How our faith partners are welcoming and serving immigrants

B Stands for Bibles

Good afternoon,

Earlier this year, the National Immigration Forum released a set of six new principles highlighting our deeply rooted values as a nation as we work toward secure, orderly, and humane immigration reforms during this contentious election year.

Our leaders and partners in the faith, law enforcement, national security, and business sectors have long been working to exemplify these values through their own work in their communities. One example of this is Eric Costanzo, lead pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church in Oklahoma. He and his church have been welcoming immigrants and refugees to their church and community for several years, serving them in many ways, such as providing English as a Second Language classes.

Listen to Eric Costanzo talk about how his church welcomes their immigrant neighbors. (Source: National Immigration Forum)

As you can see in the video, Pastor Eric and his church have been living into the second principle we outline: Continue our moral leadership in the world as a welcoming and compassionate nation that offers refuge to the persecuted. But South Tulsa Baptist Church is not the only community that believes in this. Polling released in February shows that there is increased support among evangelicals for immigration reform that is compassionate and provides opportunities to legal pathways for immigrants.

This recent polling also shows that more and more evangelicals are looking to the Bible as they decide how to respond to immigration issues, demonstrating nuanced views and a desire for more humane and orderly systems that respect the dignity of immigrants. Bri Stensrud, director of Women of Welcome, talks about this while addressing the third principle the Forum highlights, which calls us to honor the human dignity of all people through our words and actions.

Let’s all seek to welcome our immigrant neighbors well in our communities, especially as rhetoric becomes increasingly hostile and divisive during this election season. Division and hostility are not the ideals of our nation. As Eric Costanzo says, "As our faith compels us, we believe we’re called to love our neighbor. But we also think that love and welcome are not just faith ideals, really they’re American ideals. […] We hope that more around us will catch this vision, that we would be people of welcome, we would be people of love and we would do well by serving our neighbors."

Join us in supporting these important guiding principles and advocate with us as we continue to work towards compassionate immigration reform that demonstrates our values of welcome and love.

Stay committed and hopeful,

Allison

Allison Bassett
Field and Constituencies Manager
National Immigration Forum

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