By Bob Allen
Following news reports of Honduran children being killed following their deportation from the United States and with President Obama considering executive action on immigration, 41 religious leaders signed a succinct, one-sentence letter Sept. 2.
“While we celebrate the potential of executive action to alleviate the suffering caused by our nation’s broken immigration system — particularly in light of political inaction in Congress — it must not come at the cost of due process and access to humanitarian protection for children and families fleeing violence in Central America.”
The letter coordinated by Church World Service, an ecumenical humanitarian organization with member communions including the Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches USA, added a Bible verse from Deuteronomy: “Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.”
Signers of the letter include Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA, and Paula Clayton Dempsey, director of partnership relations for the Alliance of Baptists.
After Congress failed to pass immigration legislation, President Obama announced in June plans “to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own,” bypassing Congress with executive action on border security and immigration reform.
In a telephone press conference Sept. 3, Church World Service CEO John McCullough said the faith community wants to make sure that unaccompanied minors at the border have the opportunity for legal representation, that they are placed in the care of families rather than crammed into detention facilities and that they are not deported to circumstances from which they fled if it causes them harm.
Sister Simone Campbell of Nuns on the Bus said immigration reform and recognizing that children fleeing violence by drug cartels are refugees are “two different realities” that need to be kept separate.
Jim Wallis of Sojourners said one point not often mentioned is that the primary market for Latin American drug lords is the United States. “This isn’t somebody else’s issue,” Wallis said. “We as Americans are directly responsible because of our own national drug addiction.”
The faith leaders said the best solution would be for Congress to act, but until then the president has both the legal and moral responsibility to do what he can.
“Politics has trumped the children, and we are here to say as people of faith that is not acceptable,” Wallis said. “In God’s eyes, borders matter less than children, and those children have got to be our metric.”