(Photo: Tequila Minsky for The New York Times)

President Obama has said his administration will halt all deportations of Haitians currently detained by immigration enforcement officials. This is the wise and compassionate choice, but we at Sojourners and Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform urge him to take the next step and grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to all undocumented Haitians currently living in the United States as part of relief efforts.

I was born in Tijuana, Mexico and grew up in San Diego, California, only a few hundred yards from the actual borderline. As a kid, there were always border patrols around but I never felt like my birthplace offered any threat. A few years ago, though, I noticed a massive escalation of security infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border. I couldn’t figure out what had changed. How had Mexico and our neighbors to the south become a threat? Did we really need to spend billions of dollars on fencing, technology and thousands more border guards? And was any of it working?

With the significant exception of Native Americans, most of us can trace our ancestry to another country or continent. We are indeed a nation of immigrants and their descendants. It is a checkered history, as evidenced by congressional apologies for injustices committed against both Native and African Americans. But there can be little doubt that our nation has achieved its current prosperity in large part due to our embrace--fitfully at times--of immigrants.

Some in Washington would have us believe that immigration reform is politically untenable and economically illogical. However, God is on the move among Christians who care about the immigrants in their midst. This week’s gathering in Phoenix, Arizona, demonstrated that they are invested in bringing their voices to the table and are being transformed in the process.

This week, several immigration-related events made national headlines as crisis in Haiti continues, Obama addressed the nation, and faith-based advocacy for immigration reform took center stage. This is the first in a series of weekly installments on our blog.

“Why do you have to be so dramatic?” I thought as I rolled my eyes. The speaker was telling stories of immigration officers pounding down doors and ripping mothers away from their children, of fathers leaving for work and being deported, never able to say goodbye. It all seemed so extreme. Maybe there were a few cases like that, but come on! This is the United States of America. We have order and compassion. Let’s not be dramatic in our case studies. Maybe you have thought the same things. This is what I thought until it started happening in my neighborhood.

Originally posted at New American Media.

PHOENIX, AZ--Arizona could become the first state in the country to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

A bill moving fast through the Arizona Senate would allow local police to arrest and incarcerate someone for “trespassing” into the territory of the state.

While the recent crisis in Haiti has spurred many Americans to action - through donations, public service, humanitarian aid, etc. - it has also precipitated a reckoning with current domestic policy, particularly immigration.

(Photo: David Vosburg)

Last Thursday night, I watched as the sanctuary at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Naperville, Illinois steadily filled with people to be a part of “Loving the Stranger: A Community Gathering for Immigration Reform.” Having been one of more than a dozen folks who had been planning the event for weeks, it was a relief to see hundreds of people show up, eager to hear the stories of a broken immigration system and be mobilized to pray and advocate for reform.

While many college students slept off their New Year’s festivities, Gaby Pacheco, Juan Rodriguez, Felipe Matos, and Carlos Roa began the decade on a more agile note. These four protestors, former students of Miami Dade University, began a 1500-mile march on January 1st, titled, “The Trail of Dreams,” from Miami, FL to Washington, DC to raise awareness of the broken immigration system and the urgency of reform.