October 2, 2025
Statement from Bishop Sue & Board of Church & Society (BCS)
A Call to Oppose the Mass Deportation of Our Migrant Neighbors
Welcoming the sojourners and treating them as we treat citizens is a central part of Christian teaching and the Great Commandment to love God and love our neighbor. Yet today, our immigrant friends and neighbors are facing cruel and unwarranted persecution.
Tens of thousands of newcomers, regardless of their immigration status, have been swept up in actions by masked government agents and sent to detention centers without due process or court hearings. They have “disappeared” to other states and other countries. Some were flown to a notorious prison for hire in El Salvador, others to a Florida internment camp mockingly named Alligator Alcatraz.
Families have been separated. Children go to school fearful that when they return home their parents will be gone and unreachable. Even they are not safe. Several hundred migrant children are being held in detention centers, where they are at risk of long-lasting mental and physical health consequences. Children as young as four have been taken.
We were told that the detained migrants would be violent criminals, yet the majority have no criminal records and have lived in the United States for more than ten or twenty years. Dreamers brought here as children have lived in the U.S. more than 30 years. At the same time, legal immigration channels have been suspended, curtailed, or eliminated.
These are our neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates, and fellow congregation members. Their spouses and children are often U.S. citizens. And while newcomers require assistance when they first arrive, they have a net positive impact on the economy. Many are farm, construction and health workers, but they are also engineers, IT professionals, doctors, teachers, and business owners, Even among undocumented immigrants, the vast majority are employed and pay taxes ($100 billion last year).
The government’s action has never been about deporting just violent criminals and gang members. This is about the mass deportation of all migrants, both the undocumented and those here legally. Some are calling this the ethnic cleansing of America. It is immoral, cruel, costly, and unChristian.
The Bible is clear about what we should do as Christians and as a church. Scripture calls us to show compassion and justice for the aliens among us (Exodus 22:21; Deuteronomy 10:18-19; Psalm 94:6; Jeremiah 7:6; Ezekiel 22:29; Zechariah 7:10). Leviticus commands God’s people to love the sojourners in our midst, treating them as if they were a fellow citizen (Leviticus 19:33-34). Hebrews tells us that in welcoming strangers into our homes, we may be “entertaining angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).
Jesus was himself a sojourner. Jesus began his earthly life fleeing to Africa as a refugee in Egypt (Matthew 2:13-23). In Matthew, he says that to welcome the sojourner is to welcome him (Matthew 26:35-40). God’s Reign is made up of persons from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language (Revelation 7:9). The Great Commandment compels us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), and the Church calls us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
The United Methodist Social Principles call us to put faith into action with regards to migrants, immigrants, and refugees:
• We affirm the dignity, worth, and rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees;
• We recognize that displaced people are particularly vulnerable as their in-between status often provides them with few protections and benefits, leaving them open to exploitation, violence, and abuse.
• We urge United Methodists to welcome migrants, refugees, and immigrants into our congregations and commit themselves to providing concrete support, including help with navigating restrictive and often lengthy immigration policies, and assistance with securing food, housing, education, employment and other kinds of support.
• We oppose all laws and policies that attempt to criminalize, dehumanize or punish displaced individuals and families based on their status as migrants, immigrants or refugees.
• We decry attempts to detain displaced people and hold them in inhumane and unsanitary conditions.
• We challenge policies that call for the separation of families, especially parents and minor children.
• We oppose the existence of for-profit detention centers for such purposes (of detaining migrants, immigrants and refugees, including minor children).
In these troubled times, I and the Virginia Conference’s Board of Church and Society call on all United Methodists, all Virginians, and people everywhere to urge the U.S. Government to:
• Immediately cease all arrests, detainment, and deportations (based solely upon their immigration status) of undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, and immigrants here legally until comprehensive immigration reform is passed.
• Immediately cease any policies or actions that separate the families of migrants.
• Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform that fairly and compassionately upholds the civil and human rights of all migrants in the United States, while establishing an effective and timely system for managing immigration.
• Restore and protect the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and its resettlement services, recognizing our nation’s historic leadership in welcoming and supporting refugees.
We encourage congregations in the Virginia Conference, guided by Scripture, to:
• Actively welcome and assist immigrants and refugees in their communities, and consider sponsoring newcomer families.
• Provide whenever possible pastoral care and crisis intervention to refugees and newly arrived migrants, identifying and responding compassionately to their spiritual, material, and legal needs.
• Engage in educational activities on issues of immigration and refugee concerns.
• Work with civic, service and legal organizations to support migrant communities affected by harsh immigration laws and over-reaching national security measures.
• Contact elected officials advocate for fair and compassionate treatment of newcomers, and to urge the Commonwealth of Virginia to approve no funds for creating or supporting migrant detention centers in Virginia.
The Board of Church & Society and our recently formed Immigration Response Team are resources to assist congregations in their response efforts and provide referrals to support organizations and services across Virginia. Pray for the disappeared and for our neighbors at risk. Pray for our leaders to find the heart and courage to love all of our neighbors. And pray for people of faith everywhere to take action to end the fear and injustice that now threatens so many.
Signed,
Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, Resident Bishop
Rev. Ellen Comstock, Clergy Co-Chair, Board of Church & Society
Jaydee Hanson, Lay Co-Chair, Board of Church & Society
Amanda Lynn Holmes, Vice Chair, Board of Church and Society
Suzanne Shrader, Secretary of the Board of Church & Society
Julianne Paunescu, Peace and Non-Violence Committee Chair
Kenn Speicher, Peace with Justice Coordinator