2025marchcurrent

UM STANCE ON IMMIGRATION

look deeply at who we are as United Methodist people, how our theology informs our actions, and that this is a time when the integration of theology and action really needs to come to the forefront," Bickerton said. "The time is now for us to take an aggressive posture of what it means to love God deeply and love our neighbor thoroughly and offer places of welcome, refuge and safety for anyone who has a longing or a need for wholeness in their lives. This is a time for United Methodist people to act." The United Methodist Church’s ministry, purpose and witness depend on the ability to worship freely and peacefully, said the Rev. Rodrigo Cruz, assistant to the bishop in the North Georgia Conference. “We are grateful for the opportunity to join so many Christian and Jewish denominations in making this reasonable and sound request in order to achieve our mission,” Cruz said in a statement. “Finally, we are thankful for a country built with checks and balances, that allows us the opportunity to pursue a necessary appeal that speaks to the core of our existence.” (Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News.) The church’s stance on immigration The revised Social Principles adopted by the 2024 United Methodist General Conference state: “We affirm the dignity, worth and rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees, including displaced and stateless people... We urge United Methodists to welcome migrants, refugees and immigrants into their congregations and to commit themselves to providing concrete support, including help with navigating restrictive and often lengthy immigration policies, and assistance with securing food, housing, education, employment and other kinds of support. We oppose all laws and policies that attempt to criminalize, dehumanize or punish displaced individuals and families based on their status as migrants, immigrants or refugees.”

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of God worthy of dignity, care, and love,” the suit states. “Welcoming the stranger, or immigrant, is thus a central precept of their faith practices.” In filing the suit, the groups are working with Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. The institute also is involved in a case that has led to a judge putting an indefinite hold on President Trump’s plans to eliminate birthright citizenship via executive order. “The rescission of the sensitive-locations policy is already substantially burdening their religious exercise,” Kelsi Corkran, the religious groups' lead counsel and the institute’s Supreme Court director, said in a press conference. “Congregations are experiencing decreases in worship attendance and social service participation due to fears of ICE, and they’re put in this untenable position.” She said houses of worship now must choose whether to continue to welcome undocumented people into their places of worship or expose people to the risk of arrest and deportation. The new Homeland Security policy, initiated on President Trump’s first day in office, disavows any “bright resumes and navigate employment websites. Donate to the UMCOR's Global Migration Fund. Our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and United Methodist Global Ministries are working to provide relief and safety to migrants around the world. Or consider providing hygiene kits that will be distributed by UMCOR. Speak up for a spirit of welcome in your community, locally and nationally. Around the world, xenophobic rhetoric, attitudes, and actions are turning communities into places of inhospitality and exclusion on local and national levels. This is having a real impact on policies and is fomenting acts of violence. Oppose fearmongering and xenophobia in conversations in public and in private—at the market, at church, at school, and at home. Remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). Be an active citizen and speak out to make society better. What you can do Because no person, organization or nation can solve these issues alone, we can convince ourselves there is nothing we can do to make a difference. In reality, there are a variety of things United Methodists can do to stand with and support migrants in our communities and around the world. Pray. We pray that God will bring peace and justice for all people. Advocate for legislation. The first time you contact an elected representative can be uncomfortable, but rewarding. Government officials listen to their constituents, so voice your concerns to those in power. Ask them to support policies that are hospitable to refugees and immigrants, and to introduce new legislation to make immigration, refugee and asylum processes just and efficient. Welcome migrants and refugees to your congregation. Invite those new to your community to learn more about your congregation as a place of Christian worship, a part of the community, and a resource for assistance. Research ways your congregation can serve immigrants in your community. Support language classes. Many communities need volunteers to teach the dominant language in your nation. In the United States, for example, there are typically needs for English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Volunteer to teach. Ask your congregation to host classes. Support local employment counseling services. Many communities have programs that offer assistance to those looking for work. Volunteers are trained to help fill out application forms, prepare

line rules regarding where our immigration laws are permitted to be enforced.” Instead, Homeland Security leaves it up to ICE agents’ discretion whether they enter houses of worship and other traditionally protected areas. The policy rescinds 30-year-old guidelines for immigration enforcement rooted in a concept of “sanctuary” that goes back to the medieval church. The legal protection offered by sanctuary even plays a role in the novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” “The Church has long been a sanctuary for all and Church property is a sacred space where the faithful gather to worship, serve and find community in Christ without fear,” said Western North Carolina Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr., in a statement. The Western North Carolina Conference joins the lawsuit, he added, “to affirm that our churches must remain the dwelling places of God, who has set them apart for peace and sanctuary, where the rights of all who enter are upheld, including the rights of the Church to fulfill its mission.” Churches already have seen the new policy in action. In the Trump administration’s first week, ICE agents arrested more than 4,500 people, including nearly 1,000 people in a Sunday “immigration enforcement blitz.” One arrest took place at a Pentecostal church in Georgia during worship service. Christianity Today reported that the man and his family, who came to the U.S. fleeing violence in Honduras, had previously turned themselves into authorities to seek asylum. Authorities outfitted him with a GPS-tracking bracelet and allowed him to pursue his case. Arch Street United Methodist Church in Philadelphia already has dealt with federal authorities coming to its door three times this year. The multiethnic, 330-member church, in partnership with the city of Philadelphia, provides a drop-in shelter for homeless people. Agents, saying they were with Homeland Security, have showed up seeking information on the people using the shelter. The Rev. Robin Hynicka, the church’s lead pastor, told United Methodist News that church leaders explained to the agents that the church’s contract with the city requires

that the privacy of the church’s guests be maintained. “I can’t say they were looking for an undocumented person or whether they were looking for someone they suspected of a crime. I have no idea. They had no warrant,” Hynicka said. On Feb. 11, the church's board of trustees passed a resolution outlining its practice of requiring valid search or arrest warrants for law enforcement to enter the building. But even in such an event, the resolution states, that the church still will consult with legal counsel first to ensure such warrants are valid. The resolution states that "it is the desire of the Board of Trustees to ensure that such actions are conducted in a lawful manner consistent with constitutional protections." After Trump’s first election in 2016, Arch Street United Methodist Church offered sanctuary to a husband and father, who was in the process of qualifying for legal status that he now has. Today, he owns a tree-trimming business. The congregation has publicly declared again its willingness to be a sanctuary church. The church's board of trustees passed another resolution Feb. 11, affirming its stance "that this right to provide sanctuary is essential to the free exercise of religion and must be respected as such." Hynicka stressed that the executive orders Trump signed have created a climate of fear far beyond church walls. “People are afraid to come out of their houses to go shop or to take their kids to school,” he said. “It creates a public safety hazard. They’re afraid to report crimes. And life still goes on, and life isn’t always beautiful for folks who are vulnerable.” Bishop Thomas Bickerton leads the New York Conference that is home to many immigrant congregations both within New York City and in surrounding communities, and he said many parishioners are scared. Just as the Statue of Liberty still lifts her torch over New York Harbor, Bickerton encourages United Methodists to serve as a beacon of hope in a frightening time. "I just would encourage all United Methodists to really

United Methodists join suit against Trump policy UMNews file photo by Kathleen Barry Hundreds, including United Methodists, march for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Dream Act on Sept. 8, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. For United Methodists and other faith communities, care for immigrants is core to their mission.

order suspending the U.S. refugee resettlement program as well as the efforts by the Trump administration to withhold critical, congressionally-appropriated funding for refugee processing and services. The new federal litigation, filed in a district court in Washington State, asks the court to declare the executive order illegal, stop its implementation and restore refugee-related funding. Church World Service joins in the legal action with HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest. “It’s a biblical mandate for us to welcome the foreigner, to care for them,” he said. He pointed to directives to welcome the stranger throughout the Old and New Testament, including Jesus’ words in the Gospels. The United Methodist Social Principles also urge care for immigrants and refugees. “It’s a biblical understanding that we are placed with this responsibility to care, protect and love our neighbor.” But at this time, he said, local church ministries are at risk for the work they are doing with migrants. “It’s not only through providing worship experiences; it’s also about providing pastor care, about English as a Second Language classes; it’s about food pantries,” Arroyo said. “It’s about all these other elements that are connected to immigrant siblings that now are in jeopardy because of the sensitive-location removal.” He said more United Methodist ministries wanted to join the case, but the constraints of the lawsuit limited the number of plaintiffs. Each United Methodist body is a separate legal entity under federal law. The 27 plaintiffs also include the Christian denominations of the Mennonite Church USA, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Episcopal Church, the Friends General Conference (Quakers) and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The Unitarian Universalist Association is another plaintiff. Also joining the suit are three Jewish branches — Union for Reform Judaism (the largest Jewish movement in the U.S.), Reconstructing Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. “They bring this suit unified on a fundamental belief: Every human being, regardless of birthplace, is a child

BY HEATHER HAHN WASHINGTON, D. C. (UMNews) — United Methodists have joined with other Christian denominations and Jewish bodies in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The religious groups are seeking a reversal of the Trump administration policy that allows ICE agents to carry out raids in houses of worship. United Methodists and other religious leaders emphasize that this policy change intrudes on their biblical mandate to care for migrants. United Methodists have joined with more than two dozen Christian and Jewish bodies in filing a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration policy that allows immigration enforcement within houses of worship. Specifically, the case seeks to reverse the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s policy permitting ICE agents to carry out immigration raids in “sensitive locations,” such as schools, hospitals, synagogues and churches. Instead, the suit wants to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from intruding on ministry without judicial warrant or special circumstances. The lawsuit, filed Feb. 11 in federal court in Washington, D.C., argues that the new policy interferes with core Christian and Jewish beliefs. The policy also violates both the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the suit contends. The United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race as well as the denomination’s New York, North Georgia and Western North Carolina conferences are among the groups bringing the legal action. The Rev. Giovanni Arroyo, Religion and Race’s top executive, said United Methodists have an obligation to resist injustice. Supporting refugees The Christian and Jewish lawsuit seeking to protect ministries with immigrants comes a day after Church World Service, a United Methodist partner, filed a lawsuit to restore refugee resettlement in the U.S. The suit challenges President Trump’s executive

SOLIDARITY WITH THE SOJOURNER WEBINAR

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Multiple denominational leaders gathered Feb. 10 for a webinar to discuss the United Methodist response to immigrant justice and United Methodists across the connection, Solidarity with the Sojourner: Understanding U.S. Immigration and Our Call to Respond is available for On Demand Playback at: https:// www.resourceumc.org/en/content/solidarity-with-the-sojourners “This webinar provided an in-depth overview of the current U.S. immigration landscape and explore the challenges immigrant communities face and the policies shaping their lives,” explains Rev. Kendal McBroom, General Board of Church and Society’s Director of Civil Human Rights, one of the speakers for the event. “Together, we will reflect on our faith’s call to action and discuss practical ways United Methodists can respond.” “As United Methodists, our Social Principles affirm our commitment to offer support and welcome immigrants, migrants and refugees into our congregations,” says Bishop Julius C. Trimble, General Secretary of The Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, who also will speak at the webinar. “As people of faith committed to justice, compassion, and dignity for all, we strongly oppose ICE raids that harm immigrant communities, create fear, separate families, and go against our moral calling to welcome and protect the vulnerable.”

In addition to McBroom and Trimble, other speakers included: • Rev. Dr. Giovanni Arroyo, General Secretary of The General Commission on Religion and Race • Melissa Bowe and Alba Jaramillo, Immigration Law and Justice Network • Rev. Dr. Lydia Muñoz, El Plan for Hispanic/Latine Ministry of the United Methodist Church • Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, COB Chair of the Immigration Taskforce • The Rev. Laura B. Kigweba, Director of Grassroots Organizing at GBCS, moderated the webinar. Among the topics discussed are: • How and why the church is called to stand with immigrant communities • Challenges and opportunities with the current national legislative landscape • Biblical examples that reflect solidarity and how those examples can be modeled in the local church • How congregations can be in solidarity with immigrant-led congregations The webinar included a time for questions from participants. Organizers of the event are the General Board of Church and Society, the General Commission on Religion and Race, Immigration Law and Justice Network, Council of Bishops Immigration Task Force, and El Plan for Hispanic/Latine Ministry. United Methodist Communications is offering support for the event. Co-sponsors of this event are United Women in Faith and United Methodist Committee on Relief. The webinar is available in English, Spanish and ASL. Related Links Faith & Fact Cards: Immigration in the U.S. – https://www.umcjustice.org/ documents/33 Migrant Accompaniment Civil and Human Rights: A Guide to Supporting Migrants and Immigrants Globally – https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/600 Know Your Rights: Impact of Trump Policies – https://www.resourceumc.org/-/media/ umc-media/2025/02/11/22/15/know-your-rights-impact-of-trump-policies.pdf

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