Aid, Not War in Afghanistan – An Open Letter from Religious Leaders

June 22, 2011

Mennonite Central Committee along with thirty seven other religious groups has signed a letter to President Obama calling for an end to U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. The letter also calls for untying development aid from the military counterinsurgency strategy. The letter states that “militarized aid has worked to undermine long term sustainability while proving ineffective in addressing immediate poverty concerns.” And the letter further states that “the past ten years have shown that we cannot broker peace in Afghanistan by military force; it is time to transition toward a plan that builds up civil society and provides economic alternatives for Afghans.”

The letter also calls on President Obama to hold true to his commitment to “begin a responsible but accelerated withdrawal of troops” beginning in July and “continuing along a set timetable.”

Click here to read the letter including the complete list of signatories.

For additional resources on Afghanistan, check out the Spring issue of the Washington Memo newsletter.

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Posted by Theo Sitther

Interfaith Immigration Statement on the President’s Speech

May 10, 2011

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition has released a statement in response to President Obama’s speech on immigration this afternoon in El Paso, Texas:

As people of faith, we heed the admonitions in our holy scriptures not to wrong or oppress the “stranger” among us. Unfortunately, we see evidence of such wrongdoing and oppression of immigrants across the country today. While we are pleased that you continue to speak about the need for Congressional action to reform our broken immigration system, in its absence, policy changes are urgently needed to uphold family unity and promote community safety.

We urge you to use your executive power to protect families from separation and to grant deferred action to students who would be eligible for cancellation of removal or a stay of removal under the DREAM Act.

As you said in El Paso this afternoon, “I don’t believe the United States of America should be in the business of separating families. That’s not right. That’s not who we are.”

Read letter | en Español

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Posted by Tammy Alexander

Religious Organizations Oppose the Colombia FTA

April 21, 2011

As a presidential candidate in 2008, President Obama said that he would oppose the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement unless human rights conditions in that country were improved. Three years later, Colombia still faces deeply troubling levels of violence, displacement, and poverty. Colombia has over 5 million displaced people – more than any other country in the world. Trade unionists and human rights workers face constant threats. Extractive industry projects violently push indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities off of their lands.

Despite all of this, the Obama administration recently announced that it is prepared to submit the Colombia FTA to Congress for approval anyway. A new agreement was reached with the Colombian government to make some improvements on labor conditions, but this plan does not go far enough, and it fails to address broader human rights concerns. Moreover, agricultural provisions in the FTA will undermine the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, pushing more people into poverty and deepening the instability that drives Colombia’s violent conflict.

Mennonite Central Committee along with other religious organizations recently signed a statement opposing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Other human rights organizations have also released statements opposing the Colombia FTA:

U.S.-Colombia FTA Action Plan Falls Short of Protecting Rights

Plan of Action on Labor for US-Colombia FTA Ignores Afro-Colombians and Indigenous Human Rights

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Posted by Theo Sitther

Halt Deportations to Haiti

March 14, 2011

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a partnership of 32 faith-based organizations, submitted a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday calling for a halt to deportations to Haiti:

We call on you to suspend deportations to Haiti until conditions on the ground improve considerably and workable policies can be put in place to protect the lives and dignity of returnees. Deportations place an unnecessary burden on a country still struggling to recover from a devastating natural disaster. Moreover, returning persons to Haiti right now needlessly and callously causes grave suffering and puts lives at risk. No person—regardless of his or her crime—should be sent back to Haiti in light of existing life-threatening conditions.

Read the full letter here.

Action alert | more resources on immigration, Haiti

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Posted by Tammy Alexander

Immigration Raids Shock Communities

February 10, 2011

Although the Obama administration promised to focus immigration deportation efforts on criminals, recent deportation raids of undocumented immigrants were targeted mostly at immigrants with no criminal history, separating children from their families and leaving communities in a state of shock.

In counties across Michigan last month, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made 77 arrests over 4 days.  The majority of those arrested had no criminal background, and all but two were Latino.  Click here for an article about the arrests.

Another recent raid in Ellensburg, Washington, targeted community members including a longtime church pastor, parents of young children, and a woman 7 months pregnant.  Charges against the 30 people held in the raid were limited to immigration violations.  An article on the Ellensburg raid can be found here.

Click here for an Interfaith Immigration Coalition letter sent to the Obama administration regarding noncriminal deportations and the effect they have on families and communities.

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Posted by Janelle Tupper

MCC Action Alert: Ask your Senator to Demand International Financial Institutions Reform

November 17, 2010

Action: Urge your Senator to sign a bipartisan letter to President Obama.

Background: Low-income countries continue to pay high debt-servicing fees to the wealthiest countries through international financial institutions. For many of these countries, servicing such a debt means inability to provide social services for their own citizens. This problem has been exacerbated by the recent global financial crisis where we see debt burdens for low-income countries rising.

Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) are sending a letter to President Obama urging him to take serious steps in reforming the lending practices and policies of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other multilateral development banks.

Faith Reflection:  “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the Sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat””[Amos 8:4-6].

Jesus condemns mistreatment of the poor and the needy. He teaches us to seek good and work for justice. Instead of helping them, the current lending practices of the international financial institutions are ruining the poor.

Action: Urge your Senator to sign on to this critical letter.

Leave a Comment » | Action Alerts, Global Economic Justice, Sign-on Letters | Permalink
Posted by Patricia Kisare

National Guard on the Border: Faith Groups Respond

June 4, 2010

Tim Hoover/MCC

On Wednesday, 20 faith groups sent a letter to President Obama, expressing their dismay with his recent decision to send 1,200 National Guard Troops to the U.S.-Mexico border:

As national faith-based organizations dedicated to serving and advocating on behalf of immigrants, we write today with deep disappointment and frustration over your recent decision to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. This is another step toward an enforcement-only strategy and away from comprehensive immigration reform. We urge the administration, rather than further militarizing the border, to work toward long-term solutions to reform our broken immigration system and to address the root causes of migration.

Read the full letter.

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Posted by Tammy Alexander

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