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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Quick Devotion #2: Detention

Detention

"When I was a stranger, You welcomed me... and when I was in jail, You visited me." (Matthew 25:35-36)

Immigrants are detained in inhumane conditions.
300,000 individuals--including asylum seekers, young children, and families--are detained each year in immigration detention facilities without access to proper medical treatment, legal counsel, religious services, etc.

Prayer
Loving God, just as you watched over Joseph in Egypt, the disciples in Jerusalem, and Paul and Silas in Philippi, protect those we have unjustly criminalized. We pray for the children living behind closed doors without access to schools and communities where they can grow healthily. We pray for families separated due to detention, for those in need of health care, for those dependent on the support of a detained person. And we pray for the wisdom and boldness to speak and advocate effectively on their behalf, as they cannot.

Other Resources on Immigration Detention
US Detention of Asylum Seekers and Human Rights
Death By Detention, NY Times article
CBS Report on Detention in America
Locking Up Family Values--A study on immigrant family detention by Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service.

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