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Unitarian
Universalist Association Supports the
New
Sanctuary Movement __________
May 8, 2007
Statement from UUA President Rev. William G. Sinkford
Grounded in the Unitarian Universalist affirmation of the inherent
worth and dignity of every person, the Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations endorses the New Sanctuary Movement,
a movement of prophetic hospitality and public witness to bring
about real change in the immigration policy of the United States.
The UUA joins other people of faith and conscience in calling
for the passage of just and comprehensive immigration reform and
an immediate stop to federal raids that separate parents from
their children and create a climate of fear and repression.
In
the original Sanctuary movement in the 1980s, Unitarian Universalists
joined Catholic, Protestant and Jewish congregations in providing
sanctuary to Central American refugees. The Sanctuary movement
protected tens of thousands of individuals and families who were
largely being denied asylum by the government. This movement,
initiated by people of faith, ultimately changed policy on the
national level.
It
is time for a new sanctuary movement that stands with immigrants
who are resisting deportation through legal channels. Driven by
the prospect of economic opportunity and by American businesses
voracious need for cheap labor, undocumented immigration is on
the rise. America has created an under-class of residents who
are refused the dignity and civil protections that come with citizenship.
Our current system keeps families apart, both through a huge backlog
in family-based immigration, and through the unjust detention
and deportation of immigrant mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.
We are also called to acknowledge that racism has blinded many
Americans to what takes place in our own kitchens, workshops,
and fields. For our nation to be whole, we must acknowledge that
our lives of privilege are supported in thousands of ways by people
whose labor is invisible and whose suffering is hidden. Led by
people of faith from many backgrounds who stand in solidarity
with immigrant families, the New Sanctuary Movement seeks to take
a united, public, moral stand for immigrant rights; to protect
immigrants against hate, workplace discrimination and unjust deportation;
and to witness to the suffering of immigrant workers and families.
Unitarian Universalists join in this call for solidarity because
we know that as people of faith, our concern for family values
needs to embrace these families as well. Unitarian Universalists
stand on the side of love.
For
more information contact info@uua.org.
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