Request to Attorney General John Ashcroft to
grant asylum to Rodi Alvarado Around the world women
often suffer persecution just because they are female, and
experience persecution differently because they are women.
Women who are beaten by their husbands, raped with impunity,
forcibly sterilized, ritually mutilated, sold into sexual
slavery and targeted for death by relatives in the name of
family honor can become refugees when their governments fail
to protect them. Some of them flee to the United States in
search of safety.
Many of these children and women are now in detention
pending adjudication of their asylum/immigration status.
Most are indigent ,often isolated from pastoral and legal
services. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and the
ELCA join with other organizations to advocate on behalf of
detained persons.
Immigration, refugee, and asylum policies express who we are
as a nation, influence the nation's future character, and
affect the lives of millions of people. We encourage our
members, in light of our history and our ministry with
newcomers, to join with other citizens in our democratic
society to support just laws that serve the common good. We
draw on the the best of our nation's traditions as a refuge
and a haven for the persecuted and destitute when we affirm
that "we support a generous policy of welcome for refugees
and immigrants," and that we "will advocate for just
immigration policies, including fairness in visa regulations
and in admitting and protecting refugees."
The newcomers in our church from around the world remind us
that all of us in the Church of Jesus Christ are sojourners,
"for here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for
the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13; 14). As we journey
together through the time God has given us, may God give us
the grace of a welcoming heart and an overflowing love for
the new neighbors among us. |
