New York, NY/Tegucigapla, Honduras. — This week, Hispanic evangelicals in the United States and Central America came together to address the growing humanitarian crisis around children arriving at the Southwest border of the United States. In response to the growing crisis of unaccompanied minors coming into the US from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
The Alianza Evangélica Latina (AEL) is advocating for the governments of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the United States to work closely together to ensure the humane treatment of these children while addressing the root causes of the surge of unaccompanied children making this dangerous journey. This call is part of AEL’s continuing commitment to provide a Christian and humanitarian response to challenges impacting the most vulnerable in this region of the globe and beyond.
Several years ago, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC) and Esperanza joined the heads of all the national evangelical associations in Latin America to create AEL an international body of Spanish and Portuguese speaking evangelicals to speak jointly around pressing regional and global issues. This week on an international call AEL concluded that this humanitarian crisis required a joint response. AEL also committed to using their networks of churches, radio stations, and television channels in Latin American and the US to unmask the false reports promoted by “coyotes” and human-traffickers around immigration laws regarding children.
AEL is deeply concerned that cartels and “maras” are using false narratives to profit from the misfortune of these children and families. AEL is also working with its members in charitable and relief organizations to take a more active role in providing protection and relief efforts for these children in these sending countries.
The Alianza Evangélica Latina declared, “We are in urgent need to revisit the issue of poverty and violence in Latin America. As evangelicals committed to justice and life we must continue to be at the forefront of decrying the deleterious impacts of poverty and gang-violence on the children of our region.” AEL is particularly committed to a holistic humane response from all countries.”
Stay Connected