Immigration enforcement crackdown decried at PC(USA) march and vigil
Young Adult Advocacy Conference event provides opportunity to show solidarity and concern
LANSING, Michigan — Standing on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol, Isabella Shutt prayed passionately for God to be with immigrants and refugees who are under heightened scrutiny by U.S. authorities.
After asking God to be with the attendees and “all who wander,” Shutt prayed: “Lord, you know the names on my heart today, but there are so many unnamed. There are so many people who are part of Jesus' story that we don't know, and we remember them as we remember all who are in fear” due to enforcement actions. “May we be witnesses to your love.”
Shutt, a former summer fellow for the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, was one of about 30 people who took part in a silent march and brief vigil on the final day of the Jesus and Justice Young Adult Advocacy Conference in Lansing, Michigan.
The Sept. 28 social justice action served as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with immigrants and refugees amid increased immigration enforcement and to speak out against the violence targeting immigrant communities.
The federal crackdown has included sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles; deporting people to dangerous and sometimes unfamiliar countries; restricting due process; conducting massive workplace raids; enacting travel bans; and confounding people’s efforts to receive permanent legal status or maintain work permits, and to live without fear.
In brief remarks at the Capitol steps, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, advocacy director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), spoke about the importance of not remaining silent about hurtful policies and practices, such as targeting people because they have a particular skin color or language.
“Church, this is wrong and we stand opposed to it,” said Hawkins, adding, “We have been called to do what we do, as ministers, as elders, as deacons, as choir members, as those who work in the kitchen, as those who sweep the floor, as those who have a strand of Christian dignity, to say that this is not of God.”
Prior to the march and vigil, OPW’s the Rev. Christina Cosby led a time of prayer and reflection at the First Presbyterian Church of Lansing that included visiting stations of the cross and a send-off by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, who expressed her gratitude to those gathered, who included some church members as well as some conference participants. Witnessing and advocating in different places where justice needs to happen is part of “the sheer goodness that we can do together,” said Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) and interim executive director of the Interim Unified Agency.
Along with remarks, hymns, scripture, singing and prayers, participants were given the opportunity to place flowers on the steps.
The flowers served as symbols of compassion and love and as connectors to prayer vigils around the country being led by grandmothers, mothers and aunties seeking the return of their disappeared loved ones, said Amanda Craft, manager for Immigration Advocacy in the Interim Unified Agency.
“We stand here today and remember siblings,” she said. “The siblings who have been kidnapped, the siblings who have been disappeared, the siblings who have been taken violently, the siblings who have been stripped from their families, the siblings who have been deprived of their legal, civil and human rights, the siblings who have been sent to countries they have no ties to, the siblings who live in constant fear.”
In an interview with the Presbyterian News Service after the vigil, Shutt explained why advocating for immigrants and refugees is important to her.
“The question of immigration is the question of what do we want our community to look like moving forward and who are the people that we want to be surrounded by?” Shutt said. “For a lot of us, including myself, immigrants have been formative and have loved me into being, as Mr. Rogers says, and so making sure that's a possibility for future generations is really important to me.”
Sam Putt, a sophomore at Michigan State University, spoke briefly about his motivation during the vigil.
“As someone who is an international relations major, I think that it's so, so important that we interact with people different than ourselves, to be educated about their culture and their language and even their religion,” he said. “I am a big supporter of interfaith groups. I think that means a lot, and I really hope that we can do more as a country and also as a community” and in all denominations to “make people feel welcome.”
Read more about happenings at the Young Adult Advocacy Conference, including a sermon by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, here.
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