Dallas-area faith leaders held a press conference Friday at Kessler Park United Methodist Church to protest plans to open an ICE holding facility in nearby Hutchins. The facility, as recently reported by The Washington Post, would hold up to 9,500 detainees in a warehouse.
The Rev. Carl Sherman, pastor of Faith Family Church in Hutchins, spoke at the press conference and appealed to the story of the Exodus in the Torah and Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 25 as clear moral callings to oppose the facility. “When we protect the vulnerable, when we honor the stranger, when we act with courage and love, we walk in the strength of the King of Kings,” he said.
In addition to his role as a minister, Sherman is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives and previously served as city manager of Hutchins, located about 12 miles south of downtown Dallas. He told the crowd the city does not have the water or sewage infrastructure to accommodate what would amount to a doubling of its population. “Local leaders,” he said, “must be empowered to plan and approve projects in their communities.”
Speaking further to the logistics of the proposed facility, the Rev. George Mason said the plans resemble those of the infamous “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida. “ICE’s intention is to rip the existing roof off the warehouse and create makeshift dorms for people … before putting the roof back on,” he said. “This is inhumane. It is not in accordance with American values, and certainly not with spiritual values. That is what we most want to say today.”
The gathering, coordinated by the Clergy League for Emergency Action and Response (CLEAR), was also intended as a demonstration of solidarity with faith leaders in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who are speaking out against ICE actions they describe as a crisis “of our Constitution, federal overreach, militarized enforcement, and the erosion of civil liberties.”
Rabbi Kim Herzog-Cohen of Temple Emanu-El of Dallas, a graduate of Carleton College located south of Minneapolis, recalled the “diverse cultural neighborhoods and the expression of civic engagement that run deep in the Twin Cities.”
She added, “We stand with those marching through downtown Minneapolis today, a day of truth and freedom. And we stand as inheritors of faith traditions that teach the commandment not to oppress the stranger, the most frequently repeated imperative in the Hebrew Scriptures.”
As a call to action, Mason encouraged people of faith to urge their ministers to speak out. “They are often hesitant because of diverse opinions in the pews,” he said. “We believe this is a moral imperative that transcends partisan politics, and they need to hear the support of people who will say to them from the pew, ‘Speak.’”
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.
