Evangelical Immigration Table appeals to Congress

Leaders of the Evangelical Immigration Table urged Congress to be guided by two principles as they consider immigration reform: “ensuring secure borders” and “respecting the God-given dignity of each person.”

In a Dec. 11 letter to Congress, Evangelical Immigration Table leaders asked Congress to “oppose proposals that would either make our borders less secure or would erode existing legal protections for those vulnerable to persecution, human trafficking or other significant harm.”

“Our federal government has a responsibility to know who is entering the United States, to do whatever is reasonably possible to prevent the entry of anyone seeking to do harm, and to enforce laws governing who is and is not allowed to enter the United States,” the letter stated.

“Equally important, we believe that God has made every human being in his image with inherent dignity. This means that human life is worth protecting, regardless of one’s nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender or any other factor.”

In particular, the evangelical leaders asked lawmakers to ensure due process for asylum seekers who demonstrate “a real fear of persecution.”

“As your negotiations continue, we ask that you make certain all asylum seekers are treated with the dignity they are owed as image-bearers, preserve a clear and orderly due process for asylum, and facilitate more efficient processing to ensure that those who qualify for asylum are able to access permanent protections more quickly and those who do not qualify are not incentivized to present a marginal claim by a legal process that often takes many years to complete,” the letter stated.

The evangelical leaders also appealed to Congress to make certain “extra caution” is taken to protect the well-being of unaccompanied children.

Member organizations of the Evangelical Immigration Table are the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the National Association of Evangelicals, Bethany Christian Services, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, World Relief and World Vision.

Recommendations to consider

The Evangelical Immigration Table offered four ideas for lawmakers to consider:

• Increase opportunities for legal migration “that are accessible without the need to reach the U.S. border to seek asylum.” These include expanding refugee resettlement and employer-sponsored visas.
• Expand personnel and technology at ports of entry. Fully staffed and equipped ports of entry will help ensure “asylum requests can be adjudicated without returning individuals to dangerous conditions” in northern Mexico. They also will help to “halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs” through those ports of entry, evangelical leaders noted.
• Appropriate funds to staff and equip Border Patrol. Provide resources, technology and training to enable Border Patrol to “intercept individuals seeking to enter the United States without inspection.”
• Invest in and partner with international NGOs. Work with nongovernmental organizations in Mexico, Central America and elsewhere “that are doing effective work to address the root causes of poverty, violence, environmental changes and corruption that lead many to feel they have no option but to leave their homeland and seek a new life in the United States,” evangelical leaders urged.

“While the border challenges are significant and require congressional response, we also urge you not to neglect other urgent immigration priorities, such as ensuring opportunities for Dreamers, Afghan and other humanitarian parolees, and long-term beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status to pursue legal status,” the letter stated.

Politicians ‘weaponize’ the immigration issue

J. Blair Blackburn, president of East Texas Baptist University, participated in a recent panel discussion in Houston sponsored by the National Immigration Forum about how Temporary Protected Status, DACA and similar programs present both opportunities and challenges.

ETBU and many other Christian higher education institutions have “embraced the opportunity to welcome” Dreamers, refugees and undocumented immigrants as part of their campus communities, Blackburn said.

However, those students face challenges due to the lack of federal and state financial aid, he noted.

“We’ve been intentional at our institution in raising scholarship funds to enable these students to come to ETBU,” Blackburn said.

Those students contribute both to the university and to the community, he added, pointing to a program in which first-year students volunteer at a nearby elementary school.

“So, we have Dreamers, we have refugees, we have undocumented immigrants among our campus population that are ministering to and serving the children of Dreamers in our schools and undocumented immigrants,” he said.

Elected officials need to seek real immigration reform and genuine solutions rather than “weaponize” the immigration issue to raise funds and mobilize voters, Blackburn insisted.

“I think for too long we have allowed political pundits, policymakers and politicians—our elected officials—to politicize rather than revolutionize immigration,” he said.

“It appears we have this perpetual decision among lawmakers to not make a decision because it fuels their campaigns.”

Voters should demand from elected officials a bipartisan “American solution” that provides pathways to legal status, he asserted.