“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35)

As Christians, the call to love God is tied closely to the call to love our neighbor – the hungry, the thirsty, and the stranger. In this time, when many of our immigrant neighbors, members, and churches feel especially vulnerable, we want you to know that we are with you. And we want to provide some resources and support as we all work together to love God and love our neighbor.

General mutual aid lists:

The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law offers a Fourth Amendment Toolkit for Organizations

USAHello offers a Multilingual Immigration Guide that is updated weekly

From Salud Chicago:

From Teaching for Change:

  • In the face of the traumatizing ICE abductions and deportations impacting students and their families, we recommend these two picture books. They provide an opportunity for young people to talk about their fears. Without minimizing the dangers, they also suggest ways to cope as well as possible. Tengo Miedo (I’m Scared) is a bilingual workbook that can be used in schools, homes, and community centers. We recommend Until Someone Listens for its depiction of family separation. However, as with many children’s books, the young person’s activism is not portrayed in the context of the immigrant rights movement. We believe it is important for young people to learn about collective organizing throughout history and today. We Are the Builders by Deepa Iyer and We Care: A First Conversation About Justice by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli would be useful companion books to learn about the roles we can each play.

From Center for Law and Social Policy and National Immigration Law Center

From Free Families

  • Neighbors Helping Neighbors – Volunteer to be a carer, connector, or vetter and help people sheltering in place get their needs met.
  • Dios Habla Hoy (DHH Church) – DHH packs groceries boxes for people sheltering in place and is looking for partner organizations to help them deliver groceries due to high demand. If your congregation has the capacity to create a team to help deliver groceries semi-regularly, this might be a good opportunity for you. To learn more please reach out to Grace Harrison.

  • DHS Negotiations appear stalled, with both parties blaming the other for not sitting down to negotiate. Democrats continue to demand oversight and accountability changes for ICE and CBP, while Republicans have floated riders like changes to sanctuary cities or voting laws that Democrats say are non-starters. The White House is also involved in setting the terms of the negotiations.
    • Advocacy: Email your member of Congress with this ELCA Action Alert – even if you’ve sent it before! Just edit the draft text to reflect the increased urgency given now-long-ongoing negotiations.
    • Call your member of Congress. You can use the talking points in the action alert or ecumenical letter from last month, with some framing highlighted below:
    • Reforms to immigration enforcement are URGENT. Federal agents are committing violence in our communities with impunity and lack the oversight or accountability that could protect our communities. Business as usual is not acceptable.
    • We want to see meaningful policy changes, including [highlight the changes most important to you – i.e. end arrests without a warrant and racial profiling, require independent investigation into the killings of Good and Pretti, codify protections for our churches and sacred spaces from immigration enforcement]
    • We don’t want an endless shutdown or patchwork continuing resolutions funding this agency in increments of days or weeks. Negotiate the protections that your constituents want to see and pass a funding bill through the end of Fiscal Year 2026.
  • Sign the petition for the MN Legislature to pass the STAR (Safety, Trust, Accountability, and Respect) Act that protects Minnesotans from lawless immigration enforcement. Learn more about the STAR act.