Over 1,000 Faith Leaders from 43 States Ask DHS, ICE, and Congress to Allow Binsar Siahaan to Continue His Case in Sanctuary
(photo: Susan Saudek)
Washington, DC – This week, 1,038 faith leaders from forty-three states, including WI, MI, PA, NC, AZ and the District of Columbia sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, Senior Official Tony Pham, and the U.S. Congress calling for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “release Binsar [Siahaan] from detention immediately and allow him to proceed with his asylum case.” They also demanded a statement from ICE “clarifying and assuring that it will adhere to its own policies and will not enter houses of worship or other sensitive locations such as hospitals, schools, and public religious ceremonies or demonstrations.”
In September, ICE agents tricked Binsar Siahaan, a Christian asylum-seeker and church caretaker living in a house on the property of Glenmont United Methodist Church, into an arrest on church grounds. They clearly and deliberately violated their own agency’s policy against making civil immigration arrests in sacred places, like churches, temples, and mosques.
Also this week, dozens of people of diverse faiths marched past the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and on to U.S. Immigration Enforcement Headquarters in DC to deliver petitions calling for Binsar’s release. (Photos of the action are available here).
“Binsar is one of the most devoted, generous, and loyal people I know,” said Rev. Kara Scroggins of Glenmont United Methodist Church. “We are baffled and enraged because there is a pending motion on the two parents’ asylum case. Binsar is not a flight risk, has no criminal background, and we are asking that ICE free him now and return him to his family and church until his case is heard fairly in court.”
Methodist leaders and those of other faiths have rallied around Binsar, his family, and the Glenmont Church, calling for ICE to release him immediately. In the letter, they write: “The morally atrocious action of crossing the lines of church property not only shows the inhumanity of the policies that continue to attack our immigrant community, but it attacks our freedom of religion to practice our faithful ministry to love and welcome our neighbors.”
The same ICE field office attempted to re-arrest Pauline Binam, one of the women who bravely spoke out after being brutalized by Dr. Mahendra Amin while at the Irwin County Detention Center. These two unconscionable acts show an ICE field office that is out of control and bent on destroying people’s lives.
“All houses of worship should be sacred spaces without the fear of immigration enforcement. The devastating news that ICE broke its own sensitive locations policy to detain Binsar Siahaan on the property of Glenmont United Methodist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, has broken trust with faith communities across the country who are practicing their faith by welcoming their immigrant neighbors. Two weeks later, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested a 15-year-old girl about to undergo gallbladder surgery. None of us are safe if we cannot pray or seek urgent medical care in safety. As faith leaders, we have joined together with a strong voice to free Binsar now, and demand ICE publicly commit to make these sensitive locations safe and protected,” said Rev. Noel Andersen, National Grassroots Coordinator for Church World Service.
“As faith partners, we’ve been praying and acting for justice at every level—personally, with congregations, with legislative offices, and in community vigils with Binsar’s church, and at the district Baltimore ICE office, national DHS office, and national ICE headquarters. Each office sends us to the next, denying their own ability to provide a solution. But our faith says we are to stand up, speak up, and show up ‘to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, and plead the cause!’ (Isaiah 1:17) So let us all plead for freedom across the nation unceasingly; first for Binsar, and for ALL immigrants terrorized by ICE’s breaking of its own sensitive locations policy,” urged Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director, Disciples Refugee and Immigration Ministries.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 55 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
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