Driver's licenses help meet basic needs. The right to mobility, to move freely, is inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many other fundamental needs — to work, to education, and to human dignity — are only accessible via valid identification and adequate transportation. When surveyed, nearly 300 people said that due to lack of a driver's license they have: *Taken work with less pay or fewer hours *Had difficulty renting an apartment/house *Had to give up educational opportunities, a better school or a scholarship *Children are scared of losing parent from driving without a license Our Public Safety The roads and highways are safer when everyone behind the wheel has a license, insurance, and identification. For this reason, police officers and sheriffs around the country are in favor of this right being granted to all people. An unmarked license is necessary to encourage all drivers in Pennsylvania to obtain a license. A marked license would perpetuate the fear many immigrants have of deportation and family separation. Our Economy The ability to legally drive allows immigrants to fully contribute to the local economy. Access to transportation is necessary for the many immigrant workers, business owners, parents, and students in Pennsylvania. Undocumented Pennsylvanians contribute an estimated $139 million in taxes in PA annually. The first year of enacting proposed legislation could see between $2.76 million to $4.14 million in revenue from licensing fees alone, with a possible $2.36 to $3.54 million in subsequent years — a number that far outpaces the cost of implementation. ESPAÑOL Las licencias de conducir ayudan a cubrir necesidades básicas. El derecho a la movilidad, a moverse libremente, esta inscrito en la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos. Muchas otras necesidades fundamentales - trabajar, educación, y la dignidad humana - sólo son accesibles a través de una identificación válida y transporte adecuado. Casi 300 personas al ser encuestadas dijeron que debido a la falta de una licencia de conducir han: *Tomado trabajos con menos paga o menos horas *Tenido dificultad para alquilar un apartamento o casa *Tenido que renunciar a oportunidades de educación, una escuela mejor o una beca *Los niños tienen miedo de ser separados de sus padres por conducir sin licencia Nuestra Seguridad Pública Las calles y autopistas son más seguras 
cuando la persona detrás del timón tiene una licencia, seguro e identificación. Por ésta razón, policías y sheriffs alrededor del país están a favor de que éste derecho le sea otorgado a todas las personas. Las licencias sin marcar son necesarias para animar a todos los que manejan a obtener una. Las licencias marcadas perpetuarían en los inmigrantes el temor a la deportación y la separación familiar. Nuestra Economía Poder conducir legalmente permite a los inmigrantes contribuir a la economía local. El acceso a transporte es necesario para muchos inmigrantes trabajadores, empresarios, padres y estudiantes en Pensilvania. Residentes indocumentados de Pensilvania contribuyen un estimado anual de $139 millones en impuestos estatales. Durante el primer año de la promulgación de la legislación propuesta, ésta podría generar entre $2,760,000 y $4.14 millones solamente en el costo de la licencia, con la posibilidad de $2.36 a $3,54 millones en los años siguientes, -una cifra que supera con creces el costo de la implementación.

Dear Senate Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Senate Minority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader Pelosi, We are religious and moral leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. This summer, the Campaign launched the most expansive wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in the 21st century. In more than 40 states and Washington, D.C., thousands of people participated in this season of moral resistance, calling attention to the ongoing War on the Poor. This war, fueled by policies passed and endorsed from the state house to the congress to the White House, is especially violent towards our children. To address this pressing moral failure, we invite you to convene a hearing in September to focus on the policy violence against our children. We refuse to let our faith be used as a justification for policies that harm the most vulnerable in our society. We cannot tear families apart, nor can we jail them together. Children must be released to their families and families must be allowed to proceed through the asylum process outside of a jail cell. We must preserve foundational programs to children’s health and well-being such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And all children deserve a quality public education free from fear of being pushed out and locked up. Anything less is a modern day form of violence and abuse against children. Our Campaign is made up of mothers in Flint whose children still cannot drink or bathe in clean water; fathers who fear police violence against their young boys; undocumented parents whose children have been taken away from them; indigenous communities whose next generations live and play in contaminated lands; youth who have lived in homes where their heat was turned off during the winter; low-wage workers who have skipped meals to feed their children; homeless teenagers abused by the juvenile justice system; veterans sent off to war that perpetuates violence against school children in countries halfway around the world, while their own families struggle to make ends meet; parents who have lost custody of their children because they could not afford to pay their water bills. These are not just isolated communities and individual stories, according to our research, there are 140 million poor and low-income individuals in this country; 43% of all American children live below the minimum income level necessary to meet basic family needs. There are nearly 14 million families who cannot afford water and at least 4 million families with children who are exposed to high levels of lead. LGBTQ youth represent up to 40% of the homeless youth population. At the US/Mexico border, there are 550 children who are still not reunited with their families. In states across the country, children are being starved and abandoned by pervasive policy decisions that cut vital programs. And around the world, women and children account for 68% of the rising civilian deaths from our wars. The Talmud reminds us “By the breath of children God sustains the world” (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 119b). “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” Jesus said, warning elsewhere that “if anyone causes one of these little ones who trust me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Like the prophets before him, Jesus insisted that children matter because they bear the image of God. For far too long, cynical political operatives have exploited our faith communities’ concern for children by claiming to be “pro-life” while supporting policies that harm children. From the border to the dining room table, children are being harmed by policies that put them last, placing boulders in their path. The violence perpetrated against children in these times is a moral emergency. We implore Congress to convene a hearing about this violence against our children. Somebody has been hurting our children and it has gone on far too long and we won’t be silent anymore. Sincerely, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rev. Traci D Blackmon Executive Minister, Justice & Local Church Ministries The United Church of Christ Colin Christopher Director, Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances Islamic Society of North America Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray President, Unitarian Universalist Association Imam Khalid Griggs Imam, Community Mosque of Winston-Salem Vice President, ICNA Civic Engagement and Social Justice Islamic Circle of North America Rev. Jimmie Hawkins Director, Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness Rev. Teresa Hord Owens General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Bishop W. Darin Moore Chair of the National Council of Churches President of the Board of Bishops of the AME Zion Church Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Rabbi Elyse Wechterman Executive Director, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins National Council of Churches, Truth and Racial Justice Initiative Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Red Letter Christians Rev. Dr. Anika T. Whitfield Arkansas, Tri-Chair Rev. Eddie Anderson Kait Ziegler California, Tri-Chairs Dr. Chanda Jackson-Short Delaware, Tri-Chair David Borger Germann Iowa, Tri-Chair Rabbi Alana Suskin Maryland, Tri-Chair Krystal Rose Michigan, Tri-Chair Borja Gutiérrez Rev. Ann Keeler Evans Nijmie Zakkiyyah Dzurinko Pennsylvania, Tri-Chairs Rev. Charles H. Rhodes Kerry Taylor South Carolina, Tri-Chairs Martin Hurley Tennessee, Tri-Chair Sherilyn Samuel Texas, Tri-Chair

Evangelicals, fueled by the political strategies of the Religious Right, have long eyed the Supreme Court as a battle site in the war to overturn Roe v. Wade. President Trump has chosen Judge Brett Kavanaugh from a list hand-picked by far right-wing organizations, rather than the non-partisan American Bar Association, which had vetted nominees for nearly every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination poses grave danger to the rights and protections of historically marginalized communities. If the Senate confirms his nomination, his confirmation would entrench a conservative majority, posing an existential threat to the civil rights and protections of people in the only growing segment of the evangelical church: evangelicals of color. Conservative majority rulings have already whittled away voting rights, undermined desegregation, and weakened protections against police brutality. As evangelicals, we say no! Abortion rates for American women are at an historic low but have increased among poor women because economic hardship is the primary driver of abortion. The way to reduce abortion is not by escalating culture wars but by reducing poverty. We now call on all evangelicals to Pledge to Pause the culture war by taking three actions: 1. FAST for God’s discernment after 35 years of a culture war mindset. We recognize that three things happen in war: * There are only allies and enemies, no human beings. * You cannot be wrong in war. You are always right. The other is always wrong. * There is always collateral damage in war. 2. LISTEN to the stories and testimonies of the people of color in the pew right next to us. 3. ACT on our prayerful, informed discernment by calling our Senators to demand they replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy with a moderate independent Justice. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Download the #PledgetoPause toolkit and start today: https://freedomroad.us/2018/07/pledgetopause/ --- Lisa Sharon Harper is the founder and president of Freedom Road, LLC, the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed, "The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right," and an Auburn Senior Fellow. [1] Supportive statements from evangelical women: https://freedomroad.us/2018/07/evangelical-women-culture-war/ [2] Supportive statements from evangelical men: https://freedomroad.us/2018/07/calltopause/

As you can watch here (https://on.msnbc.com/2NX9ryx), MSNBC has offered to host this round table on faith in the public square. Please either respond to their producers who have reached out to you or let us know an alternate public venue in which you prefer to “give an answer for everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have,” as Scripture says we must always be prepared to do (I Peter 3:15). Sincerely, Bishop William J. Barber, II, Pres. & Sr. Lecturer, Repairers of the Breach Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis , Co-Director, Kairos Center for Religion, Rights & Social Justice Bishop Yvette Flunder, Presiding Bishop, The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries Minister Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Director, School for Conversion

Our current immigration policies based on the principles of deterrence violate the basic commitments of our different faith traditions, which 1) emphasize the sacred dignity of all humans; 2) see humanity as belonging to one family, thus no one is a stranger; 3) demand that society and individuals care for the needy and stranger among us; 4) demand truth, instead of the lies used by this current Administration concerning the character and personhood of brown people to justify draconian and cruel policies; and 5) call the faithful to fight for a just society free from the abuse and oppression of others. Even with President Trump’s partial policy reversal, we are concerned that the underlying dehumanization and criminalization of refugees and asylum seekers at the border remains in place. These policies violate both national and international law. Moreover, such inhumane practices continue this country’s original sin: racism defined by targeting and tormenting people of color in the name of supposed self-defense as rule of law. That many refugee children and families find abuse at the hands of our government instead of favor is merely the latest instance of the racism that infects our country’s soul. We abhor both the separation of families and the fact that families seeking refugee status are being incarcerated instead of receiving aid. We acknowledge that some of the people employed to carry out unjust orders despise the directives that the Trump administration has given them. So we call on one another to declare, unequivocally, the equal and full humanity of all who find themselves on our borders – regardless of their documentation status – for we are all members of God’s Creation. We encourage full participation in actions that resist these unjust policies. We remind this administration of the immense network which we represent and that our base is prepared to use its theological, political and legal resources to ensure the safety and wellbeing of these children and their families. Our diverse faith traditions speak with one voice, calling us to embrace refugees and secure their protection. Indeed, we deny our faith, ethics, and humanity when we remain silent or complicit in the death and dehumanization of others. Our convictions demand that all of us stand in solidarity with the oppressed in this struggle for liberation. --- Nuestras políticas migratorias actuales basadas en los principios de disuasión violan los compromisos básicos de nuestras diferentes tradiciones de fe, que 1) enfatizan la dignidad inherente y sagrada de todas las personas; 2) comprenden a la humanidad como perteneciente a una sola familia, que implica que por lo tanto, nadie es un extraño o una extraña; 3) demandan que la sociedad y las personas se sientan interpelado/as y comprometido/as con los extraño/as entre nosotros; 4) exigen la verdad y la justicia, en lugar de las mentiras utilizadas por esta Administración actual con respecto al carácter y la dignidad de las personas y comunidades de color para justificar políticas crueles e injustas; y 5) llaman a los fieles y personas de conciencia a luchar por una sociedad justa libre del abuso y la opresión de los demás. Incluso con el logro parcial de frenar la política de separación de las familias impuesta por el presidente Trump, nos preocupa profundamente que la deshumanización y criminalización subyacente de los refugiados y solicitantes de asilo en la frontera siga vigente. Estas políticas violan el derecho nacional e internacional. Además, tales prácticas inhumanas le dan continuidad a, y profundizan el pecado original de este país: el racismo caracterizado por la explotación y victimización de las personas de color en nombre de una supuesta defensa del estado de derecho. Que muchas niñas y niñas y familias de solicitantes de asilo y refugio sufran por el abuso a las manos de nuestro gobierno en lugar de la protección a la que tienen derecho, es simplemente la última instancia del racismo que infecta el alma de nuestro país. Aborrecemos tanto la separación de las familias como el hecho de que las familias que buscan el estatuto de refugiado estén siendo encarceladas y penalizadas en lugar de recibir la ayuda que merecen. Reconocemos que algunas de las personas empleadas para ejecutar y cumplir órdenes injustas desprecian las directrices que la administración Trump les ha impuesto. Llamamos a todas y todos a proclamar, proteger y defender, inequívocamente, la humanidad igual y plena de todas las personas que se encuentran en nuestras fronteras, independientemente de su estado migratorio, ya que todas y todos somos miembros de la comunidad mundial de la Creación de Dios. Alentamos la participación plena en acciones efectivas que resistan estas políticas injustas. Recordamos a esta administración la inmensa red que representamos y que nuestra base está preparada para usar y movilizar sus recursos teológicos, políticos, sociales, culturales y jurídicos para garantizar la seguridad y el bienestar de estas niñas y niños y sus familias. Nuestras diversas tradiciones de fe hablan con una sola voz, llamándonos a abrazar y darle la bienvenida a las personas que solicitan asilo y refugio y migran en búsqueda de una vida mejor, y asegurar su protección. De hecho, negamos nuestra fe, nuestra ética y nuestra humanidad cuando permanecemos en silencio o somos cómplices de la muerte y la deshumanización de los demás. Nuestras convicciones exigen que todas y todos nos solidaricemos con los oprimidos en esta lucha por la liberación. Original drafters and signers include Rev. Dr. Danielle Tumminio, Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, Rev. Dr. Peter Heltzel, Rev. Dr. Pamela R. Lightsey, Rev. Dr. Shannon Craigo-Snell, Rev. Dr. J. Kameron Carter, Rev. Traci Blackmon, Rev. Dr. Noel Castellanos, and Rev. Dr. Katharine R. Henderson.

With her first daughter, Vicky made the arduous journey from Honduras to the U.S. border in 2014, after receiving death threats in Honduras from her daughter’s father. After following the international process for asylum at the border, she has petitioned the U.S. government for asylum over and over, without ceasing, in order to win safety and legal residency in her new home, Utah, where the rest of her family lives. She has been fighting constantly to get legal asylum status, even while facing insufficient legal representation and an immigration court system that arbitrarily denies most asylum seekers. Vicky has never given up. Her current lawyer has filed to reopen her asylum case. She has no criminal record. Vicky has reconnected and reunited with the rest of her immediate family here in Utah. She had a second, beautiful daughter in 2017, and her family and friends have given her unconditional love and support as she raises her family in her new community. But in 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) decided they couldn’t leave this mother in peace to raise her girls and gain permanent status in the U.S. They decided she just had to be deported. If Vicky were sent back to Honduras, her life and the lives of her daughters would be in danger. So on January 30, 2018, mere hours before her flight to Honduras, she took sanctuary at First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. Women with children should be a protected class for asylum. Like Vicky, victims of domestic violence in Honduras and similar countries have no recourse for getting relief; the Honduran government cannot or will not intervene against their abusers or the organized exploitation of women and children, which practically guarantees systemic endangerment of women and children. Honduras is on the brink of civil war. Election fraud and lack of confidence in the legitimacy of the Honduran government have frayed its ability to provide basic services or protect its citizens from the local systems of control that have developed in the vacuum of a weak central government. The country's security force has gained power due to U.S. prosecution of the international war on drugs, has committed widespread human rights abuses, and has enabled the formation of warring gangs. Women and children can find no social safety in these circumstances. The current U.S. standards for asylum are inadequate and need to be updated: they do not protect the lives of people who have been displaced from their countries of origin by non-state violence and violence exacerbated by U.S. foreign policy. I ask that you please cancel Vicky's deportation order and enable her asylum application to be successful. She needs to raise her girls in peace and stability, unafraid, surrounded by her family and friends in Utah, where she belongs. Con su primera hija, Vicky realizó el arduo viaje de Honduras a la frontera con Estados Unidos en 2014, luego de recibir amenazas de muerte en Honduras por parte del padre de su hija. Después de seguir el proceso internacional de asilo en la frontera, ella ha solicitado asilo al gobierno de los EE. UU. Una y otra vez, sin cesar, para ganar seguridad y residencia legal en su nuevo hogar, Utah, donde vive el resto de su familia. Ella ha estado luchando constantemente para obtener el estado de asilo legal, incluso cuando enfrenta una representación legal insuficiente y un sistema judicial de inmigración que arbitrariamente niega la mayoría de los solicitantes de asilo. Vicky nunca se rindió. Su abogado actual ha presentado una solicitud para reabrir su caso de asilo. Ella no tiene antecedentes penales. Vicky se ha vuelto a conectar y se ha reunido con el resto de su familia inmediata aquí en Utah. Tuvo una segunda y hermosa hija en 2017, y su familia y amigos le han brindado su amor incondicional y apoyo mientras cría a su familia en su nueva comunidad. Pero en 2017, el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) decidió que no podían dejar a esta madre en paz para criar a sus hijas y obtener un estatus permanente en los EE. UU. Decidieron que solo tenía que ser deportada. Si Vicky fuera enviada de vuelta a Honduras, su vida y la de sus hijas correrían peligro. Así que el 30 de enero de 2018, apenas unas horas antes de su vuelo a Honduras, tomó refugio en First Unitarian Church en Salt Lake City, Utah. Las mujeres con niños deben ser una clase protegida para el asilo. Al igual que Vicky, las víctimas de violencia doméstica en Honduras y países similares no tienen ningún recurso para obtener alivio; el gobierno hondureño no puede o no va a intervenir contra sus abusadores o la explotación organizada de mujeres y niños, lo que prácticamente garantiza el peligro sistémico para las mujeres y los niños. Honduras está al borde de la guerra civil. El fraude electoral y la falta de confianza en la legitimidad del gobierno hondureño han debilitado su capacidad para proporcionar servicios básicos o proteger a sus ciudadanos de los sistemas locales de control que se han desarrollado en el vacío de un gobierno central débil. La fuerza de seguridad del país ha ganado poder debido al enjuiciamiento de Estados Unidos de la guerra internacional contra las drogas, ha cometido abusos generalizados contra los derechos humanos y ha permitido la formación de pandillas en guerra. Las mujeres y los niños no pueden encontrar seguridad social en estas circunstancias. Las actuales normas estadounidenses para el asilo son inadecuadas y deben actualizarse: no protegen la vida de las personas que han sido desplazadas de sus países de origen por la violencia no estatal y la violencia exacerbada por la política exterior de EE. UU. Le pido que cancele la orden de deportación de Vicky y permita que su solicitud de asilo sea exitosa. Ella necesita criar a sus hijas en paz y estabilidad, sin miedo, rodeada de su familia y amigos en Utah, a donde pertenece.

Psychologists tell us not to dwell on the past because it prevents the life of now from being embraced and utilized for best growth into our future. This theory is reflected on a grander scale also. What is oil/petroleum\coal? These are the remnants of creatures that lived long ago. Not only did the Eternal Source Creator destroy them but also buried the majority of it very deep and away from the living world. What has become of our collective thoughts in society when we have lived myopically embracing the past? We have become a culture of worshipping the dead, preventing others from embracing life. We saw it with the Buffalo, the Passenger Pigeon, the North Carolina Parakeet countless others and now in the midst of a 6th mass extinction. Species are dying at an average of 5000 times the normal rate.* How is this happening? Through the sense of entitlement. From 1950 fishing increased from 18 to 100 million metric tons per year, ¾ of fishing grounds are depleted most large fish gone and industry would rather let their carcasses rot than offer the protein at below market rate while still edible. Furthermore industry says that the decomposing lives must go in landfills where they create the gas methane up to 71% more toxic than carbon dioxide. When the creatures of our time and space are returned to the soils of now they fertilize the ground with their knowledge and love allowing the next generation to rise from the ground with a power built upon their foundation of being. It is in the human psyche to return things to the Mother Earth. It used to be seeds and peels and shells and other biodegradable waste that nourished the soil in many ways. Now we are feeding the death industry by spreading the gift of our hands as plastic waste. Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. It only takes about 14 plastic bags for the equivalent of the gas required to drive one mile. Target gives away enough plastic bags a year to wrap around the Earth 7 times. The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year. According to Waste Management, only 1 percent of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means that the average family only recycles 15 bags a year; the rest ends up in landfills as litter. Up to 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution enters the ocean from land. At least 267 different species have been affected by plastic pollution in the ocean. 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags annually. One in three leatherback sea turtles have been found with plastic in their stomachs. Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes. It takes 500 (or more) years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Unfortunately the bags don't break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.* How is our immersion into clouding our beings any different; the news glorifies dyfunction, most tv programming also, video games affect the entire society as people retreat into a world of make believe. Grocery stores need to be returned Our waterways are in peril: Jordan river near dried up, 1 in 10 rivers around globe stop flowing through the year, Dead Sea shrinking at a meter per year and Western India has 30% of wells dried up and the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea. By 2025 2 billion people affected by water shortage. This is nothing short of affluent greed: 800-1000 liters of water per person per day in Las Vegas,Palm Springs has lush golf courses. We have used the living waters of this planet to feed the greed of animal exploitation where creatures that have no voice to protest in governments are trans-species raped, their children forcibly removed from their wombs, mutilated and violently assaulted through their lives and then sent to a slaughterhouse were they see, hear and smell the death of their breed and their own impending demise. We know that every entity on this planet has a portion of water within its being. Water does conduct electricity and emotions are electrical conductions. When we consume their pain, suffering, bewilderment of being so savagely attacked and sorrow for the loss of life experience ingrained in their psyche how can it not alter the thoughts of our own being? Is this a reflection of the oils of the past (death) integrating into our present and creating a new life in misery? www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of.../extinction_crisis/ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/expect_more_bag_less/facts.html https://www.google.com/search?q=water+footprint+of+meat&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=XTwZKw6DMGt7_M%253A%252Cf9zUaKyv5TPjKM%252C_&usg=__q5ioZJ9LKgmfXweHH0AvVNLBC3s%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOj_Sa_P_ZAhVS0VMKHQsdAt4Q9QEIuAEwEg&biw=1164&bih=631#imgrc=UppEVqXtLVKfcM:

SANCTUARY/SANTUARIO On December 13th, 2017, Carmela, Fidel, Keyri, Yoselin and Edwin took the prophetic and bold step to enter into Sanctuary at Church of the Advocate, a member congregation of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia. “I am taking Sanctuary to fight for my family, to protest our deportation orders and the injustices of the immigration systems. Everybody deserves to live with dignity and safety,” said Carmela. El 13 de Diciembre del 2017, Carmela, Fidel, Keyri, Yoselin y Edwin tomaron el paso audaz y profético de tomar Santuario en la iglesia Church of the Advocate, miembro del Nuevo Movimiento Santuario. “Estoy tomando Santuario para luchar por mi familia, para protestar nuestras ordenes de deportacion y las injusticias de los sistemas de inmigracion. Todos merecemos vivir con dignidad y seguridad,” dijo Carmela. CHURCH OF THE ADVOCATE/IGLESIA CHURCH OF THE ADVOCATE Drawing on its long legacy of organizing for social justice, the Church of the Advocate is responding to the mounting attacks on immigrants and other communities of color by joining the movement to build Sanctuary for all. The Church is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a National Historic Landmark, and is well known for providing spiritual enrichment, social services, and community programming in Philadelphia. It is also the site of the ordination of the first female priests in the Episcopal Church in 1974. Basada en su largo legario de organizar por la justicia social, la iglesia Church of the Advocate está respondiendo a los ataques contra los inmigrantes y otras comunidades de color uniéndose al movimiento para construir Santuario para todxs. La Iglesia esta el en Registro Nacional de Lugares Históricos, es un Sitio Nacional Histórico, y es muy bien conocida por proveer enriquecimiento espiritual, servicios sociales, y programación comunitaria en Filadelfia. También es el sitio de ordenación de las primeras sacerdotisas en la Iglesia Episcopaliana en 1974. CONTEXT/CONTEXTO Deportations continue to wreak havoc in immigrant communities as the Trump Administration has increased immigration arrests by 45%. The federal administration explicitly targets “Sanctuary” cities such as Philadelphia, and it has stripped young people, refugees, asylees, and other populations from conditional relief programs like Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and DACA. Asylum law, even when applied to its full extent, does not protect the lives of people who have been displaced from their countries of origin by violence and poverty exacerbated by U.S. foreign policy. Las deportaciones continúan causando estragos en las comunidad inmigrantes mientras la Administración de Trump ha incrementado los arrestos de inmigrantes por el 45%. La administracion federal explicitamente ataca a las ciudades “Santuario” como Filadelfia, y ha robado a lxs jóvenes, refugiadxs, recipientes de asilo, y otras poblaciones de programas de relieve condicional como el TPS y DACA. Las leyes de asilo, aun cuando son bien aplicadas, no protegen las vidas de las personas que han sido desplazadas de sus países de origen por la violencia y la pobreza exacerbada por la política exterior de los Estados Unidos.

Since the election of Ronald Reagan, the gap between rich and poor has grown dramatically and “trickle down” economics has turned out to cause more of a trickle up. But nothing has brought the problem of inequality into sharper focus for me than the current proposals by Republicans to overhaul the tax system. The process has been rash, ill-conceived and opaque — all the things legislation of this much consequence should never be. And why? The hurry is purely political: Republicans badly need some sort of win for their benefactors, and they need it soon. ​An attempt at so-called tax reform like the current one can be dressed up in the rational-sounding language of economics and finance, but tax policy is always, at its heart, an expression of our nation’s shared values and priorities. The values and priorities expressed by the bills now being considered in Congress are so unlike those of my childhood as to be unrecognizable to me. I can’t sit idly by and pretend that people of my class are not, by deception and chicanery, looking to augment their already absurd wealth and power by way of this tax reform process. Sign and share this now to join me in stopping this #TaxScam. We’ve stopped legislation like this from moving forward before, but it has never gotten this far. We’re going to have to pull out all of the stops.

We urge you to dismantle one of the most unjust laws that perpetuate the inequality of Puerto Ricans as American citizens and continue to dehumanize them as colonized people. As people of faith, our sacred texts morally bind us to fight against unjust laws that oppress our fellow human being. As an elected official, you are morally bound to end the Jones Act, the unjust law strangling the economic autonomy of the People of Puerto Rico. Please take note of Isaiah 10:1, which states: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights, and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people…” Though Puerto Rico has a per capita income of $18,000--half that of Mississippi, the poorest state in our union--its cost of living is 13% higher than that of 325 urban areas across the U.S. This is a direct result of the Jones Act’s protectionist stranglehold on the Puerto Rican economy. The number of Puerto Ricans leaving Puerto Rico to the U.S. since Hurricane Maria is at 150,000, and that number is expected to rise to 500,000 by the end of 2018. This mass exodus of Puerto Ricans are arriving at our houses of worship. They are a people of deep faith, but are also attuned to the economic injustice our government is inflicting on their families members back on the island. The same resilience that drives them to our pews will drive them to the polls in your district in the next coming election. We ask you do justice for our fellow Puerto Ricans by taking the following three actions: i. Rescind the Jones Act ii. Cancel Puerto Rico’s immoral debt iii. Commit to approving federal resources to rebuild Puerto Rico. Thousands will be marching on Sunday, November 19 in Washington D.C. in the Unity March for Puerto Rico to remind congress that Puerto Rico is America too. Signed, The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church The Rev. Dr. Damaris Whittaker Senior Minister, Fort Washington Collegiate Church

We are people of many faiths and spiritual practices. We are clergy, teachers, lawyers, health professionals, workers, students, artists and activists. We are every race, gender, age and ability, from every corner of the country, united in a moral movement to protect 32 million of our brothers and sisters who will lose health care if this assault on the Affordable Care Act continues unchecked. Our many sacred scriptures urge us to care for the vulnerable, to feed and clothe the poor, to liberate those who are captive, and to heal the sick. The prophet Isaiah said it this way: If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday… you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. (Isaiah 58:10) Although white people made up the biggest group of newly insured Americans under the ACA, with 9 million new people gaining coverage, people of color also benefited dramatically from provisions in the ACA, including an expansion of Medicaid that provided health care subsidies for many low-income people. The ACA began the long work of shrinking the racial health coverage gap. Three million African Americans and 4 million Latinos — the minority group most likely to lack health insurance — accessed coverage through the ACA. Other marginalized groups, such as LGBTQ people, did as well. It allowed same-sex families to apply for joint coverage. It also removed lifetime caps on care for chronic conditions, such as HIV. Our faith compels us to witness for all on the margins. We know the ACA is not perfect. In considerable measure, this is because over twenty states sabotaged the ACA by refusing to expand Medicaid. Its primary shortcoming is that it needs to be transformed into a single payer system with universal healthcare for all. Still, taking health care away from millions who currently have it can’t be the answer. For every million people without access to health care, five thousand people will die needlessly — not because God called them home, but because those entrusted by God with the responsibility of governance failed to defend the widow, the orphan and the poor, and instead succumbed to the temptations of greed. As people of faith, we invite you into our moral movement. We pray your conscience will give you ears to hear the voices of the vulnerable, and courage to do what is right and just for the people you serve. In Solidarity, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis In partnership with: Rev. Dr. Katharine Henderson Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Sensei Lisa Sharon Harper Macky Alston Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño Rev. Peter Goodwin Heltzel Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock Rev. Robin Tanner Rabbi Sharon Brous Sr. Simone Campbell Rabbi Stephanie Kolin Valarie Kaur Bishop William Barber II Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, III

At some point in our lives, we will all need care. This need is growing; the U.S. elder population will double over the next two decades and our system is unprepared for this elder boom. In-home care work is one of the most affordable and desired long-term care solutions available yet this work is often unheralded and severely undervalued. Many families struggle to access and afford the highly skilled care they so desperately need. The situation is untenable. The stakes are high. We need a new way forward. Start by joining others around the nation who will be watching CARE. Want to join the CARE National Watch Party Initiative? Sign up to join or host a party: https://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/calendars/care-documentary-watch-party