Greetings,
New ESL classes are springing up around Texas with the help of the International Service and Aid Center. Read on to learn more.

ISAAC Ministry News:
New ESL Ministries Spring up Across Texas  

This year ISAAC has been emphasizing English as a Second Language as an immigrant ministry options for churches. To that end, we partnered with Literacy ConneXus to help start and support 10 new ESL works around the state.  We are happy to announce that this goal was not only met but shattered!  Please pray for the 21 new ESL ministries that are now holding classes. Click here for a list of the churches.
 
If your church is interested in starting an ESL class, please contact me at Richard.munoz@bgct.org or e-mail Lester Meriwether at lester@literacyconnexus.org.

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
Border Security

ISAAC is grateful for the FBI's work in thwarting two terror plots last month. The plots, however, led politicians and activists to demand tougher border security to stop illegal immigration, probably because the local Dallas/Fort Worth news station described alleged bomb suspect, Mosam Smadi, as a "teenage illegal alien."
 
But calls for increased border security typically mean sending more border patrol agents or erecting a fence on the southern border of the United States. Some conservative bloggers criticized the lack of border security as a reason Smadi was in the country. 

While controlling the flow of people who cross into the United States illegally is important, those actions alone would have not stopped Smadi. The national Fox Network reported, "His father, Maher Hussein Smadi, said his son entered the U.S. with a student visa. But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Smadi came to the United States legally in 2007 using a tourist visa and overstayed the time he was allowed to be in the country." 
 
Either way, Smadi came to the United States legally on a visa. Increased border patrols and barriers on the border to Mexico would not have stopped him. "Border security" only deals with part of the issue. There still is a need for effective policies and systems that track those who enter the United States legally but overstay their visa period. These solutions need to be comprehensive, not printed on a bumper sticker.

Immigration News:

Immigration official impersonator nabs baby
 
Apprehensions of Chinese nationals up in Arizona desert.
 
Museums and immigration debate

ESL Trainings
 

CLINIC
For the updated 2009 live training schedule, click here.

Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)

For the 2009 training schedule, including webinars for non-profits click here.

This month please pray for Charlie. He is appealing an immigration decision that denied his spouse and child entry into the United States.  
 
Click here to read the rest of the ISAAC prayer petitions. 

For more information on the ISAAC Project, please call ISAAC Director Richard Muñoz at 214-828-5196 or write to him at richard.munoz@bgct.org. You can also visit the ISAAC Web site at www.isaacproject.com or or the ISAAC Blog at http://isaac-project.blogspot.com/.