Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service celebrates the partnership of national Lutheran churches and the partnership of Lutheran church and lay leaders who have joined us in advocating with refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, migrants in detention, families fractured by migration, and other vulnerable immigrant populations.

Church Leaders Engaging with Elected Officials

• On November 2, 2011, 58 bishops of the ELCA sent a letter to members of Congress and to the President voicing concerns about punitive state immigration laws and calling for comprehensive immigration reform.  
  
  
• On November 1, 2011, the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Rev. Mark Hanson, wrote to President Obama and to Congress to voice support for comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act. 
   
• On June 9, 2011 Bishop H. Julian Gordy wrote to Alabama Governor Bentley in opposition to HB 56, a punitive and enforcement driven immigration law.
  
  
• From March 25-28, 2011, Lutherans and other people of faith gathered in Washington for Ecumenical Advocacy Days to learn about "Development, Security and Ecomonic Justice: What's Gender Got to Do with It?" LIRS staff, partners and former refugees shared their perspectives on issues facing vulnerable migrant women, children, detainees, and trafficking victims. 
   
• On December 8 and 9, 2010, LIRS convened a successful gathering of Lutheran leaders in Washington, D.C., to discuss immigration issues as they impact American families and congregations and to meet with congressional offices to voice their support of the DREAM Act, comprehensive immigration reform, and extending benefits for elderly or disabled refugees.  
   
• In December 2010, the Rev. Mark Junkans, Executive Director of LINC Houston, shared his thoughts on the moral need for the DREAM Act with Texas faith leaders and at the Lutheran Immigration Leadership Summit. 
   
• On June 22, 2010, faith leaders joined refugees and refugee advocates for a World Refugee Day discussion with policymakers on the importance of refugee protection and assistance.
  
  
• On March 22, 2010, Lutherans and other people of faith from across the country gathered in Washington for Ecumenical Advocacy Days to learn about and advocate with Refugees, Migrants and Displaced Peoples.

Church Resolutions on Migration and Refugee Issues

• Affirming its immigrant roots and the Biblical call to care for newcomers, on August 19, 2011 the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted in support of two resolutions that encourage support for immigration reform and call on congregations to actively protest punitive state legislation like Arizona’s SB-1070 and Alabama’s HB-56 and to support the DREAM Act.

• In July 15 2010, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod approved a resolution to support the United Nation’s effort to end human trafficking and slavery.

• On November 14, 2009, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approved an immigration resolution entitled, “Toward Compassionate, Just and Wise Immigration Reform.” The resolution provides guidance on issues related to the legalization of undocumented immigrants, protection of immigrant families and workers, the humane enforcement of immigration laws, protection of refugees, and the root causes of migration.