DALLAS (BP)—Leaders of 13 Southern Baptist ethnic groups approved a joint statement on immigration seeking religious liberty protections, compassion without demonization and enforcement options including fines or other penalties in lieu of deportation.
Signers of the statement said they share the “federal government’s desire to protect citizens, promote legal immigration and refugee policies, and robustly safeguard the country’s borders.”
However, “enforcement must be accompanied with compassion that doesn’t demonize those fleeing oppression, violence, and persecution,” the statement reads.
Bruno Molina, executive director of the National Hispanic Baptist Network and a signatory, provided the statement to Baptist Press. Haitian, Hispanic, African American, Chinese, Filipino, Nigerian, Liberian, Ghanaian, Korean, Burmese, Thai and Vietnamese leaders signed the statement, Molina said.
Among the ethnic leaders who signed the statement is Jesse Rincones, executive director of Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas.
Victor Chayasirisobhon, another signatory and director of the Southern Baptist Convention Asian Collective representing all Asian fellowships in the SBC, said all groups in the collective approved the statement individually and collectively.
Sixteen leaders representing about 10,900 churches signed the statement on behalf of their groups amid immigration changes that leaders have said will heavily impact Southern Baptist Haitian and Hispanic congregations. The changes include orders that end humanitarian parole for 532,000 Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Cubans April 24 and end Temporary Protected Status for an estimated 1.1 million others in August.
A federal judge on March 31 blocked an order that would have forced 350,000 Venezuelans to leave April 7.
Fear rising ‘among both the guilty and the innocent’
“Threats of mass deportation by the Trump administration and its lack of assurance to churches that ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents will not enter churches to carry out immigration enforcement duties has caused fear to rise among both the guilty and the innocent,” ethnic leaders wrote.
Attendance has dropped significantly, leaders said, threatening religious liberty and immigrants’ access to spiritual care in their local churches.
“While we reject and oppose criminal activity or harboring criminals, all people should have the freedom to receive spiritual care from churches within a church building in America,” the statement reads.
Ethnic leaders urged Southern Baptists “to stand firm for religious liberty and speak on behalf of the immigrant and refugee.”
“We ask that consideration be given to their paying a fine and/or other penalty in lieu of deportation,” the statement reads.
Call for advocacy and prayer
It encourages churches to advocate to government leaders for immigrants forced to return to countries from which they fled civil unrest, murder, rape, religious and political persecution, gang violence, food insecurity and other ills.
“We call on our Southern Baptist brothers and sisters to pray for the Trump administration,” ethnic leaders wrote.
“Please ask God to grant wisdom as they deal with this important and complex issue that will determine the course for many who have already experienced great atrocities in their native country, and whose deportations will cause their American-born family members who reunite with them in a foreign country to experience the same dire conditions.”
Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, thanked the leaders for the statement.
“I am grateful these pastors and leaders have put into words the experiences that so many of our fellow Southern Baptist brothers and sisters are living through right now. The administration’s efforts to secure America’s borders and cut illegal entry into our nation represents a serious attempt to restore order for a system that, for decades, has been overwhelmed,” Leatherwood told Baptist Press.
“Moreover, many of these moves are consistent with elements of a comprehensive approach to border security and immigration reform long called for by the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Yet, as these pastors have indicated, some of these actions and public statements are raising alarm and fear among those who are here legally.”
Leatherwood referenced a statement Trump made in his first presidential term, in 2019, saying that Trump “has personally and publicly stated he wants people to come to America ‘in the largest numbers ever,’ but to do so through legal means.”
‘Care for the vulnerable with compassion’
“We agree with that objective,” Leatherwood said of the ERLC. “Fostering an environment that creates uncertainty in those who are permitted to be here is at odds with that goal.
“Given that, as I have said previously, we’d ask the administration to provide more clarity in this area, so that our pastors, churches and compassion ministries will be free to minister and proclaim the Good News of Christ’s life, death and resurrection to all.”
Keny Felix, president of the SBC National Haitian Fellowship, said in addition to the top ethnic leaders who signed the statement, several pastors affirmed it.
“As leaders within the SBC, we believe we must work collaboratively in support of our brothers, sisters and vulnerable families. It’s not just advocacy. It’s fulfilling our biblical mandate,” Felix told Baptist Press.
“To care for the most vulnerable with compassion is at the heart of God’s redemption story and also makes for strong and healthy communities.”
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