Baptists' chief goes on border-kid visit

Find resolution, he urges U.S. officials

The Rev. Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas waves shortly after being elected the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention during its annual meeting Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Baltimore. Floyd received 52 percent of votes cast by delegates to the annual meeting of the nation's largest Protestant denomination. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

The Rev. Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas waves shortly after being elected the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention during its annual meeting Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Baltimore. Floyd received 52 percent of votes cast by delegates to the annual meeting of the nation's largest Protestant denomination. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd said he's heard stories about children flooding across the country's southern border, fleeing violence and abuse. But during a trip to south Texas on Tuesday, he was able to put a face to the stories.

"I saw those children up close, and that changes everything," the Arkansas preacher said. "It's no longer just a story. Those children, they are someone's children, they are someone's grandchildren, they are someone's friend. Many of them left their families in order to have this life that they were hoping for that was better than where they were."

More than 57,000 unaccompanied children have been picked up by Customs and Border Protection since October, according to the Department of Homeland Security. About three-fourths were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and many came with the impression that if they made it to America, they could stay.

President Barack Obama has asked for a $3.7 billion supplemental appropriation bill to help with housing, relocation and legal fees for the tens of thousands of children and adults who have entered the United States illegally from Central America in the past few months. The agencies legally responsible for the children, including Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Health and Human Services, have said they are running out of funds to deal with the influx.

The U.S. House and Senate, set to leave soon for August recess, are wrangling over how much money to provide, what strings to attach and whether the 2008 law delaying the children's deportation should be changed.

Floyd, who is also pastor at Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, joined four other religious leaders touring a Customs and Border Protection facility in McAllen, Texas, and a Health and Human Services Department facility at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio on Tuesday.

The McAllen facility, a renovated warehouse, houses children as young as age 7 who said they had traveled from Honduras and El Salvador, Floyd said. The San Antonio facility held about 1,200 children between ages 12 and 17, he said.

Floyd said some children were taking English classes or exercising while he visited. Others spoke with the visitors through a translator about why they had come.

"We heard their story as much as we could understand their story ... all looking for hope, all fearful of their lives, violence, poverty, gangs, human trafficking. Many of them escaped their present condition, where they were, in order to create a brand new future," Floyd said.

He urged Southern Baptists to pray that elected officials find a resolution and to look for opportunities to help the children.

"When we have opportunities to serve in any capacity, we need to be there serving in any capacity we possibly can," he said.

Floyd stopped short of saying what elected officials should do with the young people coming into the country illegally.

The Southern Baptist Convention last addressed the issue in a 2011 resolution acknowledging that "undocumented immigrants are in violation of the law of the land." But it encouraged churches to minister "to all persons, regardless of country of origin or immigration status."

Many who come to the country illegally "are fleeing brutal economic and political situations," the resolution states.

"We ask our governing authorities to implement, with the borders secured, a just and compassionate path to legal status, with appropriate restitutionary measures, for those undocumented immigrants already living in our country," the resolution states.

Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore and Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Jim Richards also visited the facility.

Bishop Daniel Flores, the Catholic bishop of Brownsville, Texas, said the U.S. House and Senate need to approve the additional funding without changing the underlying law. He translated for the other leaders and also lives near one of the more popular crossings.

"There is a strong sense within a broad coalition of churches that this needs to be seen as a humanitarian issue first, and then we deal with some of the other complexities," Flores said. "Yes, there are issues of border security that need to be dealt with, but that's not necessarily [the same issue] as children who are fleeing from very, very horrendous situations in their home countries."

He said the increased number of children is a "refugee situation," and should not lead Congress to change the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.

The act, which was supported by many evangelical groups, means that many of the children cannot be immediately returned to their home countries. It requires that children illegally in the United States who did not come from Mexico or Canada be given an opportunity to appear at an immigration hearing, consult with an advocate and have access to counsel, a process that can take months. The law, reauthorized in 2013, directs the Health and Human Services Department to place the children in the care of family if possible.

The law is named after a British abolitionist who helped end slavery in most of the British empire.

"There should not be any retreat when it comes to due process that folks who apply for refugee status are granted under current law, it's very important," Flores said. "They do have to have a chance to have representation and understand the questions and to be able to go before a judge. That is something that should be protected."

Senate Democrats are expected to pitch a plan this week that would provide about $1 million less than the president requested, but makes no changes to the 2008 law.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said that immigration law changes, perhaps to the 2008 law, must be included for House Republicans to support a supplemental appropriation. A working group is set to discuss its recommendations at a closed-door meeting with House Republicans today.

On Friday, the president and vice president are meeting with Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and El Salvadorean President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.

They're scheduled to discuss how to discourage young people from making the trip north.

Several members of Arkansas' delegation said Tuesday they will consider their religion while deciding how to vote on whatever measure comes before their chamber, but also want to be sure the additional money is properly used.

A Section on 07/23/2014