Southern Baptists in Georgia urged government leaders to crack down on illegal immigration in a resolution during the recent annual gathering of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
Messengers to the Nov. 14-15 convention gathered in Savannah, Ga., approved a statement recommended by Brad Whitt, pastor of Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez, Ga., urging the federal and state government to enforce existing immigration laws.
Brad Whitt
The resolution called on the federal government “to provide for the security of our nation by controlling and securing our borders, and efficiently and humanely enforcing our immigration and employment laws.”
It urged Congress “to address seriously and swiftly the question of how to deal realistically and compassionately with the illegal immigration crisis in a way that will restore trust among the citizenry.”
The Georgia Baptist resolution omits mention of a path to legal status, a feature of an immigration resolution passed by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2011.
According to the Pew Research Center, there were 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2014. Eight million of them have jobs, accounting for 5 percent of the civilian workforce. Two-thirds of unauthorized immigrants have lived in the United Sates for at least a decade.
President-elect Donald Trump has a 10-point plan on immigration which includes making Mexico pay for a wall along the southern U.S. border, ending sanctuary cities — municipalities across the country that limit their cooperation with federal authorities when asked to detain undocumented immigrants — and tripling the number of agents in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement department, commonly referred to as ICE.
Trump’s plan also proposes to “turn off the jobs and benefits magnet.”
“Many immigrants come to the U.S. illegally in search of jobs, even though federal law prohibits the employment of illegal immigrants,” says a statement on the Trump/Pence campaign website.
After winning the election, Trump said he plans to deport 2 million to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records immediately after his inauguration in January.
The Georgia Baptist Convention resolution encouraged churches to minister compassionately to immigrants by offering English as a second language and citizenship classes and “to make the most of the tremendous opportunity for evangelism, ministry and discipleship and join our Master on His mission to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10), no matter what their status.”
Whitt, a Ph.D. student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary who holds degrees from Union University, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, made headlines in 2015 after Fort Gordon denied a request for a joint color guard at Abilene Baptist Church’s “Faith, Family & Freedom Celebration” service held July 5.
The day’s keynote speaker, Fox News personality and one-time Baptist Press reporter Todd Starnes, warned of “a war on religious liberty” he said is taking place in the United States, placing Christians on the verge of having their faith criminalized.
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