COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue, DD
February 17, 2025
The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe and a leading U.S. rabbi believe the U.S. government is overstepping its authority using ICE to find illegal immigrants and deport them.
“The Christian and Jewish faiths demand we welcome the stranger. DHS is not allowing us to do that, so we sued.”
They have filed a lawsuit against the Dept. of Homeland Security arguing that the government is subjecting places of worship to Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions without a judicial warrant which presents an intolerable burden on the free exercise of religion in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The argument they present goes like this. We are all made in the image of God, we deserve respect and because this is so, state and federal authorities should not be permitted to enter “sacred spaces”, and arrest persons illegally here.
Being made in the image of God is not a sound argument. Mao, Adolph and Joe were also made in the image of God, and if they were hiding out in a church would anyone deny ICE the right to enter and arrest them?
Closer to home, if the illegals were criminals with records should not ICE be permitted to enter a church and take them out? How sacred is a space when it is occupied by criminals with records. Are they a special class needing protection?
The statement about the image of God being found in everyone is disingenuous and flatly denied by Rowe and the church’s stand on abortion. As a matter of law, the Episcopal Church has unambiguously supported a woman’s right to choose an abortion since before anyone had ever heard the term “Roe v. Wade.” The Episcopal Church allows for abortion right up to the time of birth. The image of God is found even in utero I am told.
Furthermore, TEC’s attitude towards people of orthodox persuasion hardly reflects the image of God the church so loudly proclaims. TEC made homosexual marriage the litmus test for staying in the church, forcing tens of thousands out. The bishops made their lives so miserable and unwelcoming that they fled and formed a new Anglican denomination.
It is an apples and oranges situation to say that America allowed Jews into the country, a people persecuted, killed, and hounded out of countries where they lived and then forced to settle here; a peaceful intelligent people who only wanted jobs, an opportunity to worship their God, and who desired better lives for their children.
Jews vs illegals, often violent immigrants from countries like Venezuela and Mexico is hardly moral equivalence. It’s not the same thing.
Trump has made it clear that it is criminals and illegals he wants gone, not those legally here.
There are systems in place to apply for legal immigration. To go from undocumented to documented is a process, but it is possible.
Allow me to make this personal. I was living in western Canada. The newspaper I was writing for had gone on strike, and my wife and our son needed to find work. I was offered a job in New York City. I took it.
For me to get a green card I had to get police clearance from New Zealand, the country of my birth; the UK where I had lived and studied for a number of years and from Canada where I was now resident. They were concerned that I had no criminal record. It seemed fair though it was a lot of paperwork and waiting. In time I became a U.S. citizen.
Welcoming the stranger and sojourner is indeed the obligation of a nation, and America has welcomed millions of immigrants, including myself who have come here legally, to prove the point. The president and vice president have both married immigrants. There is no reason for that to change.
FOOTNOTE. Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Budde's Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM) received $53 million in 2023 for its migrant resettlement program, much of it from USAID. The Trump administration has temporarily paused these programs for evaluation. According to records, EMM received the U.S. taxpayer funds from various government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals in 2023.