Immigration – What General Assemblies have said
[5-16-06]
Concerns for the rights of immigrants are not new to Presbyterians.
Here are some of the statements of previous General
Assemblies, taken from ACSWP’s compilation of social witness policy
statements:
The 196th Assembly (1984) indirectly addressed the issue of Sanctuary:
1984 Statement * PC(USA), p. 736
Therefore, the 196th General Assembly (1984):
1. Continues to oppose as both illegal and immoral the
policy of the current administration to deny safe haven to Central American
refugees in the United States;
2. Expresses deep concern about the attacks by the current
administration on church workers who in ministering with refugees from
Central America are trying to prevent them from being sent back to their
countries of origin where they face great personal danger;
3. Expresses its firm support and encouragement for those
individuals and churches, who, from the base of their Christian convictions
or for humanitarian reasons, have risked imprisonment in order to save the
lives of refugees from Central America by helping them to avoid being sent
back to the countries they have fled; . . . [CR]
This was in response to the government's actions in
Central America and the wars there.
Also:
1985 Statement * PC(USA), p. 767
[The General Assembly]:
1. Protest[s] the clandestine eavesdropping on church
meetings by U.S. government undercover agents without warrants or judicial
supervision as a serious threat to the Constitutional guarantee of religious
freedom and the separation of church and state;
2. Demand[s] that all charges against the refugees and
sanctuary workers based on or connected with such surveillance be dropped
and any deportation proceedings be halted; . . . [CR]
AND:
The 211th General Assembly (1999):
a. Reaffirm[s] the guiding theological and ethical
principles contained in the historical review of Presbyterian policy on
immigration and refugee issues, and commit[s] to rediscover its identity as
a church of the stranger.
(1) Christians are obligated by the loving will of God
to seek to ensure that the basic needs of persons for food, clothes,
shelter and safety are met (Matt. 25:35-40).
(2) Christians believe in the intrinsic worth of each
human as a person made in the image of God.
(3) The Christian confession of Jesus Christ as Lord
transforms "strangers" into neighbors who are welcomed into our
communities.
(4) Churches are called to ministry with refugees,
asylum seekers, and immigrants, and to public witness on their behalf.
(5) Christians have the responsibility to challenge and
to shape government policy regarding refugees, asylum seekers, and
immigrants.
(6) Love of neighbor requires Christians to seek justice
for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants.
(7) Faithfulness to Christ means Christians always live
in tension with national values and policies.
(8) Christians may affirm certain values in national and
international life as consistent with their theological vision of human
community.
b. Reaffirm[s] the guiding policy principles contained in
the historical review of Presbyterian policy on immigration and refugee
issues and to utilize them to rediscover its identity as a church of the
stranger.
(1) Christians should engage in pastoral, compassionate,
educational, and prophetic ministries with refugees, asylum seekers, and
immigrants.
(2) The provision of sanctuary for asylum seekers may be
an appropriate moral response for churches even though the Untied States
government regards this witness as illegal.
(3) Churches should vigorously advocate the church's
right to religious freedom in their ministries with refugees, asylum
seekers, and immigrants.
(4) Refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants should be
treated humanely and justly in government policies and in our communities.
(5) The United States should respect the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and adhere to international laws and accords
that seek to implement standards of universal human rights.
(6) Christians should seek the elimination of
discrimination and racism from government policies and community
responses.
(7) The United States government should ensure that the
constitutional rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants to due
process of law are protected.
(8) Sovereign nations should exercise their authority to
regulate immigration with a presumption toward generosity rather than
restrictiveness.
(9) The United States should open jobs to neighbors with
a strong and continuing historical connection who need and want to work so
long as there are jobs available and the poor already residing in the
United States are not further disadvantaged.
(10) Restrictions on immigration should be enforced
humanely.
(11) The United States government should make the causes
of human displacement a major priority in United States foreign policy.
c. Direct[s] the General Assembly Council, through its Ministries Divisions,
to coordinate the various initiatives for ministry with immigrants,
refugees, and asylum seekers by:
(1) Urging sessions and presbyteries to develop new
approaches to ministry with new neighbors and to share those models that
are successful in order to be mentors and models for others; and
encouraging presbyteries and synods as the locus of support to
congregations and individuals called into caring ministry with immigrants,
refugees, and asylum seekers.
(3) Encouraging Presbyterians to express pastoral
concerns and prayers for those whose [sic] service [sic] in the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, acknowledging that they often find
themselves faced with difficult, morally ambiguous, and even morally
indefensible situations in the enforcement of U.S. immigration policy.
(4) Identifying and/or developing resources for pastoral
care with asylum seekers and immigrants who are in detention.
d. Reaffirm[s] the 209th General Assembly (1997) Resolution on "Welfare and
Poverty" policy on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996, urge[s] presbyteries and congregations to
respond to the plight of refugees and immigrants during the next year when
public assistance ends, and to advocate publicly on their behalf so that
their basic needs will be met.
e. Reaffirm[s] the consistent witness of General Assemblies on behalf of due
process in legal proceedings and urge[s] Presbyterians, presbyteries, and
congregations to engage in advocacy efforts to ensure that foreigners in the
United States have the same legal protections that citizens enjoy, including
the right to legal counsel.
f. Advocate[s] for the repeal of those sections of the 1996 immigration law
that provide for the expedited removal of asylum seekers and immigrants
without a full hearing, including the right of appeals, urging presbyteries
and sessions to do similar advocacy. Until these sections are repealed, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) of the United States government
should cooperate with efforts to monitor independently the way "expedited
removal" is applied.
g. Advocate[s] for the repeal of those sections of the 1996 immigration law
that removes review of that law and its administration from the jurisdiction
of immigration judges and the federal courts, urging presbyteries and
sessions to similar advocacy.
h. Oppose[s] the routine use of detention as an enforcement tool in
addressing common immigration violations, noting the particular hardship
this puts on women and children, urging presbyteries and sessions to similar
advocacy.
i. Advocate[s] for use of the credible fear standard for releasing asylum
seekers from detention, and assuring a more speedy adjudication to reduce
unreasonably lengthy stays in detention, urging presbyteries and sessions to
do similar advocacy. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) should
ensure asylum seekers are not held in local jails, nor detained with local
criminals, and that they are provided humane conditions including adequate
and appropriate food, personal treatment, medical care, prompt access to
legal help, family, and friends.
j. Urge[s] that numerical limits used by the United States on allowing
adjudicated asylum seekers adjust to a legal permanent residence (LPR)
status be lifted, urging presbyteries and sessions to do similar advocacy.
k. Urge[s] restoration of a more generous admission of refugees, giving
particular attention to the annual report of the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees, and ensuring that those refugees identified and
screened as being in urgent need of resettlement (rescue) be a priority for
United States admissions, urging presbyteries and sessions to do similar
advocacy.
l. Advocate[s] for the repeal of sections of the 1996 immigration law that
require state and local governments, and publicly funded institutions and
programs (such as hospitals, battered women's shelters, WIC, church feeding
programs) to report undocumented persons to the INS, urging presbyteries and
sessions to do similar advocacy. The 211th General Assembly (1999) further
calls on Christians who are under such reporting requirements to weigh in
their conscience the claims of this requirement against the biblical
injunction to shelter and welcome the stranger.
m. Advocate[s] for review of the sections of the 1996 immigration law that
defined misdemeanors as felonies for purposes of deportation and removed the
possibility of an immigration judge granting a discretionary waiver from
deportation based on a person's whole case, urging presbyteries and sessions
to do similar advocacy. The 211th General Assembly (1999) affirms that
Christian belief demands that we make an allowance for atonement and
redemption of those who have made a mistake but are working to overcome it.
n. Express[es] concern and encourage study of the militarization of our
nation's borders for the purpose of dealing with immigration.
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