Statement of Faith Voices for Immigration

We Stand Together

As our country prepares to make important choices about who will lead it and what direction our nation will take, we come together as immigrant Christians to offer a vision for the future that we believe is reflective of God’s grace and love for all people, including undocumented immigrants. Too often, we hear heard harsh words about immigrants and immigration when, in fact, immigrants come to the United States to work and enrich this country economically and culturally and at great personal risk and sacrifice. As Christian leaders, we embrace our diverse immigrant communities and speak out for immigration policies and actions that reflect God’s heart and ours.

Our call to action is firmly rooted in the Word of God and informed by our experience as immigrants. Our goal is the biblical vision of the beloved community. And as people of faith, we support immigration policies that prioritize human rights, dignity, compassion and justice. Our biblical values inform our actions because immigrants are a source of blessing:

• Humankind is created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) - no exceptions.
• We are called to build the beloved community in order to welcome the foreigner and treat them as one among us (Leviticus 19:34; Revelation 7:9-10).
• God calls us to care for one another, and we are reminded that “if one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
• In Matthew 25:34, the call to welcome the stranger is joined with the commitment to justice and with advocating for fair and generous laws.

Immigrant communities have at their core the values of faith, family, building community, a stong work ethic, and a belief in the dignity of all people. 

Our goals

The next Congress and the next president must recognize and respect the contributions of immigrants in the United States regardless of their immigration status. They should:

• Address the root causes of migration (extreme poverty, violent conflicts, hunger, environmental destruction, etc.).
• Ensure that immigrants' wages and working conditions are fair and just.
• Work to keep families together and not split them apart in ways that leave too many living in poverty and hunger.
• Ensure that immigrant children have a good education and a chance to excel.
• Acknowledge that immigrants are invested in building community and that this is good for the United States. 
• Develop humane immigration policies that guarantee better access to due process.

We call on Christians and people of goodwill to acknowledge immigrants as a blessing, and we respond by upholding Jesus' commandment of love and building the beloved community. We are from many corners of the Christian family in the United States. We represent different cultures and often speak different languages. We stand together and will not be silent when our immigrant brothers and sisters are dehumanized.  We will tell the truth about immigrants to our country, and we will hold leaders to these high standards when it comes to public debate. We are proud of our immigrant heritage, and we will speak out when immigrants are denigrated or scapegoated in national discourse. In all these ways, we stand together.