Washington, DC – Today, faith organizations and leaders join together with Black immigrant activists and allies for the national Black Immigrant Advocacy Day of Action to demand the Biden administration act on its commitment to combat anti-Black racism in the U.S. immigration system. Echoing the concerns of over 100 members of Congress and a newly-released Human Rights Watch report, Interfaith Immigration Coalition members and immigrant-led groups are calling on the administration to stop the detention and deportation of Haitians and other Black migrants, end Title 42 and Remain in Mexico, reunite Mauritanian families, and grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to immigrants in the U.S. from Cameroon, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and other Black-majority nations in crisis.
These demands are not new. Consistently following the lead of Black immigrant groups, the Interfaith Immigration Coalition has been a steadfast voice in the call for justice for Black migrants and asylum seekers since the earliest days of the Biden administration. People of faith urged President Biden to grant TPS for Cameroon on inauguration day and again in a listening session with Cameroonian asylum seekers. Thousands of faith leaders signed letters demanding an end to deportations to Haiti in the spring and again in the fall of 2021. Faith voices repeatedly urged the administration to end asylum-blocking policies Title 42 and Remain in Mexico – Trump-era relics that disproportionately harm Black migrants.
On this Black Immigrant Advocacy Day of Action, in this Black History Month, and throughout the days and months ahead, faith leaders remind President Biden yet again of the anti-Black racism inherent to the U.S. immigration system and urge him to take action immediately to protect Haitians, Cameroonians, Mauritanians, South Sudanese, Ethiopians, and all Black migrants.
Peniel Ibe, Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition and policy engagement coordinator at American Friends Service Committee: “The indignities and injustices that Black migrants have faced at the hands of ICE and CBP in the past year reveal only the tip of the iceberg of how anti-Black racism is embedded in U.S. immigration policy. Black migrants have been tortured while being deported back to danger; thousands of men, women, and children have been sent back to Haiti without a chance to apply for asylum; the Biden administration has failed to designate any new Black-majority countries for TPS, despite conflicts and humanitarian crises that clearly warrant both refugee projection and TPS; we’ve seen countless other violations of human life and dignity by ICE, CBP, and county jails and corporations with ICE contracts. The Biden administration must wake up to this reality and acknowledge their role in continuing this inhumane status quo. They must enact meaningful changes that correct these egregious human rights violations and affirm the dignity of Black immigrant lives.”
Elissa Diaz, Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition and Policy and Advocacy Manager at Church World Service: “We join the over 100 members of Congress that raised their concerns with the Biden administration on the disparate treatment of Black migrants in our immigration system. This is not the first time President Biden is hearing about this. Joining directly-impacted immigrant groups, faith organizations and leaders have repeatedly urged the Biden administration to support Black migrants by ending Remain in Mexico and Title 42, granting new and updated TPS designations, and reuniting families separated by detention and deportation. As people of faith committed to the flourishing of all, we lament how firmly anti-Black racism is entrenched in U.S. immigration law and we repeat, yet again, our demands for justice and immediate protections for Black migrants.”
Anika Forrest, Legislative Manager for the Migration Policy Program at the Friends Committee on National Legislation: “Based on Quaker principle, the Friends Committee on National Legislation maintains that we are all called to honor the dignity of every individual and to love our neighbors as ourselves — no exceptions. The Biden administration deigns its commitment to just, humane immigration policies with the proliferation of practices rooted in a tradition of anti-Black hostility. We must end a strategically designed construction of social inequities as well as deportations and detentions disproportionately targeted towards Black immigrant communities. The Migrant Protection Protocols, Title 42, and all other assaults on the right to asylum must cease. And it is long overdue to establish adequate protections for our Black neighbors escaping nations that are experiencing turmoil. This administration has an opportunity to introduce migration policies that account for the forced movement influenced by generations of U.S. intervention and oppression in Black-majority nations. We will faithfully hold our political leaders to this task.”
Lisa Parisio, Director of Advocacy at Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.: “During the transition and early days of the Biden administration, the TPS-DED AAC delivered policy recommendations supported by hundreds of organizations calling for an immediate designation of TPS for Cameroon. A year later, the situation remains dire, and the administration has yet to respond. TPS is a readily available tool the administration has at its disposal right now to provide life-saving protection to Cameroonians in the U.S. Conditions in Cameroon are life-threatening. Cameroonians in the U.S. are trapped in detention centers and at risk of deportation, and some have been deported back to Cameroon, subjected to the violence they first fled. TPS is clearly warranted under the law and by basic morality. The delay on TPS for Cameroon is deadly and it must end now.”
Fran Eskin-Royer, Executive Director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd: “The confusing and devastating decision of the Biden Administration to ignore the people of Cameroon, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and other Black-majority nations in crisis and to reject compassionate calls to give them Temporary Protected Status to remain in the United States for a time is the opposite of what we expected of this Administration. We seek compassion and reconciliation from the Biden Administration and for Cameroon, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and other Black-majority nations in turmoil.”
Giovana Oaxaca, Program Director for Migration Policy with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: “God has called us to love our neighbor, whoever they may be, and wherever they may come from. But all too often our laws have failed to grant justice for the oppressed or treat the newcomer with the love and dignity they deserve (Leviticus 19: 33-34). We don’t always include Black migrants in our nation’s immigration story. And yet, ‘When we confront racism and move towards fairness and justice in society, all of us benefit’ (ELCA Social Statement, ‘Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, And Culture’). We have a moral obligation to critically examine any racial and ethnic discrimination embedded in our own attitudes and throughout our system of laws, to engage in anti-racism work, and promote international respect for human rights. Our advocacy will continue to insist on a generous policy of welcome for refugees and immigrants and oppose racial bias and prejudice as a basis for policy-making. We support removing obstacles for humanitarian protection, ending the use of Title 42 to forcibly expel Haitian migrants, and recommend granting TPS for nations in distress for people who are unable to return home due to the conditions in the country. As a Church, the ELCA condemns white supremacy and supports the UN ‘Decade in Solidarity with People of African Descent’ (2015-2024), which calls for the recognition of injustices and a recommitment to ongoing development and support for people of African descent.”
Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director of Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries: “The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) continues to condemn all forms of anti-Black racism, and stands in solidarity with Black immigrants in condemning particular atrocities of injustice and the sin of racism demonstrated constantly and disproportionately against Black immigrants. Unjust deportations of Black Mauritanians, lack of protections such as TPS that could offer stability for Cameroonian neighbors, and the horrific practices that have resulted in the expulsions of almost 20,000 Haitians since February 1, 2021 – all of these atrocities turn our backs on our faiths’ value of compassion and God’s identity as Love! Instead, we urge the Biden administration and Congress to answer our call to be reconciling communities that ‘do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God’ (Micah 6:8), by proactively offering all possible protections for Black immigrant communities and ending the outrageous policies of Title 42, Remain in Mexico, and family separations through deportations.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service: “It is long past time for the Biden administration to protect Cameroonians in the United States who live in fear of deportation. Extending protections to our Cameroonian friends and neighbors is a moral imperative. We call on Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas to use his authority to designate Cameroon for TPS. Designation of TPS is a critical step, not only in protecting Cameroonians, but in addressing racial inequality in our immigration system more broadly. LIRS continues to call on the Biden administration to examine and redress anti-Black immigrant and refugee policy in order to protect the safety and security of Black immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in the United States.”
Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson, Associate General Minister for Wider Church Ministries and Operations and the Co-Executive for Global Ministries: “The United Church of Christ joins the call to end the disgraceful discrimination against Black migrants that is perpetuated through our nation’s immigration policies. It is well past time to commit to desegregating the pledge we made as a nation to welcome the immigrant at the 1951 Refugee Convention from the discrimination we continue enforcing in principle and practice. This discrimination isn’t vague or imagined, as neighbors from countries including Haiti, Cameroon, South Sudan, and Ethiopia continue to be subjected to the racist application of unjust policies. Under Title 42 and the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols, Black migrants subjected to Remain in Mexico struggle with finding work and structural support in comparison to other migrants subject to the same policy. At the same time, more deportation funding is spent on sending specifically Black migrants back to their countries of origin in spite of the crises of those nations. We add our voices to the chorus of those demanding that these policies and practices must be changed.”
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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