By Jeanne Anderson
A man had been waiting quite some time for his filed immigration relief to be adjudicated, meaning, his paperwork for a legal immigration benefit had stalled and was out of the normal time range for being completed by authorities. In the meantime, his estranged wife was being deported. In the middle were two young boys, both claimed on paperwork submitted through different sources by their parents.
The children, ages 7 and 10, received notice to attend a hearing to determine if they would stay in the country with their father or be deported with their mother. On top of that, the father’s employer had stiffed him on his paycheck. Rent and a car payment were due.
LUCHA Ministries Immigration Legal Services’ (LMILS) walking with this father through his family’s immigration issues stepped up (along with Greg and Sue Smith who have known and cared for the family for years) to ask for time in the children’s case and time was granted. The boys were spared the trauma of separating from their father and primary caretaker, and as of mid-August, the father’s case including the children was approved. Their status is secure.
Executive Director of LUCHA Ministries, Rev. Kenny Park, stepped in with “wrap-around services” for the family: tracking down the employer, helping interpret for the Spanish-speaking father, finding funds for a car payment and rent. “Wrap-around services” are what many churches and non-profits do to help the people they serve feel safe and secure and cared for in difficult times. They are the eyes that see and the ears that hear when an immigration process isn’t all there is to an immigrant’s life. Life continues and difficulties can complicate things. Sometimes, too, LUCHA Ministries Cinco Panes, a feeding program to help with food insecurity, leads to a conversation about the possibility of immigration relief. Then, LMILS is offered as a way forward in that area of an immigrant’s life. LUCHA Ministries gives the whole hug for an immigrant’s life. It’s Jesus’ full wrap-around kind of caring, advocacy for the flourishing of both the physical and the spiritual lives of people who know the pain of having to leave home and family and maybe other traumas, too.
Our volunteer LMILS attorney received this message along with a picture of the man’s newly arrived Green Card: “I am very grateful to you Mr. Bill. Thank you for everything. I wish you a thousand blessings.” If this man only knew, we at LUCHA have already received so many blessings because of his trusting us and letting us walk with him in his life journey. Our eyes and hearts are more open to immigrants’ struggles and all people’s struggles to be safe and secure, and we are better Jesus-people in our families, our community, and the world because of it.
Rev. Jeanne Anderson is the Program Director of LMILS in Fredericksburg, Virginia and the Associate Pastor of Fredericksburg Baptist Church, home of the office of LUCHA Ministries, Inc.