How Houses of Worship Help Immigrants Adjust to America

Inside the Masjid Aqsa on East 115th street in East Harlem, women in black niquabs and brightly colored headscarves file down a narrow staircase alongside men speaking in Wolof and Mandingo. Most of the congregants at this West African mosque are recent immigrants, and the only information they have about immigration or civic rights comes from workshops held inside these walls. Immigrants come to their houses of worship to pray and retain a religion intertwined with culture, but they also turn to churches and mosques for the services and information they need to adjust to life in America.

American churches have a long history of devoting resources to caring for marginalized communities: parishes around the country run soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and refugee resettlement programs. For churches and mosques whose parishioners are themselves members of marginalized communities, that ministry often means looking inwards.