Washington, DC – The Biden-Harris Administration took bold action on Day 1 on numerous immigration issues, including rescinding the discriminatory Muslim, Refugee, and African Ban and halting construction on the former President’s border wall. Reaction from faith leaders to Day 1 policy announcements is available here.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition’s blueprint for policy change includes three big-picture goals, which the Biden-Harris team has already begun to implement:
- Bring accountability, compassion, fairness, and morality to immigration and other policies. Tear down walls and build communities.
- Decolonize the U.S.’ role in other countries as they build and strengthen.
- Work with Congress to pass bold, humane, and compassionate immigration laws.
For more, see the full report linked above or a summary here.
Stephen Schneck, Executive Director of Franciscan Action Network, said: “The last four years in America have seen Franciscans, the Franciscan-hearted, and people of every faith standing up for the lives, rights, and dignity of migrants and refugees seeking a life in the United States. We have seen Holy Communion passed in detention centers and through barbed wire on our borders. We have seen nuns and priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams ministering to the bodies and souls of migrants who were too often oppressed and too often denied the just protection of law. Franciscan Action Network looks to the new administration with great hope that the unjust treatment of migrants and refugees is now over. Deo gratias!”
Following are quotes about additional policy priorities for the IIC, including the 100-day deportation pause; phase-out of Migration Protection Protocols (MPP); and commitment to working with Central American nations to strengthen their economies and societies for the long-term.
100-Day Pause on Deportations
“Much love to all the immigrants, organizers, grassroots advocates, and lawyers who stood up to the callous and unflinching deportation machine–fighting back against its harms on our community, especially Black Immigrants, both during the Trump Administration and before. Their labor of love won this 100-day moratorium on deportations. Now, we expect the Biden Administration to open our nation’s immigration jails and free our friends and family members who should be home with their loved ones,” said Peniel Ibe, policy engagement coordinator at the American Friends Service Committee and Co-Chair of the IIC.
“A 100-day moratorium on deportation is not enough. We must stop separating families and communities. Exclusions from the deportation pause due to date of arrival and interaction with a biased criminal legal system that disproportionately affects Black and Brown people negatively, compounds the criminalization of immigrant communities. We pray for a day in this country without detention and deportation, a day our community can breathe more freely. Mass incarceration and a punishment-based approach to immigration is a choice, and an inhumane one at that. It’s also a choice we can change,” added Ibe.
“The 100 day pause on deportations is a strong start, but it’s only the beginning,” said Elissa Diaz, Policy and Advocacy Manager with Church World Service and Co-Chair of the IIC. “The next step is for Congress to do its job, and write humane immigration laws that allow immigrants who are already part of our communities to become full U.S. citizens.”
Phasing Out Migrant Protection Protocols
“Restricting access to entry fails us a nation, and President Biden rightly recognizes America’s duty to welcome asylum seekers. It is right and just that one of his first acts as president is to reopen the United States and work toward ending the Trump Administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ debacle. Countries have a moral responsibility. Borders are man-made; a person’s human dignity is God-given,” said Lawrence E. Couch, director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
“It seems unfathomable to think how the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, which returned vulnerable individuals to dangerous border towns in Mexico–including babies and pregnant women–and led to the creation of refugee camps at our border, has informed how we treat asylum seekers,” Hillary Kipnis, Senior Policy Advisor, Bridges Faith Initiative. “The Biden administration’s commitment to bringing an end to the (misnamed) MPP policy will not only save lives, it is an important step towards restoring asylum, a key component of our rule of law.”
“Our faiths demand release to captives–and this must include those held immorally at our border in deepening squalor and trauma even as they have attempted for months to access protections legally offered under national and international humanitarian laws. May the Biden administration swiftly do all that it can to uphold the commitment that Dr. Jill Biden expressed a year ago to ‘end MPP immediately’ under a Biden administration. And, may they march back swiftly all expulsions inhumanely continuing, as long as Title 42 remains in place,” said Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries.
Justice and Prosperity at “Home” and Abroad
“We applaud President Biden’s commitment to compassionate immigration reform and his recognition that no immigration policy can be truly comprehensive if it does not address the economic, social, and political factors which compel people to migrate. We call on Congress to take up his call to address the root causes of migration including U.S. foreign and trade policies that contribute to conditions that force people to flee their homes,” said Ann Scholz, SSND, Associate Director for Social Mission, Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of over 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.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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