At the annual luncheon for the Baptist Joint Committee, a group of six women in BJC leadership were asked this question: How do you want to expand our understanding of religious freedom with a broader justice lens?

Fellowship Southwest Director of Programs and Outreach, and the vice-chair of the BJC board of directors, Anyra Cano, answered with these remarks:

I am the daughter of immigrants, the wife of an immigrant, I live among immigrants, do ministry alongside immigrants and work on behalf of immigrants. 

As I pastor, I want to go to scripture to help answer this question. I want to read a portion of scripture that might be familiar to most of us, found in Mathew 25:

I was hungry, but you were obligated to ask if I was "illegal."  
I was thirsty, but you were afraid of being audited.
I was a stranger, but you feared being criminalized as smugglers. 
I needed clothes, but you couldn't lose more funders.
I was sick, but you had to report my status. 
I was in prison, but you weren't allowed to visit me.

I hope you said, wait, that is not what my Jesus said.  

Unfortunately, many anti-immigrant bills and proposed laws are coming closer and closer to criminalizing, auditing, and obligating faith communities and faith-based organizations to consider how they will respond when the "tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free" come knocking at our doors. 

Churches should not have to think about who they can serve or what services they can provide based on the immigration status of their communities. Churches composed of immigrants face fear when proposed laws, such as the ones in Florida, threaten to criminalize them when transporting people to church events or social services. Ministries should not be burdened to act as immigration officers. 

On the flip side, immigrants should be free to seek help and community from any faith group available to them without the fear of being policed by our churches and government.  

Churches are to be beacons of freedom, safety, and refuge. We are called to be Christ's servants, not serve to governments who may call on us to limit, cease, and turn away those we are commanded to love and welcome.