Posted on 07/24/2011 6:48:54 PM PDT by moonshinner_09
PHARR — The Mission family came to the church as all the other families had, pursuing guidance in their lives.
In these families’ cases, the guidance wasn’t spiritual. It was to navigate another great mystery for many: U.S. immigration law.
Each month, Pharr United Methodist Church hosts a free clinic for families pursuing immigration law advice, under the umbrella of Justice for Our Neighbors, a faith-based group that provides education and counseling to immigrants.
The church, at 119 E. Kelly Ave., funds the program through grants, but participants do not need to be members or join to receive the free services.
Volunteers take information from those who attend, but only the attorney gives legal advice.
“We don’t try to lead them on in any way,” said Carole Lahti, the program’s regional coordinator.
Some cases are simple — as when a permanent resident wants to become a citizen.
But many others are more complex.
That was the case for one Guatemalan family, who declined to be named.
Their 21-year-old daughter was born in the U.S. and wants her undocumented parents to gain legal status, as well. She was born in California in 1990 before her family returned to her homeland when she was a child.
The family members said they endured threats of kidnapping and paid bribes to organized criminal thugs in Guatemala. At one point they found burglars had cleaned out their house.
“We went back to our house and they took everything,” the daughter said in Spanish.
So the family decided to return to the United States. The daughter crossed legally. Her parents swam across the Rio Grande at Hidalgo with the help of a coyote, a human smuggler.
(Excerpt) Read more at themonitor.com ...
I should do this.
I don’t mind telling people where to go and how to get there.
On the serious side, I wish I knew if these same pro-immigration groups understood that they lack compassion for those on the low end of the economic scale.
Not only encourage but teach lying since the ends justifies the means.
Res ipsa loquater.
More than 15 million American unemployed and we need more of them...unfreakinbelievable.
PHARR is a good place to be from.
“PHARR is a good place to be from.”
FAR From!
Sounds like the people taking advantage of the Church group are interested in becoming citizens, not just living off the taxpayers. Good for them. We need more hard workers, not fewer.
Gee, and I thought only the Catholic Church was trying to destroy the nation with their Social Justice activities.
You’ve been there too, I see.
Yes, with 15-20 million of us unemployed in the US, what we REALLY need is more low cost workers with little skills that we will have to subsidize.
Does that about cover it?
Ummmm. United Methodist Church is confused. They support the luciferian UN and pay lip service to Jesus.
An organization with such deep rooted confusion is not long for this world and anything they say or do is not to be believed.
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