Washington, DC – In a late-night Tweet, President Trump made another major policy announcement that his aides are now scrambling to implement.
It was not an announcement that the federal government would stop seizing PPE from the states and other nations. Not an announcement that the federal government would stop deporting people who test positive for the coronavirus to other nations, spreading the disease. Instead, Trump announced he would suspend all immigration, turning to the dog whistle to distract Americans from the many ways his administration is failing to keep us from dying.
“Dramatically cutting legal immigration has been the signature goal of this administration, since the very first Muslim and refugee ban it chaotically implemented in January 2017,” said Faith Williams, Associate Director of Government Relations and Advocacy with the National Council of Jewish Women and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC). “Trump and Stephen Miller would never miss an opportunity to exploit a national emergency in service of their xenophobic agenda. This is a shanda, a disgrace.”
Earlier this week, 224 faith-based organizations and 1,025 faith leaders sent a letter to the Trump administration, Congress, and Governors, telling them that “immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers must be included in our emergency response [to COVID-19] if we are to assist everyone who is in need.” The organizations and individuals represent forty-six states plus the District of Columbia. This Executive Order takes the exact opposite approach.
Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice said: “President Trump’s racist immigration ban comes while immigrants do the essential work that keeps our nation going during this pandemic. My faith teaches that welcoming immigrants is our sacred moral duty. Because of this we are called to fight this order. Trump is desperate to project blame away from himself. As with most bullies, he chooses the vulnerable to attack. He blames immigrants for his own failures. We cannot allow the President to divide us with racist tactics. We stand with our immigrant sisters and brothers.”
“While hundreds of people are dying each day in this country, President Trump continues to capitalize on fear and push his hardline anti-immigrant agenda. Immigrants create jobs, they don’t take them away. As entrepreneurs, as supply chain workers, as healthcare professionals in our hospitals and elder care facilities, immigrants are keeping our nation going during this crisis. To let xenophobia dictate our response to this public health crisis is despicable. Much like with the pandemic, the president ignores the experts and follows the rantings of extremists. Our economy is made stronger by immigration and our recovery will depend on the growth and revitalization immigrants bring to our communities,” said Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO of Church World Service.
“President Trump is using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to dramatically advance his racist, anti-immigrant policy agenda,” said Kristin Kumpf, AFSC’s Director of Human Migration and Mobility. “Suspending all immigration will not keep us safe from the pandemic. What it will do is separate families and communities and distract from what we actually need – a public health response that helps keep everyone healthy and safe. Because of the Trump Administration’s failure to take action, and because of this country’s long history of dramatically underfunding health care, we already have the most confirmed COVID-19 cases on the planet. We don’t need xenophobic distractions; we need a massive shift of resources away from militarism and immigration enforcement and toward public health.”
“An unprecedented global pandemic that knows no borders has brought into sharp focus the intersection of U.S. immigration and public health policy, and the unique challenges that immigrants face today. Under the Trump administration, immigrants have already faced relentless attacks to their wellbeing — tightening of the public charge rule, threats to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), asylum restrictions, and separation of families at the border,” said Reverend Amy Reumann, Director of Advocacy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “The ELCA social message on Immigration states ‘Immigration, refugee, and asylum policies express who we are as a nation, influence the nation’s future character, and affect the lives of millions of people.’ By this intention to sign an executive order suspending immigration to the United States, this administration stokes fear and racism that will continue to harm and traumatize those who come here seeking protection from grave dangers and who have much to contribute to our nation but will not stop the pandemic. Our leadership, more now than ever, should be guiding with empathy and inclusiveness.”
“This President has only earned our skepticism regarding his newest anti-immigration pronouncement. Our Greatest Generation did not shut our doors during World War II. Rather than a strategy to protect our country, the President is using this crisis as an opportunity to shut the door to people in need of help,” said Lawrence E. Couch, Director, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
“Faith communities, called in every time and place by scriptures that urge the primacy of love for neighbor and care for the most vulnerable, will never be pulled off course by efforts–yet again–to scapegoat migrants and refugees in greatest need. Behind ‘Twitter glitter’ crafted to deflect attention and incite fear are the real and shameful truths we’ve seen unfold through our nation’s policies in recent weeks: asylum seekers unlawfully denied opportunities for protection, reckless deportations that have resulted in the ‘export’ of 70+ migrants with positive COVID-19 to Guatemala and at least 3 individuals with COVID-19 to Haiti, and blocks by U.S. CBP of desperately needed PPE shipments into three Caribbean nations. These are the truths we must continue to confess and call out, as we urge for morality and love to win over misplaced fears,” said Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director, Refugee & Immigration Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. & Canada.
“In the face of this global emergency, the choice we all have is whether this pandemic will bring out our country’s worst or bring out our country’s best,” said Rebecca Eastwood, Advocacy Coordinator, Columban Center for Advocacy & Outreach. “What COVID-19 illustrates is that our wellbeing is connected to everyone’s wellbeing. The President’s intention to suspend all immigration to the United States is not about our national public health. Scapegoating immigrants will not keep us safe from a virus. What we should be doing instead is investing in policies that medical professionals say will actually protect public health, as well as ensuring the wellbeing of every member of our communities, no exceptions.”
Jill Marie Bussey, Director of Advocacy at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) said: “In a late-night tweet, the administration revealed its shameful plan to issue an Executive Order to further shut down immigration in response to COVID-19. The pandemic and its economic fallout, like other societal problems in this country, should not be blamed on immigrants. At this pivotal moment, we need leadership, truth, unity and pragmatism that rises above politics. Lives are at stake, yet the president continues to stoke fear and racism, using human beings as fodder. We are a nation of immigrants and we will not be divided.”
“We grieve the thousands of lives lost to Covid-19, and the many more suffering from its impacts,” stated Rev. Mark Stephenson, Director of the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice. “In light of this traumatic moment we find ourselves in, what we don’t need is for an already vulnerable community to be attacked and scapegoated. Immigrants are at the frontlines of combatting Covid-19 and are valued members of our families, communities, and congregations. At this time, we must be called to unity and mutual support – not fear and divisiveness.”
“Trump’s handling of the global pandemic by focusing on US isolationism and withdrawing from global cooperation goes against the interconnected community our faith calls us to envision and work towards together,” observed Rachel Gore Freed, Vice President and Chief Program Officer at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. “We have seen this administration advance unthinkable policies under cover of the COVID-19 crisis: scapegoating immigrants; pitting communities against each other; barring asylum-seekers; deporting unaccompanied refugee children; exporting folks to countries with weak public health systems. Now, the Administration seeks to ban immigration entirely. As in previous actions, the harms of the policy seem designed to fall hardest on families of color, as innumerable U.S. citizens and residents will be prevented from reuniting with their loved ones. We are not fooled that this or any similar measure is meant to keep people safe: it is an effort to divide us in the face of a threat that demands unified action on the part of the entire human community.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President/CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), added: “As people of faith, we are called upon to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger. But we fear we will no longer be able to answer that higher calling once such drastic measures are in place. Especially during times like this, it is incumbent upon us all to remind our leaders of the facts – immigrants are not to be feared. We urge the president to embrace those who would be our doctors, our grocery store workers, our agricultural laborers and the many other roles immigrants play in making our country great.”
Said Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of Faith in Public Life: “As our nation faces critical shortages of medical equipment and COVID-19 tests during a pandemic, President Trump is doubling down on his racist attacks on immigrants instead of uniting the country and saving lives. We don’t know yet the details of this executive order, but it is part of a pattern of white supremacist attacks that began on the first day of his presidential campaign. Immigrants are essential members of faith communities and this nation, and people of faith are united in solidarity and love. President Trump’s attempts to divide, attack and distract will fail. I call on Congress to immediately rein in the president’s reckless, racist actions.”
Paola Fuentes Gleghorn, Immigration and Women and Girls Campaign Coordinator for Sojourners, stated: “During this economic and public health crisis, President Trump is attempting to blame immigrant families, trying to plant them firmly as the ’other’ that we must reject. We know that this is not true, that the only path out of this pandemic is through beloved community, through Christ-like love for each other. We know that immigrant people are crucial to our country’s health care system, work in essential jobs, and most importantly are bearers of the image of God due all the respect and dignity that entails. We reject this move to blame and dehumanize immigrant families, and call on this administration to embrace community so that we can all get through this together.”
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.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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