Immigrants Welcome Here

WATER Staff

January 31, 2017

 

The Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER) rejects the recent Executive Order on immigration issued by President Donald J. Trump. We join people of good will in welcoming all persons, especially those who flee difficult circumstances, to come to the United States of America, a country of immigrants.

Courts of law will decide if this order and other recent ones are legal. But the world court of public opinion has already rendered a judgment. Banning persons of Muslim faith, singling out majority Muslim countries, and halting all refugees from entering the country for months, leave vulnerable people, particularly women and children, without recourse. These practices run counter to American values. These travesties wreak havoc on lives. They serve only to divide people, weaken democracy, and increase global instability.

We urge our colleagues in the United States to protest vigorously against this and other encroachments on constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. We assure our international colleagues that they are as welcome as ever in our midst. We take every opportunity—from supporting legal strategies to reaching out to neighbors, even strangers in elevators—to speak a word of welcome, to offer a hand of hospitality, to provide safe passage because it is our way of life in a globalized world.