Revival of sanctuary movements among churches and lobbying for immigrant rights have become ways that Episcopal Churches are joining with other faith groups and with workers and their families to respond to Jesus’ command to love our sisters and brothers. Many marched on May 1st with Immigrant Rights groups.
“Immigrant-rights groups around the United States marched on May 1 to urge Congress to pass legislation that will make the immigration system one that balances enforcement with acknowledgment of the need for an expanded program to permit foreign workers to enter the country legally.
Immigrant-rights and faith-based advocates of reform, including the Episcopal Church, have consistently pressed for allowing those immigrants without documentation the chance to earn credit toward permanent status if they are employed and meet certain additional requirements.
“The Episcopal Church has solid, far reaching policies which embrace an immigration system that does not separate families, respects the dignity of workers by giving them access to legal membership in our society, and which balances a reasonable regard for enforcement with a recognition that the U.S. needs foreign workers and therefore should give them a legal means of offering their labor,” said Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM).”
Read it all HERE