Immigration

The Story of the Church in Contested Spaces

Abstract

Javier Alanis explores the missional and ethical duty of the church in the contested spaces of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands where immigrants are held in cages and detention centers while awaiting deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement mandate. Immigration is the story of the people of God. The church has a missional and moral duty to serve immigrants and to resist the injustice and injury to the human dignity of the most vulnerable. As churches and synods of the ELCA, we offer a voice of resistance and moral clarity when government policies betray the foundational constitutional principles of our common life.