Congress is currently negotiating funding and policy changes related to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and federal immigration enforcement. Recent proposals would expand funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other enforcement agencies without sufficient safeguards for due process, civil and human rights, or humane treatment. At the same time, aggressive enforcement actions, including reported violence by federal immigration agents and enforcement activities near churches, schools, and hospitals, have created fear in immigrant communities.
In an ecumenical letter signed by the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other Christian leaders, our churches called on Congress to enact just and humane immigration reforms. Specifically urging Congress to:
- Codify protections from immigration enforcement at churches and other sensitive locations.
- Limit excessive funding for immigration enforcement and prioritize community well-being.
- Reaffirm restrictions against racial and ethnic profiling.
- Require due process and independent investigations of alleged misconduct.
- Ensure humane standards in detention facilities and halt the detention of children.
- End the reinterviews and arrests of lawfully present refugees.
Congress must reject harmful expansions of immigration enforcement and enact policies that protect due process, human dignity, and the freedom to worship.
Federal immigration enforcement has received unprecedented funding of more than $170 billion in the summer of 2025 alone. This enables widespread detention and expanded enforcement operations. Reports from communities across the country describe indiscriminate detentions, racial profiling, fear-driven absences from worship and school, and troubling, deadly conditions in privately operated detention facilities.
When enforcement actions occur near houses of worship, families are forced to choose between practicing their faith and protecting their loved ones. When due process protections are weakened, U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and asylum seekers are swept into enforcement actions based on race, language, or appearance. The detention of children and families and the traumatizing reinterview of refugees undermine long-standing humanitarian commitments and destabilize families who were promised safety.
More funding without accountability is neither fiscally responsible nor morally defensible. Congress must prioritize oversight, due process protections, humane standards, and community-based alternatives to detention.
As people of faith, we are rooted in Scripture and guided by our Social Witness Policy. God “executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:18–19). Jesus teaches, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35). We are reminded in Hebrews, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (13:2).
Our Reformed tradition affirms that all people are created in the image of God and deserve dignity and protection under the law. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has repeatedly called for comprehensive, humane immigration reform and for policies that reflect God’s wholeness “where all life flourishes as God intends.” As a denomination, we are committed to dismantling systemic racism and eradicating systemic poverty. Policies that enable racial profiling, undermine due process, or instill fear in worshiping communities contradict these commitments.
Join Christian leaders across the country and contact your Senators and Representative today and urge them to:
- Protect churches and other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions.
- Oppose excessive funding increases for ICE without meaningful oversight and accountability.
- Ensure due process protections and independent investigations of misconduct.
- Prohibit the detention of children and enforce humane detention standards.
- Protect refugees from unnecessary and destabilizing enforcement actions.
- Ask them to support immigration policies that are just, humane, and reflective of our nation’s commitment to dignity and religious freedom.
Now is the time to raise your voice. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves.
As we enter this sacred season — a time when many traditions gather to celebrate light in the darkness, rest after a long year, and the endu...
View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, a reliable weekly source of information, inspiration, and action f...