The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) have teamed up in calling for “compassion” in immigration policy amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown.
Bishop Brendan Cahill, who chairs the USCCB Committee on Migration, signed onto the five-page document along with NAE President Walter Kim, as part of a joint effort called the Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue on Immigration (ECDI).
“We write as Christian leaders who love our country and our immigrant neighbors,” they wrote in an Oct. 13 statement titled “A Call for Christian Compassion and Wisdom in the Immigration Debate.”
“As Catholic and evangelical Christians, we have doctrinal differences, but we are united in our conviction that God calls us to stand both with our fellow Americans who are experiencing economic and cultural anxieties and with our immigrant neighbors who are facing existential challenges,” they indicated.
According to a USCCB news release, ECDI timed the statement to correspond with an increase in reported detentions and deportations, as well as the ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of several countries, including Haitians and Syrians.
The document puts a “special focus” on children and families, citing Matt. 18:5, in which Christ says, “whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”
Cahill and Kim emphasized all people, regardless of where they are born or their immigration status, are made in the image of God, adding: “This dignity comes from God, not government, and no earthly power may erase it.”
“The stranger is not merely a burden to bear,” they wrote. “Again and again, God has blessed his people through the outsider. From Ruth the Moabite to the present day, immigrants can bring renewal to congregations and communities that welcome them. We lament approaches that pit citizens against noncitizens.”
Both leaders said that they recognize the government’s responsibility to secure and manage borders, but that governments must also uphold religious liberty, protect the persecuted, and facilitate pathways for legal immigration.
Cahill and Kim encouraged “a better path forward,” which they argued would be consistent with all of those obligations.
“Catholic and evangelical Christians make up a large portion of our American citizenry,” the letter added. “Majorities of evangelicals and Catholics support immigration reform that would provide meaningful opportunities for longtime residents to regularize their status.”
According to the document, one element is secure borders and targeted immigration enforcement that protects family unity and prioritizes action against people who are a threat to public safety.
Other elements include limiting detentions of non-violent people, access to chaplains, and more legal pathways to permanent status for workers, family members, and humanitarian populations.
Cahill and Kim asked Christians to pray for their leaders as commanded in 1 Tim. 2:1-2, which reads: “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.”
“Our promise of prayer extends to our law enforcement officers, our policymakers, our judges, and all in our communities who play an essential role in building up the common good,” they wrote.
“Every Christian deserves to know that he or she has been made a new creation in Christ and is a member of his Body — no matter what the particular circumstances of duty or residence,” the document points out.