InterMountain Yearly Meeting Minute on Recent Immigration Legislation and Comprehensive Immigration Reform

June 2010

As a faith community committed to welcoming the stranger, we are dismayed and saddened by the failure to find a way forward to craft an immigration system that respects the fundamental rights and dignity of all. We recognize that inaction at the national level has created a vacuum into which states have stepped to create their own immigration laws.

As Friends, we believe that there is that of God in everyone, regardless of citizenship or legal status. Our testimony of community challenges us to live with all of our neighbors in a way that encourages trust, love, and security. Our testimony of equality leads us to value each person as an individual and to respect the human rights and dignity of all persons. Our testimony of peace guides us to take nonviolent action to resolve conflicts in a way that brings us together and promotes justice.

Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and similar proposed legislation in other states divides our communities and criminalizes immigrants. These kinds of unjust laws create a climate of fear for those whose area of residence, line of work, complexion, spoken language or accent is deemed suspicious, even if they are citizens or legal foreign residents or visitors. When state legislation is passed that compels people to hide their identity from authorities, they must live in fear that they will be separated from their families, that they will become victims of crime, that they and their children will not receive an education, and that they will lose their livelihoods and their homes.

We bear witness to our friends and neighbors in our community who suffer division of their families, exploitation in the workplace, and the daily fear of deportation. We bear witness to the thousands of deaths on the border and the destruction of border communities and the environment. The estimated twelve million persons living and working in the United States without papers are essential parts of our communities and economy, yet the system for regularizing their status is woefully insufficient. Criminalizing immigrants and those who care for them, as in Arizona Senate Bill 1070, does not address the real challenges our country faces with immigration reform and resolution of the humanitarian crisis that results from the broken system.

We, as people of faith, are called not only to resist unjust laws and to work to change them, but to take the initiative to act in accordance with higher laws. We call upon Friends everywhere to urge our elected representatives to immediate action on humane immigration reform. We call upon ourselves to act with integrity in response to these challenges and we rededicate ourselves to loving our neighbors, to doing justice, and to walking humbly in the spirit of love.

(Please see http://www.imym.org/ for more information.)

Fasting 'Cause We're Hungry for Justice!

Join us 5:00 – 7:00 PM, TONIGHT Tuesday, July 13th, 2010!
Fasting 'Cause We're Hungry for Justice!
... and activities for Non Fasters, too!
At the end of this month, we’ll be hosting at 3 Day Fast for Immigrant Justice. We’re excited to have you over, talk about the details and really discuss what a meaningful and perhaps transformational experience around fasting can look like. It might look different for everyone, and we’re interested in all of them. We’ll talk about being healthy as we fast, taking time to think about where our food comes from and explore a little bit of the history around fasting. We’ll share and swap ideas for how to make this fasting experience unique and compelling. Whether you join us for the breaking of the fast on August 2nd or you fast for the whole week, we are committed to having a shared experience that is unforgettable.

Meet us at the AFSC office, 901 W. 14th Ave, Suite #7, Denver, CO, for some SNACKS and a skill share, learn how further support the human rights of immigrants!

Solidarity for a Different Future!
No more detentions! No more deportations! No more oppressive laws!
24-hour fast, community visioning & vigil
'Cause We're Hungry for Justice!
Join us, in solidarity with the people of Arizona and those unjustly detained in our own state, for
24 hours of fasting, reflection, workshops, prayer and protest.
Beginning: Sunday, August 1st at 6:00pm
30th & Peoria, Aurora, CO
We'll set up camp overnight outside the GEO Immigrant Detention
Center, making our presence known to our community on the other side of the walls.
The following 24 hours we'll have ongoing educational opportunities, time for deeper reflection on solidarity
and visioning of the world we will create.
And always time for healing song, prayer and protest!
Join us for all or part, whether or not you choose to fast!
Breaking of the Fast: Monday, August 2nd at 6:00pm
30th & Peoria, Aurora, CO
We'll break our fast together in front of the GEO Immigrant Detention Center.
On July 29th, Arizona's anti-immigrant law SB 1070 is set to go into
effect. For the week of July 25th-August 2nd communities around the
country will be fasting to declare their opposition to oppressive laws
like SB 1070, laws which separate families and terrorize workers,
neighbors and friends who are caught in a broken system. You can join
in showing that it is Justice for which we hunger, not greater
repression nor a continued status quo which denies immigrants their
human rights.
Ways to participate:
• Join us for part or all of the 24-hour solidarity vigil and fast outside the detention
center and come to the breaking of the fast the next day.
• Sign up to fast for the entire week, 3 days or 24 hours Send your name and commitment to jpiper@afsc.org .
• Support the 24 hour vigil and fast: offer workshops, testimony, songs or prayer
during the 24 hours at the detention center.
• Offer to bring food for the breaking of the fast.
* In spite of the absolute safety and benefits of fasting, there are
certain persons who should NEVER fast without professional
supervision. For example:
• Persons who are physically too thin or emaciated.
• Those who suffer weakness or anemia.
• Persons who have tumors, bleeding ulcers, cancer, blood diseases, or
who have heart disease.
• Persons who are prone to anorexia or bulimia
• Those who suffer chronic problems with kidneys, liver, lungs, heart,
or other important organs.
• Individuals who take insulin for diabetes, or suffer any other blood
sugar problem such as hyperglycemia.
• Women who are pregnant or nursing.
There are plenty of ways to engage in meaningful time for reflection if fasting isn’t a good fit for you.