Delegates to General Synod 35 overwhelmingly approved an emergency resolution that opposes Trump administration immigration policies, supports immigrants and refugees, and calls for antiracism work.
“I want to emphasize that the committee’s wholehearted recommendation is that this resolution must pass,” said the Rev. Arlene Infante Turner of the South Central Conference, who moderated the committee that reviewed the resolution. “The committee entirely agrees with the need to address the injustices, persecutions and outright hatred targeted at immigrants.”
Turner said the committee spent hours working to strengthen the language, and added a section to “emphasize the urgency of concrete responses by asking the church to advocate for the establishment of permanent offices for immigrant rights, protection and enforcement by tribal, state, and federal government that would counter ongoing systemic harm.”
And she said, they added to the wording to encourage “all churches and members to increase their financial support so that the much-needed work of this resolution can be adequately funded.”
“These injustices, persecutions and hatred have impacted not only the undocumented but also the documented with legal status because of their race or ethnicity,” she said. “The work of the church is also a call for every member to step up sacrificially to protect the voiceless, the powerless and the persecuted. This resolution provides a vision for how all settings of the church can participate in essential witness regarding the plights of immigrants, advocate for policies and programs that serve them, and address the racism and harm perpetuated by current policies.”
The resolution, entitled “Calling The United Church of Christ to Oppose the 2025 Immigration Rollbacks and Support Immigrants, Refugees, and Pacific Island Communities, while Amplifying Antiracist Work On Behalf of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in Response to the Current Socio-Political Backlash” was submitted by the Council for Racial and Ethnic Minorities (COREM) and passed by a vote of 626 – 10, with 3 abstentions.
“I implore you, the body of the church, to join COREM in their effort to protect immigrant rights, ensure due process and prevent collaboration with ICE by tribal, state and local law enforcement,” said Nikki Manley-Smith. “And I ask that we join our time, talents and treasures to ensure a robust and sustainable investment in this ministry. The work is hard, and the road is sometimes lonely, but we must remember that alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.”
The Rev. David Popham, Hawai’i Conference Minister, praised the resolution for specifically naming people from Micronesian communities, especially with regard to the impact of the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) migration status.
“This resolution shines light upon an underreported and therefore greatly ignored population caught up in the national migrant purge,” Popham said.
Several speakers also lifted up the impact of current ICE activities on indigenous people, who ironically are targeted due to their race despite their presence in this country before the formation of the United States.
The resolution was amended on the plenary floor to add “disability discrimination” to the list of systemic harms that disproportionately affect immigrant communities of color. That list also included racial profiling, family separation and wrongful detention.
“Because of the rhetoric, people with disabilities who have immigrated are sometimes told that they are not beneficial and so therefore should be deported,” said the Rev. Tyler Connoley, Central Pacific Conference Minister. “This is very much real.”
During the educational intensive related to the resolution, Taki Manolakos, an economist who hosts a radio show called Economics for the People on 90.1 FM in Kansas City, gave some statistics about immigrants which he said counter the public narrative around the issue.
He said that in 2023, there were 47,805,500 immigrant residents, who spend $1.7 trillion in this country out of a total Gross Domestic Product of $28 trillion. And, he said, they pay $651.9 billion in taxes. Turner mentioned these numbers in introducing the resolution.
But the Rev. John Werner of the South Central Conference said those numbers are beside the point.
“I support this is because it is right, it is noble, it is pure, it is loving. This is what we are called to do in this time and in this place. To love, love, love and stop any kind of hatred, any kind of hurt,” he said.
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