Stated Clerk and Executive Director joins other national faith leaders in public support of sanctuary movement
The Rev. Jihyun Oh says PC(USA) recommits to compassion, accompaniment, safety and full dignity for migrant and immigrant siblings
The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, joined with other national faith leaders to speak out for the PC(USA) through the General Assembly in support of the sanctuary movement in a media release published by Sojourners on February 6.
“Looking to their sacred texts and faith traditions, religious leaders are declaring a moral vision to welcome immigrants and love of neighbors, rather than the extreme discriminatory policies rolled out by the Trump administration,” the media release states.
In the weeks since Inauguration Day, the Trump administration has released numerous executive orders aimed at “cracking down” on unauthorized immigration through raids and mass deportation efforts. A statement from the Department of Homeland Security published within hours of Trump taking office rescinded crucial “Sensitive Locations” policies that instructed immigration officials to refrain from apprehending individuals at or near churches, schools, and healthcare and social service facilities.
The sanctuary movement is a national ongoing effort by churches, synagogues and other religious communities to accompany and offer protection to immigrants and migrants facing persecution, deportation, and other threats.
“In our context today of a world exhibiting increasing hostility to migrants and refugees, how do we practice scriptural hospitality and seek justice with and for some of the most vulnerable of society?” Oh asks in the statement published by Sojourners. She goes on to say, “Sanctuary offers us a roadmap; it offers a space of safety as we search for ways to expand our imagination in seeking justice with our neighbors.”
Other faith leaders quoted in the media release include the Academic Dean of Fuller Theological Seminary as well as the head of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. and Canada, two top leaders of the United Methodist Church, two rabbis who head national Jewish advocacy organizations, the Episcopal Bishop of New York, and Sojourners’ own senior director of campaigns and mobilizing.
“Looking to their sacred texts and faith traditions, religious leaders are declaring a moral vision to welcome immigrants and love of neighbors, rather than the extreme discriminatory policies rolled out by the Trump administration,” Sojourners’ media release states.
The PC(USA) has a longstanding commitment to justice and advocacy around immigration issues, including playing a pivotal role in establishing the sanctuary movement of the 1980s.
A statement from the 199th General Assembly of the PC(USA), which gathered in 1987, declared, “[T]he church is committed to a ministry of compassion and justice for those who have fled their homelands … the General Assemblies of 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986 have supported the validity of sanctuary ministry and given it strong endorsement.”
In 1999, the 211th General Assembly approved a resolution titled, “Transformation of Churches and Society Through Encounter with New Neighbors” reaffirmed, among other things, that Christians and churches are called to be “in ministry with refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants,” to participate in “public witness alongside them,” and to seek justice for them to the point of “challeng[ing] and shap[ing] governmental policy” and “liv[ing] in tension with national values and policies” that contradict these faith commitments.
In 2022, the 225th General Assembly passed the resolution “On Declaring the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to Be a Sanctuary and Accompaniment Church” which asked that the church:
“Recognize and celebrate the history of many churches of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who declared themselves “Sanctuary Churches” in the 1980s, risking prosecution and imprisonment for the sake of those who were fleeing for their lives from the wars in Central America.
“Recognize that sanctuary is one way that Presbyterians continue to live out the Gospel call to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger and, thereby, some again risk prosecution and imprisonment by providing sanctuary to those in need.”
The latest statement from Oh further underscores these convictions for the current moment and declares a “recommitment.”
“The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recommits to the work of compassion, of accompanying migrant and immigrant siblings, as we together seek ways toward full dignity and safety for all persons.”
More information and resources regarding the sanctuary movement in the PC(USA) can be found here.
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