Each day brings a new attack on our immigrant neighbors and the scope and breadth of these challenges can be staggering. The paradigm of detention, enforcement and increased border militarization has brought us the cruel and inhumane practice of family separation, the ongoing and deplorable detention of families and children, and brutal immigration enforcement raids on communities. Expansion of a punitive deterrent-oriented system is abhorrent and an affront to our national values.
Compassion should be at the root of how our nation treats migrants. As people of faith we know and believe that each life, no matter where they’re born, has value and dignity; that each person is a beloved child of God. This is why we need to urge Congress to no longer fund the immigration deportation and detention machine that the administration keeps running full throttle. Instead, Congress should invest in programs that serve our communities by dedicating funds to case management programs and other alternatives to detention.
This week UCC Conference Ministers from across the country joined our Justice and Witness Ministry staff in DC to meet with legislators and demand the halt of funding for detention, deportation, and border militarization. Support the work of your Conference Ministers and ask your member of Congress, as they work on appropriations legislation, to not invest any more money in policies that fuel and feed the administration’s efforts to continue terrorizing immigrants. How we invest our money reflects our values as a nation, and right now those values are corrosive and harmful. This has to stop. Congress should instead invest in policies that uplift family unity, address the root causes of forced migration, and prioritize human needs by respecting the rights and dignity of every person.