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New York, NY (December 19, 2022) – Faith leaders of multiple denominations from across the country are calling on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to end his inhumane treatment of migrants who have crossed over the southern border into the U.S. In an open letter to the governor, more than 150 faith leaders implored him to take a more compassionate approach and urge Washington to provide meaningful support.
“We are a collection of faith leaders who are deeply concerned by your decision to bus thousands of scared, vulnerable, and traumatized asylum seekers to cities as a point about the border crisis,” the faith leaders write. “While we, too, are frustrated by the federal government’s lack of action on this issue, we are also disturbed by your actions.”
These faith leaders hail from more than 40 cities across the U.S., including New York City, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Detroit, and include Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, Chairman of the Conference of National Black Churches.
“Use your powerful voice to work across the aisle, so that the federal government can finally create an asylum system that is orderly and protects people’s fundamental right to seek asylum when their lives are threatened,” the letter reads.
The letter comes as the Biden Administration prepares to lift Title 42, a Trump era policy that allowed the US government to expel migrants crossing the southern border due to public health considerations during the Covid-19 crisis. With the expiration of Title 42, thousands are expected to cross the border into Texas and surrounding states as asylum seekers
The full letter can be read below.
Dear Governor Abbott,
Today, we write with deep concern of your actions over the last several months in response to migrants crossing the southern border. We are a collection of faith leaders who are deeply concerned by your decision to bus thousands of scared, vulnerable, and traumatized asylum seekers to cities as a point about the border crisis. While we, too, are frustrated by the federal government’s lack of action on this issue, we are also disturbed by your actions. That is why we have decided to join thousands of people, organizations, and local elected officials from across the country to say we #ChooseWelcome.
Like you, we are all people of faith – in fact, it is our shared belief in a higher power that unites us across our denominations. In moments of challenge, we call upon that power to give us guidance. And, when our time ends, we are fully prepared to answer to that power for our actions on this Earth in whatever comes after this life.
As students of our respective holy texts, we fail to remember where a higher power condoned treating the poor and scared like political chess pieces who can be moved around the country. We have come together to implore you to embark upon a more righteous path, one that focuses your energy on finding solutions instead of headlines.
Election season is over. You will soon be sworn in for a third term. Now is the time to work toward actual solutions rather than penalizing your fellow human beings who are stuck in untenable circumstances. We’re calling on you as a man of faith to reconsider your actions, and instead remember our shared values as people who answer to a higher power. We may differ on the finer points, but we do agree that life is sacred and precious. Every person that crosses the border into our country deserves to be treated with dignity.
This crisis is not the byproduct of just Democratic or just Republican issues — it is the culmination of decades of decisions, intertwined in a web of blame that seemingly has no end. Many of us have, however, spoken to the migrants who have gotten off your buses. They told us how they fled places like Venezuela, Haiti, or Honduras, where their choices were to die there or chase the promise of a better life in America. Because while the immigrants of today are crossing up to nine borders to the United States, they carry that same spirit of the people who arrived here two hundred years ago on European ships. They face the same issue of death there or struggle here. We ask: which would you choose?
The reality is that these migrants are already here. History and a higher power will judge us based on whether we fed a hungry immigrant today or left them to fend for themselves because they crossed the border yesterday. Communities have confronted this situation with kindness and compassion. In places like New York, where temperatures are dropping fast, organizations have focused on the fact that people need coats and a place to stay. They need food and a means to employment. Their children need to be in school. These organizations are focusing on the things they can control, instead of what they cannot. They are embodying values we all share: showing empathy, delivering charity, creating hope where there is despair, and bringing light to the darkness.
Governor Abbott, you can be a man of these values as well. We do not agree with the actions you have taken to this point, and many of us believe they are inhumane. The way in which migrants have been falsely led to jump the buses, without proper processes and systems to receive them is putting people in danger.
But our shared faith teaches us about redemption. Our respective higher powers compel us to forgive those who make amends through action. We urge you to lead through constructive actions. Use your powerful voice to work across the aisle, so that the federal government can finally create an asylum system that is orderly and protects people’s fundamental right to seek asylum when their lives are threatened.
What we do in this moment will impact generations to come. Interacting with the Texas government is the first experience many of these migrants have with the United States. Among them are thousands of legitimate asylum seekers who will get to stay, whether you like it or not. They will fill our congregations, start families, and take the jobs no one else either wants to or can work. They will join the more than 20 percent of American entrepreneurs who came here from another country. They will become Americans who will judge your legacy.
We hope you will choose a better course in the months ahead. This is a chance for America to put its values into action, and Texas has a unique opportunity to lead by example. As you begin your third term, we ask you to focus on working collaboratively with the federal government to meet the needs of Texans and those seeking asylum. We ask you to reach across the aisle to find solutions for what Texans need.
We pray you will end this inhumane practice and find a better path forward. You can call upon us for guidance on what solutions we have implemented in our own communities, and we hope you do. Our hope is to bring more people together, and to heal the wounds of this country so we may form a better union. Governor, this is an opportunity to rise above this moment. You can atone for your choices — the pain, confusion, and trauma your actions inflicted — by turning a corner on this crisis and working with us all toward a humanitarian approach. We hope you will hear God’s call for compassion.
