Who we are – Strangers No Longer

“We cannot remain insensitive, our hearts deadened before the misery of so many innocent people. We must not fail to weep. We must not fail to respond.” Pope Francis

Our Mision

Hearing the call of our Scriptures and Catholic Social Teaching, we seek to love and do justice and to honor the dignity of every human being and the sacredness of all creation. We stand together in promoting these values through education, direct support, and advocacy for humane immigration policies. As we do this work, we seek to learn from each other’s experience and culture.

Our Vision

Strangers No Longer is a network of Circles of Support and individuals inspired by Catholic Social Teaching who, together, provide education, direct support, and advocacy to promote humane immigration policies.

About us

Strangers No Longer (SNL) is a network of Circles of Support formed in Catholic parishes, congregations and immigrant communities to support our immigrant neighbors and to advocate for a comprehensive and humane immigration policy. Named after a pastoral letter written by our Bishops about immigration, we are motivated by Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger – a call that has been echoed by Pope Francis and Church leaders throughout time.

Working since 2017, SNL has created Circles of Support in parishes across Southeastern Michigan, Traverse City, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw. Eleven of our Circles of Support are made up of over 60 immigrant women and men, who share their experiences and support each other. Additionally, youth from 12 area high schools and parish youth groups have formed a regional committee called Youth in Action for Immigration, and have created Circles in their schools. Our mailing list contains over 1700 members.

In 2022, we revamped our board of directors to include 6 Spanish-speaking immigrant leaders. We now publish all communication including our newsletter in both English and Spanish and use a Spanish translator in all Zoom meetings.
As our immigrant membership grows, so too does our shared understanding about the trials immigrants face on a daily basis. These challenges include the inability to drive, language barriers at every turn, lack of medical support, lack of legal advice, harassment from landlords, and undeserved traffic stops. We are committed to work together to improve these conditions and create a more welcoming society.

Our support is shown in three ways:

Education

We educate in parishes, congregations and schools about the history of U.S. immigration policy, the effect it is having on real people, and what the Church teaches us about our call to respond.

Direct Support/Accompaniment

We work with families directly in many ways such as accompanying immigrant families to court, providing transportation, translation, and emergency financial support.

Advocacy

We advocate for policies and practices that better uphold the human dignity of immigrants. We do this by meeting with officials at local, state, and national levels.

`SNL Accomplishments In 2024`

Expanded to 32 Circles of Support: 17 Parish Circles, 9 Immigrant Women’s Circles, 1 Immigrant Men’s Circle, and 6 High School Circles.

Partnered with the National Center for Farmworker Health to initiate a new project in 5 MI Counties: educating migrant dairy workers about bird flu. Contracted with 5 bi-lingual outreach workers to do presentations and distribute materials on the dangers of the virus

Expanded work in outstate dioceses (Gaylord, Saginaw, Grand Rapids), prioritizing leadership development and building relationships across cultural/language barriers.

Held our 3rd Annual Banquet at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, with 390 people in attendance

Held our 4th Annual Youth Conference, with 75 students from 7 Catholic High Schools

Sponsored our 1st youth border trip, partnering with Mercy ARISE Adelante

Convened the 1st Statewide Council of Immigrant Leaders

Held a retreat and a day of Reflection on Catholic Social Teaching in the Gaylord Diocese with 100 people from 20 parishes listening to presentations by immigrant leaders

In Sept. 2024, celebrated the Church’s World Day of Migrants at the Detroit Cathedral with a Mass and Celebration of Diversity with over 500 people and speakers representing 15 different immigrant communities.

Organized 2 Advocacy Days in Lansing in February and November. Had 300 SNL members attend (123 in Feb. and 180 in Nov.) including immigrants, students, parish leaders, and women religious from five different religious orders–all supporting driver’s licenses for immigrants.

Exceeded fundraising goal for individual donations, for the second year in a row