Thread: LDS Church supports illegal immigration

Missionary's arrest sparks discussion, fear
Immigration » Undocumented immigrants serving the church face legal peril when traveling.

here is a link to the story

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12223689

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Here is the article:
Missionary's arrest sparks discussion, fear
Immigration » Undocumented immigrants serving the church face legal peril when traveling.
By Sheena Mcfarland

Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:04/24/2009 10:04:33 PM MDT


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The arrest of an undocumented immigrant returning last week from his LDS mission has sparked discussion at the highest levels of the church about how to limit such exposure in the future.

"With the known realization that those risks exist, then we want to do better, or at least learn more," LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland, said Friday during an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune . "We want to be more precise, if we can, about how to help, how to make [a mission] the calmest, most spiritually rewarding experience for everybody."

Early last week, a missionary was detained at the Cincinnati airport for "lacking necessary documentation to board his flight home," according to Michael Purdy, LDS Church spokesman.

That triggered fears in the undocumented LDS community in Utah, and already prompted a change in how one Utah missionary returned home. The young man, a Salt Lake Valley resident, completed a mission in Oklahoma and was scheduled to return home two days after church leaders heard of the unrelated arrest in Ohio. The mission president contacted local Utah church leaders, and it was decided the missionary's uncle would drive out to Oklahoma to bring the missionary home, which he did.

"The travel department of the church has to rethink everything. Things have changed, and they need a whole new policy," said a local church official who was aware of the situation. "With ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] hitting them at the bus terminals and airports, this opens a whole new discussion. I don't know how many undocumented immigrants we have serving missions, but I'm sure this is going to repeat itself."

LDS Church leaders have had evolving policies on how to keep undocumented missionaries safe. But this is the first time Holland has heard of a missionary being arrested by immigration officials while serving.

"There's been an ongoing discussion of this for 15 years. These kind of incidents, or anything like it, would continue that discussion," said Holland, who is a member of the Missionary Executive Council. "We're always trying to do, always and forever, exactly what's legal, and in the spirit of that, be fair to everyone on the religious side, on the spiritual side, to have the spiritual benefits of [serving a mission]."

The reason, according to Holland, is simple.

"A mission is so fundamental to our blessings."

The LDS Church has changed its policies about mission calls for undocumented immigrants over time. Previously, they had to return to their country of origin for extended periods of time and then could serve. However, U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, inserted language into a 2005 agricultural bill that absolves religious organizations of criminal liability for allowing their undocumented members to perform volunteer service, including mission work.

Church leaders do make certain accommodations for undocumented missionaries, including calling them only to missions within the United States. But leaders acknowledge the missionaries' potential legal jeopardy.

"They go knowing themselves that they're at risk, and nothing in our mission call changes that," Holland said. "They know that, and we know that, and we work within those parameters to have them be constructive, honorable, faithful, spiritual, religious emissaries for that period of service."

Sending undocumented immigrants on a mission, though, sends a mixed message, with the potential for "tragic" results for missionaries and their families, said Ron Mortensen of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration.

"What the church has done is taken care of themselves and left the individual in a terrible position," Mortensen said. "They say 'We'll give you these benefits, but, oh by the way, if something happens to you, sorry.' "

Charles Kuck, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says this is one more example of why federal immigration reform is needed.

"You have kids who just have spent the two most important years in their lives now having to worry about being thrown in jail for not having proper documentation to get on a plane," said Kuck, a Brigham Young University graduate.

Holland says LDS leaders will continue to have discussions about making sure undocumented missionaries get home safely.


"Clearly we do take and always will take a great sense of responsibility for the safety of our missionaries in any part of the world. ... We're not agents of the immigration service and we don't pretend to be, and we also won't break the law. We didn't bring them here. We quite overtly discourage that."

Jeffrey R. Holland

Welcome to ALIPAC moodyblue. I like your screen name. One of my favorite bands!

I say it's time to repeal the tax exempt status of these law-breaking churches. In 5 years of Christian school, I never read anything in the bible about ignoring the law. Instead, we are told to abide by the laws of the land. Why is this too difficult for churches to understand?

The LDS have freedom to practice their religion because of the US Constitution, yet by supporting illegal immigration they are undermining the Constitution and thus their own existence!

Bunch of idiots.

LDS Missionaries: Undocumented immigrants walk fine line when spreading their faith

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 07/10/2009 09:18:11 AM MDT

Cecelia Carmona has sent six children and a grandson to parts of the United States on two-year LDS missions -- all as undocumented immigrants. A year ago, the Salt Lake City single mom from Mexico completed her own 18-month mission in New York City.

For the first time, Carmona is worried.

Her latest missionary son is slated to return home next month, but his mission president in Pennsylvania still has not finalized the travel details.

Since April, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has scrambled to adjust its transportation procedures for undocumented missionaries after Jose Calzadillas was detained by Customs and Border Control agents at the Cincinnati airport for not having proper identification. He was flying home after a successful Mormon mission in Ohio.

To avoid such problems, the church has assigned undocumented prospective missionaries (who must declare their immigration status before serving) only to U.S. missions. Those missionaries likely will have to stay out of airports and arrive and leave by car, bus or train.

The arrest has had a "chilling effect" on Mormonism's Latino wards and branches, says a Chilean immigrant and returned LDS missionary named Jaime, who declined to give his last name because of his immigration status.

Other than for its missionaries, the LDS Church takes a "don't ask, don't tell" approach toward the immigration status of its members. But some estimate between 50 percent and 75 percent of members in Utah's 104 Spanish-speaking congregations are undocumented. That includes many bishops, branch presidents, even stake presidents.

Despite LDS leaders' call for compassion in the formation of immigration laws, mostly Mormon lawmakers passed SB81, which took effect July 1 and tightens enforcement while limiting access to some services.

"This is creating a division among Latin LDS people here," Jaime says. "Many, many Latin people are now forbidding their sons from going on missions. All of this is affecting proselytizing for the church in our original countries."

In her ward, Carmona says through a translator, "people are very scared."

Lord's errand » The irony is, of course, that many undocumented immigrants came to Utah because of Mormonism.

A convert of some 25 years, Jaime arrived in May 2005, looking for financial stability and a warm embrace by fellow believers.

That fall, he joined more than 20,000 Spanish-speaking members at the LDS Church's "Hispanic Fireside" in the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City. He was moved when one LDS authority asked, "Do you think it was economic problems that put you here?"

"No," Jaime recalls the man saying. "It was the Lord. The Lord put you here for his purpose."

That was "really important to us. We felt valued," he says. "Now we feel abandoned."

The church did not take a position on recent immigration legislation, which outraged Jaime and other LDS immigrants eager for their faith to defend them.

"The church could make more pressure on lawmakers," he says.

It's a balancing act for LDS authorities, given that many of the main opponents of undocumented immigrants also happen to be Mormon.

From that perspective, undocumented immigrants are violating church principles, especially the 12th Article of Faith, which says members believe in "obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."

"If they're undocumented, they are not legal," says state Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, a former LDS missionary. "If they are working, they are using another person's Social Security number. It is wrong."

Jenkins says he has compassion for undocumented immigrants. "We should feed, clothe and help them, but does that mean I should help them commit a felony?"

As to sending undocumented missionaries, the church "has been warned," Jenkins says. "The day the government starts cracking down on this, the church could be in a tough situation."

Gospel cause » Still, LDS authorities defend their political neutrality and policies.

"We're not agents of the immigration service, and we don't pretend to be," apostle Jeffrey R. Holland told The Salt Lake Tribune recently, "and we also won't break the law."

To that end, the church sends missionaries among undocumented immigrants, baptizing many of them without ever asking about their status. It also allows them to go to the temple and on missions.

"The blessings of the [LDS] Church are available to anyone who qualifies for and accepts the gospel of Jesus Christ," LDS spokesman Scott Trotter says. "Federal law allows undocumented persons to provide volunteer church service, including missionary service, within the United States."

The LDS Church also is deeply involved in helping Spanish-speaking members integrate into U.S. society.

As part of the church's Inner City Project here, Rock Balstaed oversees about 70 couples who volunteer in Spanish-speaking congregations. They provide English classes and job training, as well as assess and assist with medical and dental needs.

Some LDS attorneys with the J. Reuben Clark Law Society also provide legal assistance when immigrants have disputes with neighbors of employers.

"These are determined, vibrant people, not looking for a handout; they're looking for an opportunity," Balstaed says. "These are families. They are not villains or criminals."

Double bind » It's especially complicated for those who came to Utah as infants or toddlers, says immigration attorney Rebecca van Uitert in Chicago.

Van Uitert, who is LDS, tells the story of a young man who was 4 when he arrived on America's shores. He grew up with his Mormon peers, listening to the same music, attending the same seminary classes and singing the same song about going on a mission when he grew "a foot or two."

But he always was aware of his otherness, she says. "He knew he wasn't supposed to be here and that it could all be taken away at a moment's notice."

The young man delayed his decision to serve a mission for a couple of years. The goodbye with his parents was heart-wrenching.

"I remember him sobbing, 'Should I do this or not?' " van Uitert says. "He knew he'd be putting himself at risk by going and knocking on doors. If he was deported and sent back to his country, he and his family could be separated forever."

Yet he couldn't refuse what he believed God wanted him to do. He felt it was a divine duty.

Van Uitert knows dozens of stories like this one -- and faith colors all of them.

"Oftentimes, people feel God tells them to come to Utah," she says. "They are fleeing violence or political unrest or poverty. God tells them this is the path, and the rest falls into place."

They get tourist visas and believe that wouldn't have happened if God didn't want them to come in the first place. Then they simply stay.

"I have learned to listen to the Spirit. When God tells me to do something, I do it," says Van Uitert, who is launching an oral-history program among Mormons to "document the undocumented."

"Why shouldn't they?"

pstack@sltrib.com

http://www.sltrib.com/lds/ci_12787617

However, U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, inserted language into a 2005 agricultural bill that absolves religious organizations of criminal liability for allowing their undocumented members to perform volunteer service, including mission work.

And which of our distinguished Senate members voted for the bill without reading it? These religious organizations are aiding and abetting illegals, which the last I heard was unlawful. These churches should have their tax-exempt status removed for getting involved with and endorsing the people breaking the laws of this country.