Alabama children were among participants in a protest of anti-immigrant HB 56 outside the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, which houses immigration detainees along with county inmates. Photo: CWS
God “enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Common English Bible
Alabama’s House Bill 56 is the harshest anti-immigrant legislation yet to pass in the United States. Alabama is now the epicenter of the immigration debate.
That’s why, just a few weeks after beginning my work with Church World Service as the Grassroots Coordinator for Immigrants’ Rights, I knew it was important to spend some time in Alabama. I spent much of December and January in Alabama meeting with pastors, speaking in churches and coordinating an organizing training.
When I heard the stories of persecution and devastation on immigrant communities it gave me flashbacks to the struggle we faced in Arizona against SB 1070. The Arizona law made it a requirement for local police to investigate the citizenship status of anyone whom they considered “reasonably suspicious,” creating an atmosphere of xenophobia, fear and racial profiling that caused many to flee the state.
At the time I was Assistant Pastor at the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ (UCC) in Sahuarita, Ariz., a church that has long been a voice for migrants’ rights on the U.S. – Mexico border. As a church we felt called to respond to SB 1070’s harsh imposition on already vulnerable communities.
Alabama’s HB 56 is a copycat law to SB 1070, but worse because it mandates that public schools check students’ citizenship status, and it criminalizes giving rides, “harboring” or engaging in any contract with undocumented people.
“Everything has become more difficult. Because of this law we have problems with work, housing, transportation, education and health care,” said Trini (last name withheld), from Tuscaloosa, Ala., a member of Somos (We Are) Tuscaloosa. “This anti-immigrant law is affecting so many families, including mine.”
The impact on the faith community has been particularly poignant in a “Bible Belt” state that has a church on every corner. Laura Gonzalez, a local organizer in Athens, Ala., described how her Pentecostal church, which was predominately Latino, had completely disbanded after the passing of HB 56. After celebrating a Spanish-language mass, a Catholic priest told me that attendance is down by about 25 percent. Many church-based English as Second Language courses have been abandoned, while congregations from mainline to conservative encountered a serious challenge to their religious freedom from HB 56’s attempt to criminalize “harboring and transporting” – which, thankfully, has now been temporarily blocked by the courts.
There has been a swelling movement in resistance to this inhumane and unjust law. The United Methodist, Episcopal and Catholic bishops in Alabama have spoken out against HB 56 and have found growing support. The United Methodists have held various educational forums, and have developed a sign on letter that has more than 200 clergy signatures to date.
Church World Service was invited by the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice to support an effort to develop a statewide network of faith communities to support the Repeal of HB 56. CWS has been meeting and calling on religious leaders across the state to respond to the crisis of HB 56 by getting their congregations involved with the state advocacy work against the bill. Together CWS, Greater Birmingham Ministries and Faith in Public Life are developing trainings and workshops, to be held in houses of worship, regarding how to understand immigration from a faith perspective.
The faithful resistance combined with growing mobilizations of base communities has forced politicians who voted for HB 56 to back down from their hardline stance and consider amendments to HB 56 in response to the so called “unintended consequences.” As we continue to organize with Alabama faith communities, we hope we gain enough support to repeal HB 56 and set an example for other states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia and Missouri that are considering similar anti-immigrant legislation.
Out of the values to protect the common good and uplift human dignity, we are called to continue this work and make our states into “safe spaces” that welcome the immigrant as our faith traditions mandate.
Get involved! Help support immigration policies that are fair to all and keep families together. Learn more atwww.supportimmigrationreform.org.