ELCA Marches on ICE

9/11/2019

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met last month for their 2019 Churchwide Assembly. One event scheduled was a march to an ICE building in support of migrants, immigrants and illegal immigrants. Below are social media entries of the event from the ELCA, ELCA participants and observers:

Around 750 Lutherans, including voting members of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, gathered for a prayer vigil in support of migrant children & families. They walked from the Wisconsin Center to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. #ELCAcwa

More photos: https://t.co/dEEEKEMEUF pic.twitter.com/SJUlmWYuSp
— ELCA Lutherans (@ELCA) August 7, 2019

Synod voting members joined 600 others to rally & march to ICE in Milwaukee. #AMMPARO #elcacwa #lutheransnw pic.twitter.com/wLH9d0zwgq
— NWWA Synod ELCA (@LutheransNW) August 7, 2019

As a commitment to justice and prayer for migrants detained at the border, close to 1000 participants of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly marched to the local USCIS field office for a prayer vigil lead by ELCA AMMPARO, the Greater Milwaukee Synod, and other partners. #ELCA #ELCAcwa pic.twitter.com/t0HNqZyWWg
— LDR (@ELCALDR) August 7, 2019

Thankful that this march and public immigration vigil was a part of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this week in Milwaukee. No other official business was scheduled during the same time, so nearly 700 people... https://t.co/Lihs4ieKVB
— Elizabeth Bier (@revelizabeth001) August 7, 2019

#recap of the elca #AMMPARO prayer walk #familiesbelongtogether #imigrants #refugees #welcomedhere #allarewelcome https://t.co/iUUZExXqQx
— JenCollins (@prjencollins) August 7, 2019

Great to see @ELCA partners out in front of MKE @ICEgov at #ELCAcwa protesting the horrific deportation policies based in racism that are tearing families apart! #ElPasoFirme pic.twitter.com/iyQKcMGtSw
— CWS (@CWS_global) August 7, 2019

Thankful for my colleagues and fellow ELCAers for leading this. #ELCA https://t.co/FF9qiCfaKS
— Eric Clapp (@eric_clapp) August 7, 2019

This is truly something. Two ELCA members told me 600+ are out today (w Voces as well). Milwaukee has seen at least two other similar marches in the last month with a couple hundred. This is another level. March to the DHS office continues pic.twitter.com/8NtptfbXVc
— Marisa Peryer (@marisa_peryer) August 7, 2019

Folks, today the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is gathering at the Wisconsin Center to protest the Trump admin’s policies on immigration and asylum seekers. As always, follow along for pics, vids and updates pic.twitter.com/DCfjReBKbl
— Marisa Peryer (@marisa_peryer) August 7, 2019

All the angry feels #ELCA was https://t.co/PzA2QXfBRJ
— Courtney Smith (@cdsmith421) August 7, 2019

Love our church! #ELCA #ELCAcwa https://t.co/OPe4IJ1d5Y
— Aaron Sturgis (@sturgie19) August 7, 2019

Prayer vigil with the ELCA outside of the ICE offices in Milwaukee. pic.twitter.com/bmpbRRnjpQ
— Bro David A Hirt (@brodavidcap) August 7, 2019

Now chants of, “Justice for immigrants — here we stand!” #ELCAcwa
— Emily McFarlan Miller (@emmillerwrites) August 7, 2019

Signs seen at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly's prayer vigil outside the ICE building in Milwaukee. #ELCAcwa pic.twitter.com/TGCQXjzVcR
— Emily McFarlan Miller (@emmillerwrites) August 7, 2019

There also was a reading of the 9.5 Theses by the Greater Milwaukee Synod Refugee and Immigration Committee.

Inspired by Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, they then taped them to the ICE building door (and staked them into the lawn). #ELCAcwa pic.twitter.com/Db64u4Dux6
— Emily McFarlan Miller (@emmillerwrites) August 7, 2019

Here's my first dispatch from Milwaukee about the ELCA declaring itself a "sanctuary church body" and marching to the ICE building in Milwaukee during its churchwide assembly at the Wisconsin Center, about a mile away. https://t.co/XmOftN7Qv0 #ELCAcwa pic.twitter.com/SR0qKJMdvP
— Emily McFarlan Miller (@emmillerwrites) August 8, 2019

More pics I took at https://t.co/EC3Yqru0Ct pic.twitter.com/u243HOXgZ0
— AaronLayne (@AaronLayne) August 8, 2019

ELCA Immigration vigil#closethecamps #ELCACW19 #justlove #faithinaction @WomenoftheELCA pic.twitter.com/aGdup7iUrw
— JenDeLeon@WELCA (@JenDeLeonWELCA1) August 8, 2019

7 Comments

John

9/12/2019 01:18:06 pm

So glad the SCOTUS finally showed some common sense in spite of the ELCA weeping and gnashing of teeth. If you didn't seek asylum at the1st border, don't pretend you need asylum in the USA, when what you're really looking for is $$$.

Dave from Minnesota

9/12/2019 03:25:00 pm

I see a lot of white people marching in safe downtown Milwaukee and calling for open borders. I was in Milwaukee's northside earlier this year. The conditions there are worse than the worst neighborhoods of Minneapolis or St Paul. Why didn't the ELCAers go up there and try to do some good? Pick up the needles on the front porches, or try to help some of the kids growing up in horrible situations. Marching on a federal office in downtown Milwaukee and making political statements is easy to do. It costs them nothing ....I don't mean dollars costs, but effort, risk and working on solutions to very difficult problem neighborhoods and cities.

As I commented on an earlier post on this site... after reading the pastor's column in the newsletter of my parent's ECLA church, I sometimes wonder if he is trying to destroy this congregation from within. This is a traditional church in a small town, with falling attendance. In the past he's alluded to the upcoming time bomb when several older big donors (such as my parents) pass away.

And to call ELCA members racists, with "white privilege" and using whatever other words that come out of a liberal arts college .. "patriarchy" was one. This is a town that is more conservative now than it was when I lived there. I guess I should be happy that the mask has come off.

9/12/2019 03:28:58 pm

From what I have been reading from various ELCA sources (on the Milwaukee event), it seems that the leaders of the ELCA do not have a good grasp of the Bible. .

Just a couple of examples... Jesus was not "a refugee". Even if he was, that doesn't mean the US should have open borders.

Which gets to another point. The ELCA is saying the Bible calls for open borders. And if the US doesn't have an open borders policy, then they say the Bible says we should ignore the law, bring in and hide illegals.

Didaskalos

9/12/2019 05:25:01 pm

The ELCA's obsequious toadying to the world, Planned Parenthood, and the Democratic Party assures it of a continuous supply of indulgent pats on the head from its new masters, but here's what the ELCA's preening virtue signaling ignores:

"Between September 2017 and October 2018, ICE agents arrested a little more than 6,600 convicted murderers and convicted sex offenders who were in the United States illegally.

"Of that total, 4,975 of the illegal aliens arrested were convicted sex offenders. The other 1,641 illegal aliens had been convicted of homicide. Another 1,913 illegal aliens that were arrested by ICE had pending sex offense charges against them, while 387 illegal aliens had pending murder charges against them.

"Of the almost 160,000 illegal aliens arrested in FY 2018, 66 percent were convicted criminals or those with pending criminal charges which translates to about 140,000 of those arrested.

"The more than 105,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens arrested by ICE this year also include:

54,630 illegal aliens convicted of drunk driving
29,987 illegal aliens convicted of assault
9,834 illegal aliens convicted of burglary
4,423 illegal aliens convicted of robbery
3,740 illegal aliens convicted of sexual assault
1,294 illegal aliens convicted of kidnapping

Zorro Jr.

9/15/2019 03:56:11 pm

Didaskalos,

A stellar job as always, you never fail to lay the hammer down when need be. If the ELCA and their liberal bunch would actually research the issue they are "putting the Protest back in Protestantism" about, they would not be stirring up all this ruckus. There are 10.5 million illegal aliens in America as of 2017, according to Pew Research. This number has obviously grown substantially, but let's just use it in comparison to your numbers. If 105,000 illegals have been apprehended by ICE this year, that is only 1 percent of the total population of 10.5 million illegals. According to another research center, roughly 1 in three Americans have been arrested at some point in their life. Now that is a bit of an apple and orange comparison, but it brings into light that immigrants are not the only ones targeted by law enforcement. In fact, they are less targeted if anything. You may have heard the ICE even ANNOUNCES a lot of their raids, I am guessing to prevent a liberal mass panic. These immigrants are given a good chance, if not a better chance, to get into and stay in America than they should be.

On the topic of racism, the ELCA, like most of these liberals, are contradicting themselves yet again. They are saying that they believe the immigrants are being picked off by ICE because of their skin color. Well then, why are only 1 percent of them arrested? It's because they are criminals breaking the law, not because they are from Mexico or wherever they come from. There have been many people of all different races who have gone through the proper steps to get their papers and legally come into America. Romans 13:1-2 says:

"Obey the government, for God is the One who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power. So those who refuse to obey the law of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow."

The government is just asking that the immigrants go through the proper steps to become citizens, not discriminating because of race and such. Our president and our citizens want the peace of mind that we are not letting in a bunch of evil criminals to corrupt our towns, cities, and churches. We are the land of the free because we paid the price for it. All our country is asking for is respect by obeying our law if you want to come into our country. Plain and simple ELCA, plain and simple.

P.S. By the way, do you happen to remember where you got your sources, I would be interested in checking them out.

Respectfully,

Zorro Jr.

9/15/2019 07:18:48 pm

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Fiscal Year 2018 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report

". . . By far, the largest percentage of aliens arrested by ICE are convicted criminals2 (66 percent), followed by immigration violators with pending criminal charges3 at the time of their arrest (21 percent). In FY2018, ERO arrested 138,117 aliens with criminal histories (convicted criminal and pending criminal charges) for an increase of 10,125 aliens over FY2017.."

https://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offices/ero/pdf/eroFY2018Report.pdf

MN Member

9/13/2019 02:09:14 pm

Talk is cheap convention delegates & church leaders! Now just how many of the convention delegates are willing to keep a houseful of illegals in their own house once they returned home?? We all know that answer!!

Time to have an open door policy in the synod buildings & help the folks they pretend to care so much more about than running away from problems right in their own back yard. Of course it is easier to point fingers & carry signs than solving issues on their own home turf where they will be affected.

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ELCA Marches on ICE

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