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Virginia Clergy Call on Congresswoman Barbara Comstock to Support Humane Immigration Reform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21, 2017

CONTACT:  

Michelle Nealy, mnealy@faithinpubliclife.org, (202)735-7123

Virginia Clergy Call on Congresswoman Barbara Comstock to Support Humane Immigration Reform

To mark the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, interfaith clergy call on Congress to build bridges not walls

STERLING, Va. – On Tuesday, February 22nd, a prominent group of interfaith clergy and community leaders held a prayer vigil to pressure Congressional leaders to overturn President Trump’s executive orders on interior and border immigration enforcement and to protect immigrant and refugee families.

Faith and community leaders, including  32BJ SEIU, SEIU Virginia 512, and CASA de Virginia members, gathered at Congresswoman Barbara Comstock’s office and sent a powerful message in defense of immigrants and refugees. To watch a full video from the event, click here.​

Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Sterling:

“I do not come here today as a partisan. I do come here today to remind our community and our representative, Barbara Comstock, of the commitment she has made to serve in a way that is moral and right. The inherent worth and dignity of our Muslim community and our Spanish-speaking community is being challenged. The Muslim community is facing bans and legislations that demean them.  I am a Unitarian Universalist minister with Jewish and Catholic lineage from the Ukraine and Poland. My life is due to the safe harbor my family received having escaped the Holocaust. My integrity is not up for sale. I pray that our elected officials will find the same conviction.”

Jay Cuasay, Indivisible VA District 10:

“I have seen first-hand the rise of anti-immigrant sentiments and the negative effects of Mr. Trump’s executive orders.  Although Rep. Comstock released a statement that was critical of Trump’s executive orders, she never challenged the faulty underlying premise that such measures were essential and effective for national security. We are a country ‘indivisible with liberty and justice for all.’ District 10 is a purple district trending more purple and diverse. We can’t keep talking in the divisive terms of red and blue. We need to make a real effort to address the rise in anti-immigrant sentiment.”

Jim Vollmer, Home Care Provider and Leader of SEIU Virginia 512 Home Care chapter:

“We are people of faith, and we believe in religious freedom. We also believe that justice and liberty should be upheld for everyone. We went to Rep. Comstock’s office today to ask her to protect our nation’s greatest values by co-sponsoring legislation to overturn President Trump’s executive orders on immigration enforcement, refugee resettlement and the travel ban.  People of faith thank her for her statement on President Trump’s refugee and travel from Muslim majority countries ban. Now we need her to show moral leadership by taking legislative action.”

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