Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity calls on church to publicly support migrants

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity’s steering group sent an Oct. 21 letter stressing the need for The Episcopal Church to publicly support migrant communities pastorally and practically.

“We ask the whole church to unite in prayer, action and solidarity to proclaim that in Christ there are no strangers or foreigners, only one people reconciled in the love of Jesus,” the letter said. 

“As a coalition, we affirm that the church cannot remain silent. The prophets remind us that in times of great injustice, God’s people are called to raise their voices and turn their hearts to the Lord. Jesus taught us that what we do for the least among us, we do for Him. To remain silent at this time would be to be complicit in injustice.”

The 15-member steering group includes three bishops, clergy and lay leaders representing all nine church provinces. 

The letter was written in response to the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies and the increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids nationwide, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling lifting restrictions on roving patrols and racial profiling during immigration stops.

“The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo (sic), as well as current public policies, allows people to be detained simply for ‘looking foreign,’ for speaking English with an accent, or for speaking Spanish on the streets,” the letter said. “This reality has caused fear and silence in our communities.”

ICE has taken an increasingly aggressive approach toward immigration enforcement in major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago. The raids are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up arrests and deportations and fulfill a campaign promise of sharply reducing both legal and illegal immigration. Many people who’ve been arrested, however, are in the United States legally and have no criminal background.

The letter noted that Latino congregations have suspended Spanish-speaking services and social media broadcasts in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling “to protect their members from arbitrary, illegal and inhumane detentions.” Earlier this summer, for example, ICE arrested 13 Latino members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Hollywood, California, on the same day. In response, the church’s rector, the Rev. Jaime Edwards-Acton, halted in-person worship services.

The coalition stressed the urgent need to live into Becoming Beloved Community and to support migrants, in a press release promoting the letter. 

The coalition, an independent nonprofit, is a voluntary group of Episcopal entities and individuals, including bishops and laity committed to improving The Episcopal Church’s uneven track record of prioritizing racial reconciliation and healing at the denominational level and across dioceses. It was formed in 2024 after Resolution A125, “Extending and Furthering the Beloved Community,” passed at the 80th General Convention in 2022 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The letter also acknowledges Episcopalians who’ve already been working to protect immigrant communities individually and as congregations.

“May the Holy Spirit grant us the courage to live as a prophetic Church, faithful to God’s mission and committed to dignity and justice for all God’s sons and daughters.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.