Officers enforcing immigration laws now are authorized to arrest undocumented suspects in churches, schools and hospitals after the Trump administration lifted restrictions on enforcement in sensitive locations.
Benjamine Huffman, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, issued a directive on Jan. 20 rescinding the Biden administration’s guidelines for Customs and Border Protection and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murderers and rapists—who have illegally come into our country,” Huffman said.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Matthew Soerens, vice president at World Relief and national coordinator of the Evangelical Immigration Table, responded on social media to the policy change.
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“I’m offended that my government is accusing churches of sheltering murderers,” Soeren al corriente on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
“The real effect of this change is that people will be afraid to go to church on Sunday.”
Changes to humanitarian parole
At the same time, Huffman announced humanitarian parole to migrants will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump administration,” Huffman said.
During President Joe Biden’s time in office, the United States broadly extended humanitarian parole to migrants fleeing Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela due to “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
The Homeland Security directives were issued in response to a series of executive orders that also included temporarily halting the U.S. refugee resettlement program, shutting down the CBP One app and cancelling all asylum appointments in that system.
Refugees International issued a statement condemning the executive orders.
“Make no mistake, these orders are not just about stopping irregular migration—they also target long-standing legal migration pathways in ways that will endanger vulnerable people, undermine border security, and harm the U.S. economy,” the advocacy group stated.
“The orders seek to remake U.S. refugee and immigration policy by closing off virtually all pathways for people to seek refuge in the United States, while threatening the safety and stability of newcomers and long-established immigrant families alike.”
Este artículo apareció originalmente en The Baptist Standard y ha sido reimpreso con permiso.
Ken Camp, based in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, is the managing editor of The Baptist Standard.
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29 Respuestas
“The real effect of this change is that people will be afraid to go to church on Sunday.”
Why? Why would you be afraid to go to church on a Sunday if you have not broken the law?
Let’s syllogistically unpack this:
1. “I’m offended that my government is accusing churches of sheltering murderers,”
PLUS—— +
2. “The real effect of this change is that people will be afraid to go to church on Sunday.”
Conclusion ——— =
“The orders seek to remake U.S. refugee and immigration policy by closing off virtually all pathways for people to seek refuge in the United States, while threatening the safety and stability of newcomers and long-established immigrant families alike.”
This lacks substantive logic. First appeal is that the church is infallible. Second appeal lacks objective evidence. Thus, followers of Christ avoid church? Why? If laws are followed… Then why fear?
The reverse is true of the conclusion. Immigration policy is not immigration law. Policy is the vehicle to implement the law. These premises are full of dishonest realities and conflates terms. This does not remake policy but puts the spotlight on the actual law.
Question-After 2-22-24, will Laken Riley have the opportunity to go to church? Would she be alive if the law was followed not a policy?
Who is your neighbor Cynthia?
Only a real Christian can answer this one!
I am a citizen and I used to attend a church with people of mixed immigration status. I have not broken the law but also don’t want to experience an ICE raid, or be assumed that I’m not a citizen and deported or detained unlawfully. I don’t keep my passport or birth certificate on me at all times, and a driver’s license doesn’t prove citizenship.
In my area we have a Korean Churches, Chinese Churches, Hispanic Churches, a Lebanese church, etc. It would be easy for ICE to go, detain everyone and figure out later what to do with each person. Even if you are a lawful citizen and then they have to escort you to your house (do they do that?) to check your birth certificate that’s going to interrupt your day. Also, they can detain innocent people and don’t have to release them in a timely manner.
We have broken every law of GOD, you included. Wonder how you might feel if GOD arrests you for breaking HIS law of “”loving your neighbor”? JESUS made it clear that we are to live those we are in need, and undocumented immigrants fit that bill. Grandmas and children are not dangerous criminals, yet Trump is targeting them. I wonder if you will be happy that you get justice, instead of mercy?
Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart?
-Hank Williams
I have not broken any laws but I wouldn’t want my day interrupted with an ICE raid at my (hypothetical) church. I don’t keep my passport/birth certificate on me at all times and don’t expect others should either. There are many churches in my area that are immigrant focused, Korean, Chinese, Spanish speaking, Lebanese etc that would be very easy spots for ICE to just stop by and check on everyone if they wanted too.
I would post something here, but Julie Roy’s knows the norbeck family, so she won’t allow it!
I know a Norbeck, but not Cynthia, and I have no idea if the two are related. The Norbeck I know worked at the school my daughter went to about 10 years ago and we are merely acquaintances. So, this idea that I’m somehow making decisions on whether to post Cynthia’s comments based on some relationship is absurd. I have not posted many of her comments because the purpose of TRR is not to debate politics but to expose corruption and abuse in the church and to spur reform.
Cynthia’s posts get lots of replies from those who disagree with her.
And I would guess Julie doesn’t agree with most of what she posts, but still allows her point of view to be heard.
A lot of families have mixed immigration status, the kids might have legal status, but one or both parents may not. Entire families may stay away from church rather than risking being separated. That is one reason. The other is that there was a raid today in Newark, New Jersey. ICE grabbed everyone who looked Hispanic including a Puerto Rican man who was a veteran. He had ID, but the authorities did not trust him and falsely arrested him.
“ICE grabbed everyone who looked Hispanic including a Puerto Rican man who was a veteran.”
Suspiro.
Who wants to tell them that immigrants come in all colors? THIS is how undocumented immigrants from Europe (how else do you think we got such communities as Ukrainian Village and Little Italy) and Canadian students who overstay their visa go unchecked. But I guess they are from the “right” places. RME.
And not all undocumented immigrants are murderers and rapists. Many are refugees, some are young children. I’m SO tired of the fear-mongering language.
Also, as believers we should not want ANYONE afraid of going to church, last I checked, undocumented immigrants need salvation, too; I mean, church is where we are spiritually fed – isn’t that THE most important food?
Not surprised…. Knew this would happen despite maga cultists saying they only wanted to get rid of “illegals”… but that’s them talking and not their thought/influencer leaders like Trump, Bannon, Stephen Miller, Proud Boys, Charlie Kirk, et al. All them and more have been signaling, dog whistling, wink wink nudge since 2016 that they really like to ‘cleanse’ the country of all brown skinned immigrants, refugees, migrants… (Springfield OH was a recent signal among many previous and since… blatant lies to dehumanize a whole general category of people in the hopes that something bad would be done to those people…) So, yeah this is going to happen A LOT… there will be American citizens sitting in detainment camps for weeks, months waiting for a hearing or something, while the clown crew of this admin fiddles around, hoping that through malice and bureaucratic negligence they can somehow get the person (or child) thrown out of the country… because that’s what they Really want (despite the public pretense) The world knows this. Everyone with discernment and their eyes open to the evil of trumpism, knows this…
150+ years ago there were slave states and free states. Currently there are 11 sanctuary states. Guess where you won’t find them. Maybe being illegal makes you 3/5 human, so we need not worry about humane treatment, tearing apart families and so on. We’re a “Christian country”, you say?
BTW, all demographics include rapists and murders.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE”
“The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement”
I am prepared to agree – in the absence of information to the contrary – that immigration officers are at least as brave as the average law enforcement people. However, when you, Mr. Huffman, keep throwing that into your sentences, you sound smarmy and disingenuous, like pastor throwing out “Godly” and “Biblical” while defending his buddies who commit financial and sexual irregularities.
There is nothing especially “brave” about going to churches, schools, and hospitals to look for illegal immigrants.
This is simple hate and fear mongering. It is also a clear demonstration of a lack of reverence for God.
Are churches “hiding” or “housing” known criminals? No!
Can any of the “multiple” people killed by Bianchi, Bret, or Bundy free to go to church? No!
Ridiculous and hateful attempt to disguise racism, a lack of empathy, a lack of love.
Perhaps “innocent” people will not want to go to church because they’re afraid their worship service will be disrupted.
If you do not personally worship God, then you do not care that the assembling of those seeking to honor a God of order – will become disorderly.
Apprehensions can certainly occur at a time and place other than places designed for the focus to be on “God” – not on “you” and your evil reign of terror.
They will not be arresting anyone undocumented at my church. They may arrest staff and security for non-compliance. If JMac can ignore covid laws executive orders, we can ignore this. After all, Martin Luther King Jr said “If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”
We will continue welcoming the stranger and the foreigner, and fighting unjust laws and enforcement.
“there will be American citizens sitting in detainment camps for weeks, months waiting for a hearing or something,” Right like some of the non violent January 6 protesters who never entered the Capitol building and spent years in a filthy prison. Without due process. I’ll believe it when I see it. Andrew, do you have any original thoughts or just repetition of the same ole jargon. “We will continue welcoming the stranger and the foreigner, and fighting unjust laws and enforcement.” Oh ya. Try telling that to the Laken Riley family. “Strangers” or illegal immigrants who willfully broke the law to enter our country. Not “undocumented”. As a former border agent. I have seen that if you are willing to break small laws. That’s a premise that bigger laws like killing innocent females. Obviously your fellow American people desire the same. Elections have consequences.
“”They will not be arresting anyone undocumented at my church.” That sounds like a threat.
Jason – not all immigrants are criminals, period. What happened to Laken Riley is BEYOND tragic, but let’s not point to that as a reason to stereotype and mark ALL people who are migrating here illegally as dangerous murders.
We should be better than that as Christians. Perhaps if you volunteered as some of the shelters that are providing food and warm clothing to those migrants who were on the streets nearly freezing to death in these recent weeks (unless you believe we should have left them to die), you’d see the faces of young children, people fleeing political and domestic violence, people desperate for ANY work to feed their family, and the like. They all have stories. They aren’t all “killing innocent females because they were willing to come here illegally.”
We have a VERY broken immigration system that will take YEARS to fix (once we get past the politics), yet in the meantime, let’s not villainize each and every person here illegally with such dangerous labels.
Whew, Lord come quickly.
Many comments accuse the ICE agents of racism. As a minority, and having observed the race of these officers… Quite a few are not white and they are not race haters. The second, you a false narrative is created as to who is “your neighbor” as “undocumented” vs “criminals” -who broke the law. You skip the part that they broke the law to enter our country and then broke other laws while in this country. Concerned about your neighbor? Make disciples of those in your daily lives? The Lord will bless you with an opportunity to be a conduit for the Father to draw individuals to Himself.
Jason – people of all races can be racist and/or biased, even against their own. Racism and bias are not the same as hate either; biologically, we all have biases of sort, but those biases aren’t necessarily hatred. If ICE is only checking the status of people who “appear” brown, and not the status of white people (I personally know of Canadians and Brits who were here with expired visas, and Polish and Ukrainian workers who entered illegally), that is racial bias. It is NOT ok, even if the worker is non-white.
And it’s a false narrative to be selective about who you are to love as your neighbor; it’s actually something we are told that “even the wicked do”. Can you show me in scripture where we are to ONLY minister to and make disciples of those here legally? And how would that account for those in scripture who were criminals – murderers, tax collectors, and the like? Last I checked, they were having the gospel shared with them, and even preaching it. Should we stop prison ministries? And what about those whose parents immigrated here illegally, and grew up as undocumented children – are they not your neighbor? Or do we only share the gospel with them AFTER they “become legal”?
In my time in California, I personally witnessed an undocumented woman have the gospel shared with her, and out of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, she immediately prioritized fixing her status and that of her pre-teen son. Imagine thinking she didn’t “deserve” to be ministered to as a neighbor….. Lord, come quickly.
Marin, obeying the government -Romans 13:1-2 and Isaiah teaches government is ordained by God. Selectivity of who is my neighbor and the law has established a legal and illegal way to enter our country. It’s not a gospel issue, or a personal sin issue that needs forgiveness from oneself. As a US Soldier, I had orders to follow. I swore an oath to the constitution. As a follower of Christ I share Jesus. They are in conflict with each other and they are not the same. Conflating a biblical mandate of loving your neighbor and following the law is where things are messed up. They aren’t the same and both have a contextual basis. One can deport an illegal immigrant and show the love of Christ. To not follow orders or the law would be a dereliction of duty.
I would be interested to hear from American commenters here as to why they show outrage at the deportation of illegal citizens whether from inside a church or a brothel? What about my family who immigrated LEGALLY, why did they do it correctly in a Christian manner, obeying the laws of the land – yet so much outrage from so called Christians because ILLEGALS are rounded up? This is not about ‘love my neighbour’ – show love to the legal immigrants and give them empathy and integration. They deserve it.
Larry – who are we to determine who “deserves” empathy? Aren’t we all sinners? Yes, this is about “loving your neighbor”, because Christ calls us to love our neighbor, PERIOD. He does not say “love the neighbor you think deserves it”; He actually warns that “even the wicked” do that. And loving others isn’t about you. Loving your neighbor is about serving and ministering to THEM, not thinking “but what about me and my family.”
I think there is another way to do this. As I hear more and more about ICE raids happening in stores and restaurants, creating chaos, panic, and leaving families – including young children – terrified, I just don’t think this is the only way. ESPECIALLY in a church, where families gather to worship the Lord. I cannot imagine feeling too unsafe to do so….or how disruptive and traumatic it would be to have ICE burst into the sanctuary while we are in the midst of praise and worship.
Marin
All illegal aliens who crossed the border ILLEGALLY and broke the laws of the land can be both ministered to and assisted with shelter and comfort AND be deported back to their countries. There are no double standards here.
The foundation of what is ethical isn’t what is legal. Otherwise, slavery would have been ethical. Good laws are founded on good ethics. Is it ethical to round people up and send them back without regard to how they’re living here or what we’re sending them back to? If we’re sending them back to life threatening conditions, and simply choose to turn a blind eye, we have become criminally negligent. Thats far more unethical than sneaking across the border to do work no one else wants to do.
It is not a question of loving either the illegal immigrant or that legal immigrant. We should love BOTH.
It should not be my concern as a Christian whether my neighbor has legal status or not. That is up to the authorities to determine. As a Christian I’m going to look out for my neighbor and make sure they are not cold, hungry or in need otherwise. I will show love to each individual.
We all have sinned (and even many of us have broken laws, but the authorities will deal with that)
Ultimately God is the righteous judge. He will forgive people who illegally immigrate, people who break other laws and all kinds of sins for those who seek his forgiveness.
We will all stand before him so we better know what he requires, to do justice, love mercy and walk in humbleness.
Woe to those who do not show mercy to another, or who turn their backs away from the poor, The downtrodden, the needy, who demand a person prove to be a “worthy” citizen before receiving help.
larry,
I understand.
We probably would all be the brother of the prodigal son. Righteously ticked off that we did what was right. He didn’t. He gets the party!?!
How about the parable of those who worked all day then those who came in the 99th hour gets paid the same pay!?!
I commend you. There “is” reward in doing what is right. For one, you, hopefully, didn’t have to look over your shoulder. I said “hopefully” because as Marin so beautifully explained (as always), the innocent might get mistakenly swept up too, or others get a pass.
I personally believe, our challenge, as Christians, is can/ will we show the mercy, kindness, empathy and love of Christ – without upholding or overlooking wrongdoing – in any situation?
Every administration has rightly deported without the “Bad Boy, Bad Boy! What ya gonna do when they come for you?” DRAMA. Certainly, without the outrageously expense of using Military aircraft, or without our friends accusing us of being inhumane.
“There was a fever over the land, a fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all there was fear, fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors, and fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that can you understand what [Trump] meant to us, because he said to us:
“Lift your heads. Be proud to be [American]. There are devils among us, communists, liberals, [immigrants, gays]. Once these devils will be destroyed your misery will be destroyed.”
It was the old, old story of the sacrificial lamb.
What about those of us who knew better, we who knew the words were lies and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country. What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. [Trump] himself will be discarded — sooner or later. The country is in danger. We will march out of the shadows! We will go forward. FORWARD is the great password.”
– “Judgement at Nuremberg, Ernst Janning monologue”