Many immigrants live in constant fear of detention, deportation and separation from their loved ones. Churches and communities are struggling to respond to the destructive effects of immigration raids across the country. But unlike the recent spate of hurricanes that has taken lives, destroyed property, and displaced thousands, this humanitarian disaster is not only exacerbated but caused by failed public policy.

In May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descended on the quiet town of Postville, Iowa. They surrounded the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant and detained 389 workers. After four days of unusually quick legal proceedings, 297 of the detainees pled guilty and were sentenced to five months in prison on criminal charges--atypically harsh sentences for immigration violations. Once out of jail, they will be immediately deported.

In August, a similar incident occurred in Laurel, Mississippi. Nearly 600 workers were arrested, and 475 were sent to ICE detention facilities.

In September, ICE completed a large-scale series of raids in California. Agents arrested a total of 1,157 immigrants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

These are only a few of the largest cases. Many other communities have seen smaller-scale, but still disturbing, workplace and residential raids.

Entire immigrant families are rarely arrested all at once, especially in workplace raids, so children are often separated from their parents, husbands from their wives. On top of that, many detainees and deportees are economic breadwinners, and the family members who remain must struggle to find money for food and shelter while they attempt to reunite with their loved ones.

Immigrants snagged in ICE raids are sent to various detention facilities around the country, some of which are privately run and have little oversight. Approximately 30,000 immigrants are in detention at any given time, and almost 300,000 immigrants are detained each year. Since 2003, at least 84 immigrants have died in detention, many of them from treatable illnesses.

In the wake of these raids, local churches and religious organizations often act as the first responders to the humanitarian crises that follow. For instance, MCC Central States contributed money to help cover housing and food costs for families affected by the Postville raid.

It is good that churches are responding, especially in light of Biblical calls to love, clothe, and show hospitality to the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:19, Matthew 25:38, Hebrews 13:2). But it is a tragic failure of proper governance in Washington that makes this response necessary.

In both 2006 and 2007, Republican and Democratic senators introduced, and the president supported, bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bills that, while imperfect, would have prevented recent raids. The bills would have provided undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship (after paying a fine), bringing immigrants out from the shadows of U.S. society and alleviating the tangible fear gripping immigrant communities.

Both presidential candidates, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, supported CIR (though John McCain has since backed away from that support, despite being an original sponsor of the legislation). When either candidate becomes president in January, it will be important for people of faith to urge him to push Congress for CIR.

In the meantime, the current administration is continuing to ramp up its policy of harsh, large-scale immigration raids. The president has the authority to suspend these destructive raids immediately. Please call (202-456-1111) or email the White House and ask President Bush to put a moratorium on immigration raids for the rest of his term.