Greetings,
Welcome! This week, ISAAC wants to invite you to our new ISAAC Blog. The blog is set up to keep you posted on immigration issues and to give everyone a chance to hear your views on the subject. In this issue, learn more about our blog, read our latest headlines and hear what ISAAC has to say about the 2009 stimulus package.

ISAAC Blog Hits the Web

ISAAC gets many e-mails and phone calls from people like you who want to share their experiences and opinions. But it can be hard to keep up.

To solve this problem, we decided to start the new ISAAC Blog in addition to our monthly newsletter. The blog will give you the chance to share your stories about faith-based ministry to the immigration community. See you there!

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to others or ask them to sign up at www.isaacproject.org. Also, if you have immigration news you would like to share, contact richard.munoz@bgct.org.

ETBU Mission Expo a Success

Right: ISAAC displays its services during the 2009 East Texas Baptist University Mission expo before students, faculty and other visitors on March 12.

Many thanks to Allan Thompson, director of the Great Commission Center at ETBU, for putting together this wonderful event.



ESL Conference Brings Together Those Who Minister to Immigrants

More than 400 people attended the Greater Houston Area ESL Conference where speakers from around the state shared ways to help churches start, administer and grow ESL classes.

The conference was held at Champions Forest Baptist Church on March 7.

Literacy ConneXus and ISAAC are seeking 10 churches in Texas to start and sustain adult immigration literacy programs such as ESL or citizenship programs. We will discuss our collaboration in the April issue.

Right: Lester Meriwether, director of Literacy ConneXus poses with the conference organizers.

If your church is interested in starting one of these programs, please contact Richard Muñoz by email at richard.munoz@bgct.org.

ISAAC EDUCATION:

Facts about Immigration:  Separating the wheat from chaff (Luke 3:17).

Are illegal aliens benefiting from the 2009 stimulus package?

On March 9, a radio station in Dallas headlined its morning rush-hour report claiming that 300,000 illegal aliens would benefit from the current Senate stimulus bill being debated in Congress. The source for this information was a report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Read more here.

The CIS report claims that 15 percent of construction workers are illegal aliens. It also estimates that the Senate Stimulus bill under consideration would create 2 million new construction jobs. "Thus, if no effort is made to bar illegal immigrants from these jobs, it is extremely likely that about 300,000 will go to illegal immigrants," the report claims.  The report then criticizes the Senate bill for not requiring the use of the "E-Verify" system as its companion House bill has required.

The CIS report has been criticized by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) as a "stimulus for fear." The IPC reports that CIS uses a formula from the Federal Highway Administration that states that for every $1 billion spent on federal highway construction, the result is "10,300 construction oriented jobs."  IPC argues that CIS has misapplied this formula because it was designed specifically for federal highway construction and not for the many broad initiatives in the 2009 Economic Stimulus.  Additionally, IPC notes that this formula was generated prior to the economic downturn and that the current economic conditions have caused many illegal aliens to return home.  Moreover, the term "construction oriented jobs" is very broad and includes positions not historically held by illegal aliens e.g., managerial and supervisory white-collar positions.  IPC also argues that E-verify is not the "silver bullet" that it is portrayed to be and has many database errors. You can read their report here.

A closer examination reveals that the CIS report chooses its words carefully: "if no effort is made to bar illegal immigrants from these jobs, it is extremely likely that about 300,000 will go to illegal immigrants." This is vastly different than reporting as a fact that the "stimulus will benefit 300,000 illegal aliens." The fact is no one knows how many undocumented aliens will be working on projects directly or indirectly associated with the 2009 stimulus package.

Until next time, consider the facts, examine your sources of information and remember to keep "separating the wheat from the chaff."

National News

USCIS to provide $1.2 million citizenship grant

Fact Sheet: fiscal year 2009 citizen grant program

Uncommon Valor: Naturalizing servicemen as citizens

Immigration officials try to deport a dead man.

Life sketches of detained immigrants

Immigrants hiding in storm drain

·  For the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. 2009 training schedule, click here.
·  For the 2009 Immigrant Legal Resource Center training schedule, including webinars for non-profit organizations, click here.
·  The Center for Community Cooperation is not currently providing monthly trainings.

This month, we are asking you to focus on praying for Bryan, from New Mexico. He is appealing a decision that denied his spouse and child entry into the United States. Please ask that God give him peace and make a way for him to be united with his family again.  
 
For our complete list of prayer requests, visit our ISAAC Blog.

ISAAC is a collaborative ministry between the BGCT and Buckner Children and Family Services, Inc.