Dear President Donald J. Trump:

As faith leaders from many different traditions, we are gravely concerned about the harsh anti-immigrant portions of your unchanged 2016 platform, which has resulted in thousands of children being inhumanely ripped away from their parents. Our sacred texts challenge us, first and foremost, to love our neighbor, and welcome the sojourner among us. These values are not reflected in your platform; this sacred calling is not what we see on your agenda.

Even now, days before the election, you have the power to put forward a new policy approach. We urge you to remember that we, as a nation, have the responsibility to be the City on the Hill, and the policies we create should reflect those values by treating immigrants with the respect and dignity we all deserve. The current platform, and its hateful rhetoric, sends a divisive, dehumanizing message which casts immigrants as a threat rather than as beloved neighbors and contributors to our communities.

This immoral stance has led your administration toward the adoption of policies and practices that have:
+ Abducted thousands of children from the arms of their parents and families and placed them in government-controlled cages. This practice continues, despite mandates from federal courts demanding their release.
+ Separated hundreds of thousands of families through cruel acts of deportation. This number notably includes Veterans, whom you have deported despite their service to our nation.
+ Threatened to take away local police departments’ right to set their own public safety priorities, thereby conscripting local law enforcement to prioritize immigration enforcement over local public safety needs.
+ Emboldened a dehumanizing approach to the treatment of immigrants, which has been weaponized by hate groups and has led to shootings like the one in El Paso where more than 20 people were killed, in Gilroy, CA, and at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
+ Ignored the advice of countless faith leaders, mayors, and governors of border communities, who know that your policies are hurting not only their citizens but their economies.
+ Attempted to end DACA, which temporarily protected young people who had been brought here as children from deportation while they went to school or worked.
+ Left asylum seekers in horrifying and inhumane conditions, with reports of even infants being held in facilities without sanitary systems, including soap or toothbrushes, and showed virtually no concern for preventing those in custody from contracting COVID-19. These conditions have led to a record number of immigrant deaths while in detention.

As faith leaders, we are passionately working to uplift and support all people, including immigrants in our midst. As such, we support policies and programs that build welcoming and safe communities.

We are praying that you will hear the call to compassion and vote to immediately change your platform and advocate to release the children today with their parents. We urge you to think about the moral imperative to love our neighbor, welcome the immigrant, keep families together and care for the most vulnerable among us.