DETROIT – Faith leaders gathered Wednesday at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Detroit, calling for more accountability for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and urging Congress to reduce the agency’s funding.
The altar was filled with clergy from multiple faiths, many wearing red stoles, as speakers criticized ICE enforcement practices that they said weren’t beneficial to anyone.
“No more federal immigration agents roaming our neighborhoods, one speaker said. “No more money for ICE.
That message comes as these faith leaders say ICE agents are treating God’s people with brutality, and as lawmakers face a Feb. 13 deadline to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security.
The event comes as lawmakers face a Feb. 13 deadline to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
“The funding for ICE should be revoked,” said Pastor Ben Adams of All Together Campus Ministry. “I think that money could support the community in so many different ways if it was redistributed to healthcare, childcare.”
Pastor Adams said he had extra motivation to attend the news conference on Wednesday because a student in his ministry recently had a parent detained and deported by ICE.
“To realize families are being split apart, this isn’t supporting family life in this country,” Adams said. “This is breaking families apart.”
While the clergy called for defunding ICE and increasing accountability, they emphasized that community members must take action to make this happen.
That includes urging local governments to stop cooperating with ICE, forming ICE Watch groups, contacting senators to demand no funding for ICE, and attending or organizing demonstrations against the agency.
However, not everyone thinks ICE should be defunded. Local 4 reached out to U.S Reps. Lisa McClain and John James’ offices for comment, and they released the following statements:
“Democrats are offering an ultimatum. It is either let murderers, child molesters, and rapists roam freely or they’ll shut down FEMA and TSA. They’re pushing to defund and abolish ICE, and doing so would let these violent, illegal criminals roam our streets. It’s the Democrats’ policies that put these people here in the first place, and I’m not going to hamstring ICE’s ability to protect our communities from dangerous criminals.”
Rep. Lisa McClain
“Every family deserves to feel safe, and every officer deserves the support to do their job and make it home safely. No one is above the law. We will protect peaceful protest while ensuring law enforcement has the resources to remove violent criminal illegal aliens from our streets.”
Rep. John James
The faith leaders will have a virtual town hall on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Click here to find more information about the town hall.