Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, `This is what the LORD says: Let my people go…'”

— Exodus 8:1

God told Moses to go to Pharaoh. god commanded the prophets to speak to rulers. Advocacy is being a voice for those who have no voice. It is counseling and listening to those in power. Sometimes it is speaking truth to power.

Every minister of Word and Sacrament shall… speak publicly to the world in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, advocating dignity, justice, and equality for all people, working for peace and reconciliation among the nations, caring for the marginalized, and embracing and welcoming racially and ethnically diverse populations.

— Manual of Policies and Procedures for the Management of the Rosters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, 7.31.02

As such, clergy of the Lutheran church speak to legislators about the most vulnerable people. In this visit, we focused on the dilemma of refugees and asylum seekers, fleeing violence or disaster, all of whom are here legally.

An example is Venezuela, a failed state. 3 million people have crossed the border into Columbia. Many have continued on into Peru. Some seek refuge in the U.S. There are clear legal pathways for this. Our system, however, is underfunded and backlogged. People come, receive authorization to enter, but are not fully processed, sometimes for years. In the mean time some do not have work authorization. There is much that needs to be done to make the system work more smoothly.

The U.S. received 76,000 Afghan evacuees, people who supported us during the war. of those 76,000, 12,000 came to Texas, and 5,500 came to Houston. Houston resettled more Afghan refugees than any other city in the U.S., and more than 47 states.

We spent time talking to DHS (The Dept. of Homeland Security). The good people here understand the importance of this work. They oversee the work with those who receive Temporary Protected Status. They also work directly the affected countries to make it possible for those who wish to stay, the majority, to do so so.

We also visited with the State Department, Senior Advisor Lindsay Jenkins, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of PRM: Populations, Refugees, and Migration. They are understandably proud of the important humanitarian work they do as a part of the State Department. They were open to our asks and interested in our stories on the ground.

While in the State Dept. Halls we bumped into Lutheran pastor and theologian Isaac Munster from Bethlehem.

The next day we headed to the Hill. For many of us, this was the first time we had been in Washington DC since the capital riot of January 6, when 174 police officers were injured, the capitol was vandalized and looted, and $30 million of damage was done by a large mob that overran the building searching for Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. People here discussed with us their understandable anxiety about potential violence with this upcoming election.

We had meetings with the staff of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA-04), Senator Durbin (D-IL), Senator Heinrich (D-NM), Senator Collins (R-ME).

If the room below looks familiar to you, it’s because it is the Senate Judiciary Committee room, where the January 6 hearings were held.

Finally, we participated in a Faith-Based Town Hall Meeting on Immigration Accompaniment with DHS Center for Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, held at the Methodist Building, across from the Capitol.