Immigration & Refugees
Check out our resource on Undocumented in Wisconsin 2024
DACA Bills (likely to be reintroduced next session in 2025)
Talking points for Participants
Immigration & Refugee Resources
23_Protect-Vulnerable-Immigrant-Youth-Act-of-2023-v2-1 Protect
AMMPARO Newsletter: Network Newsletter_Feb2023
2022.08 FINAL – The Jail to Deportation Pipeline in Wisconsin
Afghan Refugees – Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
- and Upper MI (LSS) – partners with LIRS to do the hands-on work of resettlement. LSS anticipates resettling several hundred in Milwaukee in the days ahead. Lutheran Social Services of WI
- is directly helping Afghanis at Fort McCoy. They have need of various specific donations support refugees who arrived here with little or nothing. Catholic Charities of LaCrosse
Action Alert: Remove Barriers to Settling Afghan Refugees
Recording of the May 25th Standing With Our Neighbors Panel Discussion. LOPPW and the ELCA’s South Central Synod Team for Immigration Reform and Refugee Support were thrilled to continue our Standing With Our Neighbors discussion by hosting Mary Campbell, immigration attorney and director of the ELCA’s AMMPARO network. Mary discussed AMMPARO’s work with migrant children and families here in the U.S., as well as their efforts in host countries to solve the root causes of migration. Listen to Mary’s discussion here and go to elca.org/ammparo to learn more about this excellent ELCA network.
Recording of the March 23rd Standing With Our Neighbors Discussion. The ELCA’s South Central Synod Team for Immigration Reform and Refugee Support, in partnership with LOPPW, hosted an interview with Erin Barbato, Director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School and an expert on immigration policy. In addition to assisting with pro bono services for local immigrant communities, Barbato frequently takes law students to the Dilley Detention Center in Texas to provide legal aid to detained immigrants and asylum seekers at the border. Listen to her experiences and perspectives here.
Wednesday Noon Live September 2020: Gain valuable insights about our neighbors in detention during the pandemic and concrete information on what we can do. Join us with our special guests,
- Attorney Mary Campbell who is the program director for ELCA’s AMMPARO, which both means in Spanish means the protection of a living creature from suffering or damage. The acronym – Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities Mary.Campbell@elca.org
- Ms. Marisol Fuentes de Dubon part of the Greater Milwaukee Immigration Task Force. She administers the Detained Migrant Project, which is a joint effort between Emmaus ELCA and the Racine Interfaith Coalition, funded with generous support from AMMPARO. fdmarisol@gmail.com
- Dr. Stephanie Mitchell is a Professor of Latin American History at Carthage College, is a member of Emmaus Lutheran Church, which many people know from when one of our own student pastors, Minister Betty Rendon was deported, And Dr. smitchell@carthage.edu (Contact Stephanie or Marisol to learn about how to get your congregations more involved by with a small team supporting just one person in detention by contacting Dr. Stephanie Mitchell or Ms. Marisol Fuentes de Dubon above).
Resources discussed on the September WNL program:
- AMMPARO Migrant Children
- AMMPARO Resources, including Welcoming Congregations.
- Detention Watch Network – Lives are at risk in detention, especially during COVID. Learn more. Portico on October 1, 2020: You can choose to place your funds into the social responsible fund to not support private prison.
Immigration & Refugee Resource: Things Congregations Can Do: Learn about the ways your congregation can get involved in defending the rights and dignity of immigrants. Resource here.
ELCA Resources on Immigration & Refugees
ELCA Office of Advocacy Resource: Responding to our Sorrow with Action
ELCA Resource: Family Separation Guide
ELCA Presiding Bishop Easton: Statement on Children in Detention
ELCA Talking Points on Sanctuary
In 2019, the ELCA voted to become a sanctuary denomination at our 2019 Churchwide Assembly! What does that mean?
ELCA_SanctuaryDenomination_TalkingPoints
ELCA World Hunger on Sanctuary
ELCA Social Message on Immigration/Inmigración
About the ELCA’s AMMPARO Network
“Dios es nuestro amparo y fortaleza,” (“God is our refuge and strength,”) – Psalm 46:1
AMMPARO is a holistic, whole church commitment by the ELCA, as a church in the world, to accompany children today and in the future.
The word “amparo” in Spanish means the protection of a living creature from suffering or damage. The ELCA’s strategy to Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO) was envisioned after witnessing the plight of children who are forced to flee their communities because of complex and interrelated reasons, including chronic violence, poverty, environmental displacement and lack of opportunities in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Due to our connection to companion churches in the region, including companion synod relationships, and existing ministries in the U.S., the ELCA is well-positioned to help ensure that these vulnerable children are protected.
Other Resources
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Video on How Family Separation Traumatized Children from The Atlantic
