Immigration raids

Today, the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe of the United Methodist Church issued this statement on current immigration raids:

In the past few days, the United States has seen a surge of raids targeting immigrant communities by Department of Homeland Security officials.  These raids are occurring in homes, places of work, and even near churches.  We are especially troubled by the raid outside of a United Methodist Church in Virginia on February 8th where men exiting a hypothermia shelter were confronted the minute they crossed the street off of church grounds.  Targeting those seeking sanctuary or services provided by houses of worship will not be tolerated.

The United Methodist Church believes that “migrants should be given due process and access to adequate legal representation.  Due to these raids and the ensuing detentions and deportations that follow them, families have been ripped apart and the migrant community has been forced to live in a constant state of fear.”

While raids occurred over the past decades under the Obama, Bush and Clinton Administrations, we are especially concerned about the lack of discretion that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have shown recently as they profile communities – especially Latinx people – and engage in mass arrests.

To the United States government:  we call upon you to immediately cease arrests, detainment, and deportations of undocumented immigrants, including children, solely based upon their immigration status until a fair and comprehensive immigration reform is passed.

To people of faith:  We affirm that all are created in the image of God and we are called to welcome immigrants into our congregations, provide care for those facing separation from their families, and advocate for policies that uphold the civil and human rights of all migrants.

To all who live in fear of detention, deportation, or separation from your family and community:  you are valuable, deserving of opportunity, your contributions to society are important, and we will stand with you to advocate for justice.

“To refuse to welcome migrants to this country – and to stand by in silence while families are separated, individual freedoms are ignored, and the migrant community in the United States is demonized by members of Congress and the media – is complicity to sin.”

This statement can be read online here.

Peace,
Susan Henry-Crowe

She quoted twice from the United Methodist Book of Resolutions,
¶ 3281 "Welcoming the Migrant to the United States."

What about me?  What will I do now?

Since I can't do everything at once, I have decided to focus on the plight of immigrants and the Native Americans fighting the pipeline being forced through their treaty lands.  Often, these two issues intersect with the many forms of discrimination I have been fighting for years without much success:  racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and others.

in·ter·sec·tion·al·i·ty = the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Here's another definition of the word:

Intersectionality (or intersectional theory) is a term first coined in 1989 by American civil rights advocate and leading scholar of critical race theory, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw.  It is the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.  Intersectionality is the idea that multiple identities intersect to create a whole that is different from the component identities.  These identities that can intersect include gender, race, social class, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, age, mental disability, physical disability, mental illness, and physical illness as well as other forms of identity.