Stop the raids

We’ve begun another year demonstrating that the only wisdom our U.S. Department of Homeland Security seems to have for addressing the plight of undocumented immigrants is to bully and mistreat them. Now ICE is conducting raids upon homes with sleeping children and their already traumatized mothers; this is no wisdom at all, but it is inhumane and irresponsible. As an American, I am deeply disturbed. As a bishop in The United Methodist Church, I see the faith community renewing its commitment to helping the stranger.

I see people of faith caring for these families from Central America. I have held children, warehoused on the border, their little bodies trembling with fear. The families currently in ICE crosshairs have come to this country because they are fleeing violence, persecution, deadly poverty and are seeking asylum. They are not criminals, they are not here to undermine our society; they are our brothers and sisters on the edge of death. They should be treated as refugees, not as immigration enforcement priorities who are now being hunted like animals in their homes, ripped from their beds and their mother’s arms. 

{mosads}It is not only the newly arrived who are being terrorized by U.S. policies. In a New York Times article titled “Rumors of Immigration Raids Stoke Fear in New York,” reporter Liz Robbins captures how the Obama Administration’s home raids are causing panic and fear in the entire immigrant community: “Across the region, immigrants who are undocumented and even those who have legal status have been paralyzed by fear. People stayed home from work or refused to leave the house even to buy milk. Some kept their children home from school or stayed in other people’s homes, afraid that a raid could happen anywhere, anytime.

“The Worker’s Justice Project in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, which also runs a hiring center, reported that just three out of 10 day laborers had shown up. At an English class, only two of the usual 15 students attended. The level of panic in the region, lawyers said, has not been seen for eight years — since the government’s Operation Return to Sender program sent paramilitary-type raids to immigrants’ home.”

Here in the Los Angeles area, United Methodists have been in ministry with undocumented immigrants for years and our partnerships with community organizations run deep.  Just recently, we partnered in the formation of a broad coalition of religious and non-religious groups working together in response to these raids.  Some of our churches, who are experiencing first-hand such panic and fear in their neighborhoods, are preparing to provide sanctuary for immigrant families.  We hope others will join these courageous and compassionate churches.

People of faith are also helping immigrant families abide by legal immigration proceedings, a process that is confusing, complicated, and unhelpful, particularly to persons who have no permanent home, often no means of transportation and absolutely no safety net. From the experience of providing pastoral care to many of these immigrant families, I would argue that the vast majority want to do what is right to protect the lives of their family members and particularly their children. We need to not add to their trauma and suffering. They deserve our humanity.

Rev. Alison Harrington leads a small church with a big history. Southside Presbyterian in Tucson, Arizona started the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980s when Central Americans were fleeing civil war and instead of being met in the U.S. with asylum, they were deported back to face death squads. Today, the U.S. government is once again not following its own asylum policies and is deporting people back to horrific gang violence and sexual assault.

Southside Church recently gave sanctuary to a mother of two children for over a year before her deportation orders were lifted. Rev. Harrington says, “We are prepared to do whatever it takes to resist these deportation efforts. We hope that the government will remember that they have been down this road with us before back in the 80’s, and even though they indicted religious leaders, even though they sent spies into churches — they couldn’t stop the movement and we saved thousands of lives and we will do the same now.”

Over the decades of struggling with our broken immigration policies in this country, we people of faith who have stood with our immigrant brothers and sisters have learned that the laws that govern immigration in the U.S. are not only unjust, but they seek to discourage us from living out our faith imperatives to love and help our neighbor, with particular concern for those who suffer so much – so much that they have chosen to leave their homes and communities out of pure fear. The faith community will continue to stand up and set aside discouragement. We are committed to live our faith. We will continue to offer sanctuary to these families, most certainly stand against raids on women and children, and renew our commitment to work for immigration reform in this country.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE to tell the Obama administration: Stop the raids on Central American refugees

Carcaño is a leading advocate for immigration reform in the U.S. and the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the episcopacy of The United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. She is the resident bishop of the Los Angeles area.