Having lived 12 years in the USA, Manuel and his wife accepted the Lord as their Savior.

This couple and their three children have come to our Hispanic mission faithfully every Sunday; the children have been active in our Sunday School. On January 30th, their

fourth child, a son, was born with health problems. It was also found that the mother has

anemia and malnutrition. On February 1st, as usual, Manuel was leaving for work at six in the morning when he was met with immigration officials who were conducting a raid of

undocumented immigrants in the trailer park in which they lived in an area south of

Memphis. He was immediately taken to jail along with 29 others, and now Manuel is in a

Louisiana prison to be deported. Manuel’s wife has no job to help her care for the needs of their children.

Few days ago, there was a sad scene for the wife of Manuel and his children: She was

driving with the children when police stopped them; the six year old daughter, having a latent image of her father arrested just days ago by ICE agents, cried of panic, “Please

do not deport us all!” Fortunately the police had mercy on the family, and advised them

to leave their house immediately.

IMMIGRANT’S TRAIL OF TEARS

By: Rev. Goyo De la Cruz Maarch 2011.

This is a painful and not always merciful scene that is repeated increasingly amongst

immigrants, and our emerging church is not exempt of suffering from these attacks. (If you want to help Manuel’s family with food, diapers for the baby or money please

contact: 901-496-1297.)

Our Hispanic Ministry In the Hispanic Ministries, we commonly help

immigrants with their transportation needs, food,

clothing, translation needs and pastoral counseling. We believe that the primary role of

the church is "make disciples" (Matthew 28:19). When adding a new member to our

Hispanic mission, we never ask their immigration status; that is the role of the federal immigration agents. Our goal as Methodists is focused on delivering a comprehensive

plan of salvation to every creature; that’s to say, we are helping in social and spiritual

ways.

From a special calling of God, we are working in the Hispanic Ministry of the Senatobia District in DeSoto County, MS.

Thank God, the ministry has flourished and has been blessed with a wonderful church in

Forest, MS and now in Horn Lake, MS – we also worship in area homes, including the neighboring City of Memphis, TN. In addition, God has blessed us with a prison ministry

in Hernando, MS.

As pastors working with the immigrant community, we feel compelled to react to the discriminatory bills by Mississippi authorities against immigrants.

We believe, there are many good-hearted Christians in the USA who do not understand

exactly what is happening with the phenomenon of immigrants. Mississippi is soon to

become the second state in the union to adopt anti-immigrant legislation such as was passed in Arizona. We wonder why Mississippi wants to implement an anti-immigrant

law in a state whose Hispanic population is the smallest compared to other states.

Senate bill SB 2179, a clone of the Arizona SB 1070, was approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi. However Representative Jim

Evans submitted a Motion to be reconsidered by a conference committee.

Hispanic Population data: Updated census of 2010 says Mississippi now has a Hispanic population of 81,481. The

total population of Hispanics in the U.S. exceeds 40 million, of which more than 11

million immigrants are undocumented; there are more than four million children with undocumented parents, and there are more than one million undocumented children.

Just as Spain has begun to legalize parents of the children born in their country, we

believe that it is urgent for the USA to approve a comprehensive immigration reform that avoids the separation of families that occur daily, as in Manuel’s case.

Economic refugees:

No one wants to leave his native country, but the urgency is such that they have to decide whether to remain in their country and go hungry or to find a way to stave off

hunger by fleeing to wealthy northern countries. So we have a phenomenon of

"economic refugees.” This is what we must communicate to the authorities of this country.

In the 17th century, this continent received immigrants from Europe who suffered similar

needs as the suffering Latin American immigrants. For many of them, the decision was crucial: either to continue in their native Europe and suffer from hunger or immigrate to

the Americas.

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America is a country built on the basis of effort of different migrants waves that have

come to this "Turtle Island" – as called by Native American brothers. The grandparents came from abroad, we are using Japanese cars, we eat Italian pizza,

the Statue of Liberty that stands imposing at the south of the island of Manhattan in New

York was from France and the numbers that we write are Indo-Arabic. Our Christ is a

Jew. So, the phenomenon of migration is innate in humans; therefore, we prefer not to speak of immigrants as "aliens" (From another planet?), but "undocumented."

The Holy Scriptures recommend: The foreigner residing among you must be

treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners

in Egypt. (Lev. 19:34 - NIV)

These “economic refugees” or “undocumented” who have fled hunger and poverty in

their original countries are not criminals; they are hard working people who also have

hunger and thirst for the Word of God, so it was urgent to develop a ministry of consolation for the "population in exile.” This is what has justified the Hispanic ministries

being promoted in recent years by the Mississippi Annual Conference of the United

Methodist Church.

SO - WHAT WE CAN DO FOR OUR NEIGHBOR?

A fragment of a poem by Emma Lazarus, written at the foot of the Statue of Liberty in New York says:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me ... "

Several good-hearted people have asked us: What can I do as a Christian for the

immigrants?

In short, the current immigrants need Christian compassion and comprehensive support by:

• Asking your legislator not to vote for anti-immigrant laws like SB 2179 that allows the

police to ask for documents of a person because of the color of skin that they have, which imposes fines on employers who hire undocumented workers, which allows arrest

of anyone who transports the undocumented and which will cause a shortage of cotton,

soybeans and vegetable harvest due to the lack of migrant labor. In short, if this law is

passed, more than 11 million the undocumented living in this country may not report assaults or any suffering by the police or anyone else, because they will fear being

arrested and deported.

• Research and analyze in detail the law SB 2179, and call your representatives to oppose this measure as anti-Christian. Contact your Representatives through the Capitol

switchboard: 601-359-3770,or contact the Speaker of the House at: 601-359-3300.

• Support initiatives which improve the immigrants’ life in the USA. • Practice Christian love.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human

masters. (Colossians 3:23 - NIV)

May God bless the men and women of good heart toward their neighbor.

IGLESIA CRISTIANA – UMC * P.O. Box 1561 Southaven, MS 38671 * Phone: (901) 496 1297