The immigration debate continues to swirl in faith communities around the nation, as leaders of all traditions have emerged as some of the most adamant and powerful voices pushing for reform. In this week’s Top Picks, I would especially like to lift up Aleta Payne’s reflections on scripture and welcoming the “other,” and Amanda Peterson Beadle’s piece on solitary confinement.
- Aleta Payne of Sojourners, in her piece “Preparing the Way: Blessed are the Peacemakers,” reflects on how Jesus himself was a “paperless son of displaced immigrant parents.”
- In her post “Right to a Lawyer? The Fiction of Legal Counsel in Immigration Proceedings,” Keren Zwick of the National Immigrant Justice Center writes of the failings of our current immigration system, calling for guaranteed access to counsel for immigrants in detention.
- Pili Tobar, writing for America’s Voice on “White House Naturalization Ceremony Example of What We, as a Nation, Do Best,” notes “how much stronger we become as a nation when we include ‘them’ as ‘us.’”
- In her commentary on “Hundreds of Detained Immigrants Held in Solitary Confinement,” Amanda Peterson Beadle of Immigration Impact analyzes the new findings that over half of immigrant detainees were held in solitary confinement for 15 days or more.
Please email me or leave a comment if you have any thoughts about this week’s Top Picks. Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog, and I look forward to bringing you the best online commentary on immigration and refugee issues every Monday here on Redefining Welcome.