Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance 

Bearing Moral Witness in Times of Turmoil

To Mayor Wheeler:

The Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance affirms your original decision NOT to use Portland Police to intervene in any way to address the Occupy ICE encampment at the ICE headquarters on SW Macadam.

Even if members of the Portland Police Bureau were used only to direct traffic, but certainly if they were deployed for any other purpose, we speak clearly and loudly in opposition to the use of city police for any purpose other than supporting the occupiers, our fellow citizens of the City of Portland.

If we are to be a Sanctuary City, we must stand firm in our opposition to the human rights violations of the current Federal administration. Whether asylum seekers and others seeking a new home in the United States are separated from their children at the border, or are incarcerated with their children, both of these actions are inhumane, both horrifically toxic and traumatic, and both of these actions must be thwarted by those of us who know that they are wrong. We declare that shutting down local ICE offices is a legitimate path to resist this morally abhorrent policy.

We call upon all who are committed to working together to seek justice: to find a path to ensure that no prison, be it state, federal or local, be it private or public, houses anyone detained by ICE; that the impact of ICE is felt no more in this state and in this nation; and that every immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker, documented or not, knows that they are safe in Portland.

Sincerely,

Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance

 

Signed representing the larger group:

Rabbah Debra Kolodny, Portland’s UnShul

Rabbi Ariel Stone, Congregation Shir Tikvah

Priestess Blaed Spence, Reclaiming Tradition

Reverend Dr. Barbara Campbell

Reverend Aric Clark, Presbytery of Cascades

Rabbi Benjamin Barnett, Havurah Shalom

Rabbi Abby Cohen

Reverend Dr. David Alexander

Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer

Rabbi Joseph Wolf

Rabbinic Intern Davina Bookbinder

Pastor J.W. Matt Hennessee, Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church

The Reverend Cecil Charles Prescod, Ainsworth United Church of Christ

Reverend Dr. Amanda Zentz-Alo

Reverend Tara Wilkens, Bridgeport United Church of Christ

Reverend Lynne Smouse Lopez