Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America

IFCLA has been an active presence on the St. Louis social justice scene since the 1980s, when several individuals began regular solidarity trips to Central America and area congregations participated in the sanctuary movement, in order to accompany neighbors in Latin America and equip US citizens to take legislative action against harmful interventionist policies in the region.

IFCLA has been recognized for the work they led to support Alex Garcia and his family through over 3.5 years of sanctuary at Christ Church UCC in Maplewood, where he lived from September 2017 until February 24, 2021, when Alex claimed his freedom and walked out of the church. Part of the organization's journey with Mr. Garcia demonstrated just how hard it is to protect one man's dignity, one family's right to love and live freely. IFCLA believes that every single person, every single family, deserves the same freedom that Alex is still fighting for - and that it will require much more community power in order to change the laws and policies that would make this possible.

In the last 6 years, hundreds of people in St. Louis have been part of IFCLA's ICE Accompaniment efforts, attended an Immigration 101 presentation, volunteered with the Immigrant Family Emergency Response (IFER) Fund, or have come to know IFCLA another way. Our programs seek to equip both immigrants and allies to become effective change agents in our community.

The current iteration of the organization stands on 40 years of dedicated, passionate labor and the aspiration to honor the inherent human dignity of all persons and collaborate to fight for just policies and laws. Today, the incredible staff team leads IFCLA with a very clear shared vision: change the way immigrant justice looks in Missouri in order to center the voices of diverse, directly impacted immigrant communities to build lasting community power in pursuit of radical inclusion.