Actions speak loudly, but words also count in a time when many who should be speaking out about injustice remain silent.
A public statement read by a group of Christian leaders Feb. 27 on the steps of First Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., will resound beyond our city, with its painful history of racism.
“We are deeply concerned about the growing climate of fear surrounding immigrants in our nation and in our own city.”
“We love Richmond,” the pastors and priests declared. “We love our country. We pray regularly for our civic leaders and for the peace and flourishing of our communities. It is precisely because of that love that we feel compelled to speak clearly in this moment.
“We are deeply concerned about the growing climate of fear surrounding immigrants in our nation and in our own city. We are grieved by rhetoric that dehumanizes those made in the image of God. We are troubled by policies and practices that separate families, sow anxiety among children and create fear around schools, hospitals, houses of worship and neighborhoods. We lament the tone of our public discourse, in which immigrants are often treated not as neighbors but as threats.”
The Richmond-area Christian leaders — representing Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal and Assemblies of God congregations — included First Baptist’s senior pastor, Jim Somerville; Corey Widmer, pastor of Third Church; Larry Branch, senior pastor at Love Center of Unity Full Gospel Church; James Arsenault, pastor of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church; Taylor Lewis Guthrie Hartman, pastor of Second Presbyterian Church; Peyton Harris, pastor of River of Life Community Church; and Ben Campbell, Episcopal priest, founder of the Richmond Hill Christian community and a longtime leader in Richmond’s struggle to overcome its spiritual legacy of slavery and racism.
Their statement followed a Feb. 23 gathering at First Baptist of 450 people from more than 60 metro Richmond churches, sponsored by For Richmond, a coalition of Christian churches, and Radio Poder, a local Latino Christian radio station.
The meeting focused on worship, prayer, hearing from immigrants affected by recent government actions and learning ways to aid and support immigrants through churches, nonprofit agencies, schools and other avenues.
A slave auction – Slave market in Richmond, Virginia 1861 – engraving after drawing by Edmond Morin (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)
Richmond’s history
“Our own city of Richmond carries a long history of racial oppression, exclusion, division and hierarchy,” the Christian leaders said. “We cannot ignore that history as we consider how fear and suspicion once again shape public conversation. Faithfulness to Christ requires that we learn from our past rather than repeat it.”
We Richmonders would love to forget the ugly aspects of our past, but they’re unavoidable. We have a sorry record of dehumanizing people. Richmond was one of the main ports and markets in the North American slave trade from its founding in 1737 until it lay in rubble at the end of the Civil War. The city’s economic foundation was built on the trafficking and exploitation of enslaved Africans and their descendants. On its streets, if you listen carefully, you can still hear the long-ago cries of Black men, women and children being bought and sold, beaten, raped and torn from their families forever.
“We like to think we’re a different city now, a more welcoming and diverse place.”
Oppression of Black folk continued in Richmond, the capital of the defeated Confederacy, for another century — despite a thriving Black community and the famed Jackson Ward District’s national reputation as a center of African American cultural and economic life.
The “Lost Cause” permeated white culture, and Jim Crow segregation dominated local laws and society. The “Massive Resistance” campaign, launched by the powerful Byrd political machine against court-ordered school desegregation in the late 1950s, shut down schools across Virginia and dragged on for years.
But the Civil Rights Movement, propelled by many courageous voices, slowly broke down racial barriers that stood for generations. Full voting rights and desegregation finally advanced Black Richmonders to the forefront of the city’s social, political and economic life.
We like to think we’re a different city now, a more welcoming and diverse place. Black political leaders have guided Richmond for decades. The Confederate statues on Monument Avenue finally came down after George Floyd’s murder. Students and young professionals of all colors and ethnicities flock to Richmond’s universities, businesses and trendy cultural and restaurant scene.
What’s more, Richmond is now home to large and vibrant communities of immigrants and resettled refugees — Spanish speakers from throughout Latin America, Asians (including more than 13,000 Indians), Africans, Middle Easterners, Europeans. Many languages are spoken in area schools. As in other cities, Richmond’s economic growth depends upon immigrant workers and business startups.
The Virginia Civil Rights Memorial in Richmond, Va., commemoratess protests that helped bring about school desegregation in the state. The memorial is located on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol. (BNG photo by Mark Wingfield)
Shadow of fear
But a shadow has fallen over Richmond’s immigrant and refugee communities: Fear.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions and deportations in Virginia aren’t as visible and violent as they have been in Minneapolis, but they are happening — daily. ICE arrested more than 6,600 people in Virginia between January 2025, when Donald Trump once again took office as president, and December.
Detainees are taken to Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George, an ICE detention center in Farmville and other facilities before being sent on to other states for deportation — or deported directly from Virginia. An average of 50 immigrants are deported from Riverside each week, according to reports. (ICE recently attempted to purchase a huge warehouse for immigrant detention in Hanover County, just north of Richmond. The purchase was voted down by the county commission after protests from the public, and the warehouse’s current owners cancelled the sale.)
“Few of the detained immigrants, undocumented or otherwise, are lawbreakers in any criminal sense.”
Few of the detained immigrants, undocumented or otherwise, are lawbreakers in any criminal sense. Many are hardworking people trying to navigate a complex and confusing legal path to citizenship (“follow the rules,” in other words) who find themselves arrested in courtrooms or at their workplaces. ICE seldom respects their due-process rights. They tend to be the breadwinners for their families; spouses and children left behind must fend for themselves in a climate of fear and grief.
Some immigrant families in Richmond now live more or less in hiding, worrying they will be seized by ICE if they leave their homes. Children aren’t showing up for school. Worshipers aren’t coming to church. Self-deportations are increasing as immigrants lose hope of ever gaining Green Cards or citizenship.
A beloved Korean couple in Richmond closed their shoe repair and alteration business in February and returned to South Korea — after trying to gain U.S. citizenship for more than 20 years.
Recently I befriended an Afghan family, newly arrived from another state, who fear leaving their apartment. The husband is an educated professional who speaks good English but has yet to complete his paperwork for long-term residency. Now he wonders if he has a target on his back.
Another dear friend of mine is a U.S. citizen of Asian origin who legally immigrated here as a child with her family more than two decades ago. She is a successful career woman, wife and mother who holds a master’s degree and works for several social service agencies. But she worries about being profiled and stopped by ICE because of the color of her skin.
“It feels dehumanizing that some of us have to carry around documentation to prove we are here legally.”
Irrational, you say? Try walking in her shoes. Many people of color are experiencing the same daily anxiety in the age of ICE. “It feels dehumanizing that some of us have to carry around documentation to prove we are here legally,” she said.
“This is not a political issue; it’s a personal issue,” stressed First Baptist Pastor Jim Somerville. “Some of our people are immigrants, and they are terrified. I get text messages in the middle of the night.”
Legal status and human worth
“The Bible begins with the declaration that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27),” the Richmond pastoral statement declares. “That dignity does not fluctuate with citizenship, documentation, language or national origin. A person’s legal status does not determine their worth before God.
“Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly commands his people to care for ‘the sojourner’ and ‘the stranger.’ ‘You shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt’ (Leviticus 19:34). The Lord ‘loves the alien, giving him food and clothing’ and commands his people to do the same (Deuteronomy 10:18–19). The prophets condemn those who oppress the foreigner alongside the widow and the orphan (Zechariah 7:10).
“In Jesus Christ, these commands are intensified, not relaxed. Our Lord himself became a refugee as a child. He crossed social, ethnic and religious boundaries in his ministry. He told the story of a Good Samaritan who embodied neighbor-love across hostility and difference. He taught that whatever we do for ‘the least of these,’ we do for him (Matthew 25:40). The church’s concern for immigrants is not political fashion; it is obedience to Christ.
“We therefore reject nativism, ethno-centrism, racialized fear and any ideology that suggests our nation belongs more to some than to others. Such tribalism is incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is not built on ethnic homogeneity but on reconciliation. In Christ, those who were once strangers have been brought near (Ephesians 2:12–19).
“Cultural diversity is not a threat to Christian faith; it is a reflection of the manifold wisdom of God. Scripture culminates in a vision of every tribe and tongue and nation gathered before the throne of God (Revelation 7:9). The church itself is called to be a foretaste of that coming reality. When we treat cultural difference as danger rather than gift, we contradict the trajectory of redemption.”
Laws and borders
So what about respecting the laws of the land and establishing secure borders?
These are legitimate concerns, particularly in light of our immigration system, which has become increasingly broken as cynical politicians use it to divide the public and win elections rather than fixing it.
But too many Americans — and far too many Christians — wield these concerns as weapons, ending every immigration conversation before it begins with a zombie-like response along these lines: “I’m not against immigrants, but they have to come here legally. If they don’t, deport ’em” — apparently without due process, without mercy, without humanity.
And the Trump administration, under chief anti-immigration ideologue Stephen Miller, is increasingly applying that approach to all categories of immigrants and legally resettled refugees — even Green Card holders and citizens, who can be denaturalized.
The Richmond Christian leaders’ response:
“Law and order are not enemies of compassion.”
“We affirm that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and to establish just and orderly immigration systems for the sake of the common good. Law and order are not enemies of compassion. Human dignity and national security need not be in conflict. A healthy society requires clear processes and meaningful reform.
“We recognize that there is an important legal distinction between those who enter or remain in our country through lawful processes and those who do not. Respect for the rule of law is essential to a healthy society. Yet the existence of a law does not relieve us of the obligation to apply it with justice, mercy, proportionality and due process. Scripture does not condition our obligation to love the stranger upon their immigration status. Indiscriminate mass deportation, the separation of families, the erosion of due process and rhetoric that portrays entire communities as criminal or dangerous violate the spirit of Christ and corrode our common life. We must be able to uphold the law while refusing to dehumanize those who live under its penalties.
“We also acknowledge that our nation’s immigration system is in urgent need of serious and comprehensive reform. Decades of legislative gridlock have produced a system that is confusing, inconsistent and often unjust in its outcomes. When legal pathways are inaccessible or unrealistically narrow, both enforcement and human dignity suffer. We call upon our elected leaders to pursue reforms that secure the border, establish fair and workable legal processes, protect families and reflect both justice and mercy.”
‘You are not invisible’
The leaders closed their statement by addressing Richmond’s immigrants and Christians directly:
“To our immigrant neighbors in Richmond: You are not invisible to God, and you are not alone. Your lives, your labor, your families and your faith enrich our churches and strengthen our city. When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer (1 Corinthians 12:26).
“To all our fellow Christians: This is a moment that calls for moral seriousness, not indifference. We trust that each congregation, tradition and individual must discern, before God and in good conscience, what obedience looks like in this season. Some are called to quiet, steady accompaniment of families under threat. Some are called to works of mercy — legal aid, pastoral care, hospitality and practical support. Some are called to public advocacy, to peaceful protest or to policy engagement. Some are called to sustained prayer and spiritual intercession. We do not presume that every Christian must respond in the same way. But we are convinced that none of us is permitted to respond with silence, cruelty or apathy.
“We offer this statement not in despair but in hope.
“Our hope is not in a political party or platform, but in the crucified and risen Christ, who breaks down dividing walls of hostility and makes strangers into family. Because we belong to him, we cannot remain silent when fear overpowers compassion or when the vulnerable are treated as disposable.
“As disciples of Jesus Christ in Richmond, we commit ourselves to embodying a different way — a way of truth without cruelty, law without dehumanization and love without fear. We pray for the peace of our city, for wisdom for our leaders and for a renewal of our common life rooted in the dignity of every person made in the image of God.
“May the Lord grant us courage to be faithful in this hour.”
Erich Bridges, a Baptist journalist for more than 40 years, has covered international stories and trends in many countries. He lives in Richmond, Va.