Letters

Letters

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Religious Leaders Reject Federal Rule Allowing Discrimination Based on “Religious Freedom” 
110 religious leaders and 17 faith-based organizations sent a letter to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in opposition to the proposed rule Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption (RIN 1250-AA09).

Twenty national faith, immigration, and community organizations – including many members of the IIC – joined a month-long campaign urging Congress to focus on the importance of immigrant, refugee, and Muslim communities in the fabric of American society.

Contributing organizations to the initiative include: Friends Committee on National Legislation, American Friends Service Committee, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Church of the Brethren – Office of Public Witness, Church World Service, Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Franciscan Action Network, HIAS, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, NETWORK – A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, The Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, Sisters of Mercy – Institute Justice Team, Sojourners, Take on Hate Campaign, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), United Church of Christ – Justice and Witness Ministries

See a press release about the campaign here.

See the compilation of letters here.

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC), a coalition of 35 national faith-based organizations, calls on the Obama Administration to seize the moment to champion legislative reform of our broken immigration system, and to promote immigrant integration and reduce harmful enforcement practices through administrative actions.

The IIC calls on the Administration to use all its resources, contacts, and the
political capital necessary to ensure that Congress enacts legislation:

Champion Legislative Principles

  • Address the Causes of Migration
  • Create a Process for Undocumented Immigrants to Earn Citizenship
  • Keep Families Together
  • Enact the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act
  • Protect Workers’ Rights, Including Agricultural Workers
  • Place Humanitarian Values at the Center of Enforcement Policies
  • Protect Refugees and Migrant Survivors of Violence

Version– with Recommendations to the Administrative

Version– with Recommendations to Congress and Signatures

Sign On Here to our Letter asking Congress for Compassionate Immigration Reform

Interfaith Platform on Humane Immigration Reform with 575 Organizational and Clergy Signatories
As our diverse faith traditions teach us to welcome our brothers and sisters with love and compassion—
regardless of their place of birth—we call on the Administration and Congress to enact humane and
equitable immigration reform.

  • Uphold family unity as a priority of all immigration policies
  • Create a process for undocumented immigrants to earn their legal status and eventual citizenship
  • Protect workers and provide efficient channels of entry for new migrant workers
  • Facilitate immigrant integration
  • Restore due process protections and reform detention policies
  • Align the enforcement of immigration laws with humanitarian values
  • Immigration: A matter of human rights

Read More and View Signatories

IIC Support Letter for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

On behalf of the undersigned faith-based organizations committed to welcoming the stranger and humane reform of our
immigration system, we write to you today to express our dismay at the exclusion of individuals receiving relief through
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) from coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid, and the
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Read More Here

People of Faith- Pledge for Family Unity Restoring Trust Campaign

As people of faith, we believe first and foremost that immigrants have inherent dignity in which their civil and human rights should always be respected. Religious leaders from a variety of traditions have publicly called for humane treatment of immigrants and have condemned the separation of immigrant families and the devastating impact immigration enforcement tactics have had on wives, husbands and children alike.

Read More and Sign On Here

Faith Sign-On Letter on Prosecutorial Discretion – March 2, 2012

We, the undersigned faith-based organizations, are deeply concerned by the broken immigration system’s impact on families, communities, and the U.S. economy. When immigration enforcement actions tear apart families, our churches, synagogues, mosques, and other local organizations are on the front lines to provide housing, food, counseling, and other forms of support and ministry. We therefore welcome the Administration’s process to review all pending cases before U.S. Immigration Courts and administratively close low priority cases, such as individuals who are close family members of U.S. citizens, have lived in the United States since a young age, or are military service members. However, we write to express the following concerns about the implementation of this new policy as a nationwide expansion begins to take place:

Read More Here