Presiding officers uphold Biblical call to ‘welcome the stranger’ after Trump’s anti-immigration orders

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris issued a joint letter to the church on Jan. 21 emphasizing “Christ’s call to welcome the stranger” after President Donald Trump, on his first day back in office, issued a series of executive orders taking aim at migrants, refugees and other immigrants.

“We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said.

Scripture teaches that “because our true citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven, we are called to transcend the earthly distinctions made among us by the leaders of this world,” the presiding officers said. “This sacred call shapes both our churchwide commitment to stand with migrants and the ministries of congregations across our church who serve vulnerable immigrants and refugees in their communities.”

They also committed The Episcopal Church to continued advocacy and ministry alongside and on behalf of “the most vulnerable among us.”

Trump, only the second U.S. president to lose re-election and return victorious four years later, was inaugurated to his second term at noon Eastern Jan. 20. In the hours after the ceremony, he issued a barrage of executive orders that included measures targeting refugees, migrants, transgender people and federal employees while weakening environmental protections and pardoning the crimes of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to reverse Trump’s 2020 election defeat.

Some of the executive orders are expected to face legal challenges, such as Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Others seek to upend federal laws and programs that were established by Congress, raising concerns that he is overstepping his legal authority as president.

The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is one such initiative. It was established by Congress in 1980, and it created an in-depth process for screening, vetting, welcoming and supporting the resettlement of refugees who are fleeing war, violence and persecution in their home countries. The Episcopal Church has helped facilitate more than 100,000 of those admissions to the United States through Episcopal Migration Ministries and its local affiliates.

The law requires the U.S. president each year to set a ceiling, or maximum number of refugees to be admitted. During Trump’s first term, his administration decimated the resettlement program by reducing the ceiling to a historically low 15,000 refugees. President Joe Biden reversed that policy when he took office in 2021, raising the ceiling to 125,000 refugees, though it took several years for EMM and other agencies to rebuild their networks and capacity.

As he started his second term, Trump issued an executive order Jan. 20, suspending the program entirely “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

His order claims those interests are not aligned because the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

Rather than an escalating crisis on the southern border, illegal crossings had fallen to their lowest level in four years during the final months of the Biden administration. Trump’s description of the refugee resettlement program also contrasts sharply with the lived experiences of the refugees themselves, who often have been praised for quickly establishing themselves in their new communities and contributing to those communities both economically and culturally.

The Episcopal Church also has ministered to and spoken out in support of other migrant groups, including asylum-seekers and undocumented minors, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as young children. The church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations regularly advocates for federal action that aligns with hundreds of resolutions adopted by General Convention, and the Episcopal Public Policy Network helps mobilize Episcopalians to engage on the same issues.

“As more immigration enforcement policy changes are announced, our churchwide ministries will continue to provide practical pathways to protect the most vulnerable among us,” Rowe and Ayala Harris said in their letter.

The letter specifically urges support for Dreamers, opposes mass deportations, advocates humane border management and reaffirms the church’s support for the refugee resettlement program and other programs that have allowed people from other countries to legally live and work in the United States.

The presiding officers also invited Episcopalians to join them in “speaking out against anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, including race-based targeting, vigilantism and violence, family division, and detention and deportation without charges or convictions.”

“As one church united in the Body of Christ, please pray especially for families who live under the shadow of separation, and for all who seek asylum for protection from persecution. Pray, too, for the people of our congregations and dioceses who work tirelessly to serve immigrants and refugees, and who now face new and heartbreaking challenges to their ministry.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.