Diocesan Clergy and Lay Leaders Speak Out Against Unlawful Immigration Enforcement

Several clergy and lay leaders of our diocese joined other local justice leaders on September 3, in Berkeley County to address the sherriff’s department’s recent arrests and detentions. Over the past two years, a federal law called Section 287(g) has allowed ICE officers to coordinate with local law enforcement for immigration enforcement and deportation. The group assembled in protest felt many of these arrests have been unlawful and have even affected legal migrants. Recently, the Berkeley County Sheriff arrested a student from the College of Charleston in coordination with ICE. The press conference featured representatives from the ACLU; Immigration Officer Dulce Lopez; William McCorkle, an associate professor of Latin studies and immigration advocate at the College of Charleston; and the Very Reverend Michael Shaffer, rector of St. Mark’s, Charleston.

Members of the diocese in attendance included Raymond Oberg, member of Good Shepherd, Summerville; the Rev. Marviel Millen, St. George’s, Summerville; the Rev. Deacon Marionette Bennett, Calvary, Charleston; Antoinette Bluford, member of Calvary, Charleston; the Very Rev. Michael Shaffer, St. Mark’s, Charleston; and the Rev. Canon Ramelle McCall, who serves on staff for Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley.

A transcript of the remarks shared by Father Shaffer are included below:

I am Michael Shaffer, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston. I speak today not just as a pastor, but a former attorney who believes in the law, as we are a nation of laws. Yet when law enforcement manipulates the law, not to serve justice, which is every law enforcement officer’s first obligation, we no longer are a society governed by laws, but rather a society governed by those who choose how the laws are applied. When the law becomes a tool for personal agendas, political interests, or selective enforcement, justice is no longer blind, and the very foundation of the rule of law is undermined.

In the Christian faith, we are governed by principles articulated in our Baptismal Convents, and a promise we make to seek justice and peace for all persons, while respecting the dignity of every human being. The actions we are seeing throughout our nation, with regard to the purported enforcement of U.S. Immigration and Customs laws reveal a pattern of selective enforcement and actions which are counter to our founding ideals as a nation, and the promises we make as Christians. Therefore I call upon people of every church, every faith to stand up against these actions, which run counter to who we are as a nation, and people of faith.

The famous author James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” And I think we must face the fact that we are seeing something played out in our country now that the world has seen before.

Martin Niemöller, a prominent pastor in Germany in the 1930’s, who emerged as an outspoken critic of actions of an authoritarian government who manipulated laws to serve pollical or personal agendas, once wrote a famous poem titled, “First They Came,” which I hope all people of faith might reflect on in determining what responsibility you have to stand up for the rights of your fellow men and women who are being subjected to inhuman actions of those in authority. Niemöller wrote:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

So I call upon all people of faith to speak out for those who are not being treated with respect and dignity. But for the grace of God, there go I.