Dear beloveds in the California-Pacific UM Conference,
Last month, as we prepared for our Annual Conference gathering, we stood vigil outside of the Adelanto Detention Center and, in the heat of the desert, read the names of those who needlessly lost their lives as a result of immigration enforcement actions since January 2025. We read the names of 64 beloved souls.
Since that vigil on June 16, four more names must be spoken. Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, found unresponsive three days after being transferred to ICE custody in Laredo, Texas. In Harlingen, Texas, Adrian Andreas Florian, an 85-year-old German man with dementia. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, shot and killed by an ICE officer in Houston, and Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old father with valid work authorization, was an uninvolved bystander who was shot and killed during an ICE operation in Maine.
We remember every name and every person who lost their lives due to government-sanctioned violence.
In the oft-quoted Matthew 25:31-40 scripture, we are told that our judgment will be based on whether we feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit prisoners. We quote this often, but we forget its setting. Jesus was teaching a word to the nations, not just to individuals who want to please God. Jesus is dividing the nations between those who care for others and those who ignore the ones who are suffering.
So, when we read and apply this scripture with a sacred voice, we understand that, as we follow Christ, we must speak to our nations about the harm being done in our communities.
In this moment, and in our country, we refuse to grow numb to reckless killing. We resist the pressure to adjust our hearts, minds, and souls to a horrific “new normal.”
Each life is precious to God. Each person’s memories, loved ones, and futures were ripped away from them by acts of violence.
In a combined statement, Bishop Cythia Fierro Harvey (Texas & Rio Annual Conferences) and Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr. (Horizon Texas Conference) reminded us that “As people of faith we hold that public policy must protect human life and human dignity, especially the lives of the most vulnerable among us.” And Bishop Bickerton’s (New England & New York Conferences) message laments that “As citizens of a nation that just a few days ago celebrated its commitment to liberty and justice for all (immigrant and native-born alike), we are once again left asking hard questions that demand truthful answers and searching for clear directions on how these sanctioned acts of violence will end immediately.”
As we follow the teachings of Christ, we must denounce the violent and unaccountable enforcement practices that bring harm to our neighbors. And we recognize the foul odor that rises from using billions of taxpayer dollars to expand an enforcement system that has resulted in violence, preventable deaths, and fear in our immigrant and brown and black communities.
Now is not the time to be silent. Now is the time to take inspiration from the biblical prophets who staged public wake-up calls when people ignored God’s justice and righteousness. We are even now being shaped and reshaped in the Potter’s hands, spinning on the wheel, longing for balance, beauty, wholeness, usefulness. Not one of us desires to be part of a nation smashed into so many shards of clay, (Jeremiah 18-19) or cast aside in judgement for their sinful nature.
We are reminded in John 14, that Jesus told us we will be known by our love for one another. We call on our national and community leaders to exhibit this love now. We call for mercy. We call for an end to violence when peace is an option. We call for due process and inherent rights to be restored, and for the love of God and neighbor, we call for justice to prevail.
Do what you can, in whatever ways you can, with whatever voice you have, with whatever influence you can exert, to raise your voices against the harm that takes lives and crushes justice. If you need ideas, here are three easy ways to bring about change for the good:
1. CLUE’s weekly vigils and bond fund
2. Cal-Pac’s Immigration Crisis Fund
3. Call and write to your elected leaders and speak your voice
And here is a resource for other ideas: Immigration Resources page
I hope you will join me in standing with those in our nation who are being persecuted, and even killed, today. I hope your scripture readings will draw you to speak out to our nation in love and hope for a new way. And I pray you find the strength, courage, and determination to follow the ways of Christ even today, even in this day. I am praying for you, for us, for those harmed, and for our nation.
Lord, hear our prayers.
Grace y paz,
Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank
Los Angeles Episcopal Area