Rick Ufford-Chase, a leading proponent of change in U.S. immigration and border policies, will be the featured speaker at two events in Silver City on Sunday, October 24. Ufford-Chase is the co-founder and co-director of BorderLinks, a binational organization that conducts educational tours of areas impacted by immigration and free trade. A leader in the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, he was recently elected to a two-year term as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

On October 24, Ufford-Chase will give the sermon Sunday morning at the 10:15 service of the First Presbyterian Church of Silver City, 1915 North Swan. At 3:00 in the afternoon, he will speak at a colloquium on border and immigration issues in the Global Resource Center at Western New Mexico University. Both events are free and open to the public.

Ufford Chase has been a leader in the No More Deaths campaign and other efforts to save lives of migrants caught in the deserts of southern Arizona. In a publication entitled The Other Side, he wrote about the economic pressures that lead to rampant immigration:

“The word ‘globalization’ has become household language for most of us in the United States today, though few of us have any real understanding of its implications for millions across the southern hemisphere. As trade agreements have lifted tariff barriers in Mexico and Central America, small farmers and small businesses have found themselves competing with multinational corporations, and it is painfully obvious that they are destined to lose. To survive, they are risking everything to get at least one family member north to the United States and the ‘American dream…’

“What makes this historical moment unique is the speed with which information, capital, goods, and services can now move freely all over the world. The problem is that we aren’t seeking equally innovative ways to govern our relationships as a global community.

“The global economy as it is currently being designed increases suffering and makes life harder for the vast majority of the world’s population.”