Baptists announce national immigration effort
Church program will help immigrants seek citizenship
By Eileen E. Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, June 25, 2007
Citing a biblical obligation to speak on behalf of the stranger, Texas Baptist leaders will announce today the creation of a national initiative that will train churches to provide legal assistance to immigrants seeking citizenship.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas, which represents 5,600 congregations and 2.3 million Baptists, and Buckner International, a Baptist ministry that helps at-risk children, have joined to create the Immigration Service and Aid Center, or ISAAC.
The national initiative, which will be open to all denominations, is the first of its kind for a local church-based ministry that aids immigrants in becoming U.S. citizens, leaders say.
The idea grew out of the Baptist Immigration Services Network led over the past year by Suzii Paynter, director of the state convention's Christian Life Commission. That program has helped churches gain accreditation from the government and provided the legal training required to assist immigrants with forms and representation in immigration court.
Paynter, who lives in Austin, said that effort was barely under way when it began to draw interest from leaders in other states and prompted her organization to pursue a national effort with Buckner International.
"We know there is a need for this," Paynter said. "There's so many things that are broken in our immigration system. . . . There are a lot of people who could get papers and could get a status adjustment, butthey don't have access to . . . trusted and government-accredited help."
Paynter said many immigrants are defrauded by people who claim they can assist them but wind up charging immigrants without delivering anything.
The announcement comes as Convención Baptista Hispana, the largest gathering of Hispanic Baptists in the United States, meets in Austin this week.
The immigration project will assist churches in obtaining basic immigration law training and in developing centers, and provide education and information for churches, a process which Paynter said is complex and time-consuming.
But she stressed that clergy and lay people want to get involved, which will lighten the strain on organizations, such as Catholic Charities, currently trying to meet immigrants' needs.
Daniel Kowalski, a lawyer who edits an online immigration law journal and the Web site Bender's Immigration Bulletin, said he found the announcement encouraging.
"I think it's significant that more and more denominations, especially Protestant denominations and especially if they're tagged as evangelical, . . . get involved in immigration issues," he said.
Kowalski said Paynter had him speak to Baptist leaders a couple of years ago in an effort to motivate them to get involved in immigration issues.
The immigration centers program, he said, represents "steady progress in what I think is a positive direction."
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