Philadelphia, an ecumenical immigration advocacy organization. The nine were arrested at the rally for an act of civil disobedience—specifically, close proximity to the White House. Two of them—Marcus Pomeroy and Caroline Cargo—are also members of the Immigration Justice Group at Central Baptist Church (CBC), Wayne, Pa.
