Editorial: “Our Dearly Deported”
Last week a pastor in the United States wrote on Facebook about a frantic call he had received from a family in his church. The father of the family—one of the church elders—had been picked up at work by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and his wife didn’t know what was happening to him.
“Pastor, do something!” she pleaded. But a pastor has little authority with men carrying guns and badges.
It’s funny how abstract political ideas, such as cracking down on illegal aliens, become real when they change the life of someone you know and love. Suddenly it’s not just words. Suddenly a family is helpless—can’t pay the rent, doesn’t have a car, and worst of all, doesn’t know what will happen to Dad.
A few years ago I was listening to a presentation about church growth in the North American Division. It confirmed that the church in North America isn’t growing except in one population: immigrants. Latino pastors and evangelists are continuing to baptize people into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I doubt if pastors check their legal status before they baptize them.
Which reminds me to tell you that it is now legal in the United States for immigration authorities to enter your church sanctuary while you’re having worship, handcuff people and take them away.
I’m pretty sure that’s why the North American Division recently released “An Appeal for Human Dignity and Decency.” Like most church statements, it is cautiously worded. Yet it does worry—appropriately—that the church will become an immigration battlefield:
“Dehumanization and marginalization by law or the implementation of the laws or policies are diametrically opposed to the Bible. Therefore, it is inhumane and robs people of their God-given dignity in Christ to have policies that make them afraid to go to church and school because of the threat of being deported.”
Some American Adventists are immersed in immigrant hatred right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if those people reacted harshly to the NAD statement. I thank Alex Bryant and his team for their courage.
This crisis has only begun. We will eventually be asked for more than words.
Loren Seibold
Executive Editor, Adventist Today magazine & website
8 February 2025
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