Katie Adams, Interfaith Immigration Coalition Co-Chair and Policy Advocate for Domestic Issues with the United Church of Christ reminds us that not too long ago, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) was a refugee advocate.
“I don’t see how we can lead the free world and turn our back [sic] on people that are seeking it,” he said in 2015. “We should take the Statue of Liberty and tear it down if this is our response as a nation, just tear it down, because we don’t mean it anymore.”
“It is so disorienting then to look at the bill (S. 1494), authored by Senator Graham, which takes a wrecking ball to our nation’s promise of solace and refuge in light of these earlier comments,” said Adams.
“Along our southern border, the Trump administration is already implementing repressive policies to keep refugees from Central America and other parts of the world in harm’s way. The policies have resulted in the mass separation of children from families; additional traumatization of people already fleeing violence and death; and preventable deaths of both adults and children in our care. President Trump is also destroying the U.S. refugee resettlement program, cutting admissions by 75% and proposing a complete elimination of the program,” she continued.
“As the world faces the largest refugee crisis in history, there is little doubt that, through the rejection of refugees and the systematic demolition of our robust refugee resettlement apparatus, lives have been lost. These are the very consequences that Senator Graham warned about in 2015. And yet, the legislation he just forced out of committee and is threatening to attach to federal appropriations bills would further these same results.
“The Graham bill gives the Administration even yet more latitude to implement immoral policies that will harm migrants and repress their legal right to seek safety, a right the U.S. agreed to uphold in the Geneva Convention,” said Adams.
She concluded: “God says ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ If we deny aid, shelter, food, water, and kindness to refugees, we are denying it to God as well. Closing the door to men, women, and children fleeing brutal violence violates this fundamental cannon of my faith. Doing so was wrong when Senator Graham said it in 2015, and it is equally wrong today.”
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 52 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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