PC(USA) Stated Clerk and Director of Advocacy and Witness sign on to letter condemning recent killings by ICE

In the span of one week in July, two separate traffic stops conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ended with ICE agents shooting and killing individuals. The men killed — Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián in Maine — were reportedly not the targets of the ICE enforcement operations. There have been 23 ICE-involved shootings since January 2025.

In response to these tragedies, the Interfaith Immigration Coalition has called for faith leaders and faith organizations to sign on to a letter they’ve sent to members of Congress.

Among those who have added their names to the letter, which is open for signatures through Aug. 7, are the Rev. Jihyun Oh and the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins. Oh is Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, while Hawkins is the Director of Advocacy for Presbyterian Life & Witness, whose responsibilities include the Office of Public Witness as well as immigration issues. 

In a statement, Hawkins said, "It is distressing the amount of people who have died in immigration custody and in immigration enforcement operations. Just in July alone we saw the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, and Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán by ICE agents.

"This month, 75 years ago, the world came together after the failure to protect victims of the Holocaust and signed the 1951 Refugee Convention guaranteeing the right of anyone to petition for protection anywhere in the world.

"We should learn from these failures. No person who has fled their homes for any reason should be killed. Every life is sacred in God’s eyes, and a person’s dignity and safety should be paramount. The administration needs to end the reckless operations and the deplorable conditions within detention centers. Christ calls us to protect the vulnerable directing us to engage this work."

The letter calls upon congressional leaders to demand accountability for these acts of violence, oppose additional funding for ICE and Border Control, and reallocate existing funds toward public assistance efforts. 

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“Together we mourn these great losses and express remorse for a society that has grown far too accustomed to fatal immigration enforcement encounters,” the letter says. “Throughout our sacred texts, there are clear truths we are called to hold that include loving and caring for our neighbors and refraining from harming others.” 

The letter goes on to attribute the “brutal tactics of federal immigration enforcement” to “a lack of oversight, training standards, and guardrails,” which have led to serious injuries and deaths of citizens and non-citizens. It also calls out the “devastating state” of mass deportation tactics and detention conditions and references the pervasive culture of fear that has resulted from these realities and the recission of sensitive locations policies.

“As faith leaders and organizations, we have the moral responsibility to speak out against such atrocities and to demand full accountability,” the letter says, specifying its demands for an independent investigation, release of all video footage, and opposition to additional funding for ICE and Border Patrol. In addition, the letter notes that ICE and Border Patrol have received $210 billion in unchecked, supplemental funding over the past two years. 

“As people of faith, we believe public funding should go toward caring for our communities, rather than fueling agencies that are killing our neighbors and tearing families apart,” the letter concludes, asking that such funds be redirected accordingly. 

In addition to the letter to Congress, the IIC has also produced a toolkit for faith leaders and faith communities, which offers background information and message guidance, as well as additional ways to take action. 

The PC(USA) has a long history of care and advocacy for immigrants and the General Assembly also regularly takes up overtures regarding immigration at its biennial national assemblies. 

At the 227^th General Assembly, which took place in June and July online and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, commissioners voted on several overtures related to immigration, including one that addressed killings by ICE agents. Meanwhile, in May, the Stated Clerk released a statement lamenting deaths of those in immigrant detention.

“Scripture teaches us that every person is created in God’s image and therefore every life is sacred,” the Stated Clerk’s statement said. “The sanctity of life does not vanish behind concrete walls and locked doors. Yet the violence of immigration enforcement, including detention — the raids, the exercise of control, the number of those who come to harm, even death — depends on denying this truth.”

Oh’s statement went on to conclude, “We stand in solidarity with the families and loved ones of those who have died, and with all who stand with them. We choose to bear witness: to the truth, to the dead and to the God who will not forget them. We continue answering the call to be present where Jesus is present: with the poor, with the oppressed, with the suffering, with those who are in need of grace and mercy. As the prophet Isaiah says, ‘Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore, the Lord will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice’ (Isaiah 30:18).” 

The IIC encourages any individual who identifies as a person of faith or faith leader to sign on to their letter, which will continue taking signatures through the end of this week. Faith organizations are also encouraged to sign on via a separate form.