{"id":386886,"date":"2026-07-26T07:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T07:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/386886\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T07:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T07:30:16","slug":"texas-faith-leaders-condemn-terror-campaign-against-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/386886\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas faith leaders condemn “terror campaign\u201d against migrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Religious leaders gathered Wednesday at the Texas Capitol to condemn recent ICE-related deaths in Texas, Maine and Florida and to demand that federal immigration agents end a \u201cterror campaign\u201d against migrants. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe grieve every death, every act of violence, and every enforcement practice that unnecessarily endangers human life or diminishes the God-given dignity of our immigrant neighbors,\u201d said Bishop Sue Briner with the Southwestern Texas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen fear begins to shape the daily lives of our neighbors, it is time for the church to show up,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

A news conference inside the Capitol brought together leaders from the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ, the National Council of Jewish Women and more. Texas Impact<\/a>, an interfaith grassroots network, organized the event.<\/p>\n

The religious leaders condemned the \u201cgrave moral evil\u201d of deportations, detention centers and enforcement-related deaths involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and urged ICE agents and government officials to \u201cexamine their conscience.\u201d Those who determine that their actions are immoral should \u201cresign and find other work,\u201d said Jim Harrington, who works with immigrants at St. James Episcopal Church in Austin.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing orders is never a justification in the Christian tradition \u2014 nor in international law \u2014 to perpetuate evil,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n

Dan De Leon, senior pastor at Friends Congregational Church in College Station, invoked the Sermon on the Mount. \u201cJesus says, \u2018Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.\u2019 Notice that Jesus does not say, \u2018Blessed are the peacekeepers,\u2019 which is what ICE alleges to be doing in our communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jewish leaders turned to their faith as well: \u201cJewish tradition teaches that whoever saves a life saves the entire world, and conversely, whoever destroys a life destroys the whole world,\u201d said Bettie Forman with the National Council of Jewish Women.<\/p>\n

Others called for accountability and transparency. <\/p>\n

\u201cCandidates for law enforcement must be properly vetted, fully and carefully trained, and held accountable when they do not meet appropriate standards,\u201d said Elyse Rosenberg, who represented the National Council of Jewish Women and is a member of Temple Beth Shalom in Austin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout our history, we have repeatedly seen first-hand the consequences of governments exercising unchecked power on vulnerable populations,\u201d she said, adding that accountability includes impartial investigations of agent-involved shootings. <\/p>\n

The religious leaders also pressed for:<\/p>\n

Clear limits on the use of lethal force and an end to dangerous tactics when pulling over vehicles. <\/p>\n

Restrictions on using unmarked vehicles and plainclothes agents.<\/p>\n

Clearly visible identification and body cameras for federal immigration agents. <\/p>\n

Independent oversight of ICE operations with meaningful consequences if agents violate policy or the law. <\/p>\n

Families also deserve humanity and should never learn through social media that a loved one has been detained, seriously injured or killed, said Grace Bonilla with Texas Impact.<\/p>\n

The news conference was organized in response to the July 7 death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop by ICE agents in Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here today because Texans of faith and conscience refuse to accept what we witnessed in Houston as proper immigration enforcement,\u201d Bonilla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat conviction does not conflict with border security. We recognize the federal government\u2019s responsibility to enforce our immigration laws and maintain our borders, but enforcement must never come at the expense of human life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Texas Rep. Vikki Goodwin<\/a>, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, attended the news conference, calling the religious leaders\u2019 requests reasonable and encouraging legislators to pay heed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the local or state government can have an impact on federal government by saying, \u2018You\u2019re coming into our state, this is what we want to see here.\u2019 We want safety, not ICE agents who are wearing masks, who are frightening our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a partisan issue; this is a humanity issue,\u201d Goodwin said.<\/p>\n

This story is published through a collaboration between The Texas Tribune and Religion News Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Vikki Goodwin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[132,2668,10732,2133,56,1724,27,29,28,36798,8627],"class_list":["post-386886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-austin","tag-border-security","tag-college-station","tag-democrats","tag-houston","tag-immigration","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-the-texas-tribune","tag-vikki-goodwin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}