People came from as far away as San Francisco to attend the first immigration rights seminar on Jan. 26 sponsored by the Department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty. The Watsonville Spanish church was packed with hundreds of people from the community and from Adventist churches near and far. PARL Director Alan Reinach opened the meeting with a charge: “No right is an island. If your rights as immigrants can be destroyed, my religious liberty can be destroyed. Our rights stand or fall together.” He encouraged those who care about their rights to be informed and to get involved in defending freedom.

Susan Saylor, an attorney from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, gave the first presentation, a survey of state laws that protect all who live in California from discrimination in housing and employment. She was followed by Adventist immigration attorney Samuel Hernandez from Riverside, Calif., who gave an overview of the immigration laws and highlighted problem areas. Interest was very high, and the audience peppered the panelists with questions for more than an hour. Pastor Luis Rendon translated.

Reinach preached on religious liberty in the morning, and presented a sundown vespers talk, “The Sheep and the Goats," which was based on Matthew 25. There, Jesus declares that those who will be in the kingdom fed him, clothed him, and took him in when he was a stranger. Reinach insisted that one true measure of whether America is a Christian nation is its attitude and treatment of “strangers.” Ten people responded to Rendon’s invitation for baptism.

There has been strong interest in future immigration rights seminars, and plans are being developed for additional programs in San Diego, Riverside and Phoenix. For information about hosting a seminar, contact Alan Reinach at mrliberty@churchstate.org, or call 805-413-7396.