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OUR CHARACTER — The U.S. has a moral obligation to keep its promise to get Afghan allies out of Afghanistan, two faith leaders (and Forum consultants) write in an op-ed for The xxxxxx. "We have an obligation to help Afghan translators and their families because they helped us. Because we promised we would. And because the only reason they are now in danger is precisely because they helped us," writes Southern Baptist pastor Alan Cross. "How can we leave them behind to be murdered by the Taliban, when they have put themselves at risk for us … when they have placed their family networks, reputations, and honor at our service?" asks North Carolina church leader André Mann, who worked and lived in Afghanistan for six years. "What we do for the Afghan translators in the next week," forewarns Cross, "will tell us what kind of character we have." REMAIN IN MEXICO — Catching up on a couple of important stories from late last week: U.S. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) on Friday, reports Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal. "Since [its] termination, the number of enforcement encounters on the southwest border has skyrocketed," wrote Kacsmaryk. But Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, questions that reasoning: "[N]o one had been put into [the program] for months before Biden had terminated the policy, and yet this judge falsely claims that ending it somehow contributed to the current border surge." Kacsmaryk has stayed his ruling for a week to allow the Biden administration an opportunity to appeal.
DREAMER LETTER — More than 2,800 evangelical Christians nationwide have signed a letter to Congress urging their senators and representatives to address the plight of Dreamers, reports Ken Camp of the Baptist Standard. "Reforms to our federal immigration laws are long overdue, and we see the negative impacts of a broken immigration system on the immigrant families within our congregations and our communities," the letter states. "Providing a permanent DACA solution is the most pro-family, pro-education, pro-economy and pro-faith step that Congress and the president can take on this issue," said Jesse Rincones, executive director of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas. As Jon Aragón, pastor and director of the Living Faith Bible Fellowship in Tampa, told the Tampa Bay Times’ Juan Carlos Chavez: "Caring about immigration, refugees or children being separated from their families is not a bipartisan issue. It’s an ethical and moral one." ‘AN ESSENTIAL STEP’ — The U.S. bishops’ migration chair says Catholic leaders support the immigration provisions in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package passed by the Senate, per Catholic News Service. "While Catholic social teaching is implicated by many components of the budget resolution, we are pleased that the resolution sets up an opportunity for many undocumented persons to receive legal status," said Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville of Washington, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration. "Ultimately, a more comprehensive reform of our immigration system is needed, but ensuring access to permanent legal status and citizenship for the undocumented is an essential step." Thanks for
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