In recent days, we’ve heard warnings about potential ICE activity intentionally targeting churches. We are deeply concerned about the constitutional right to worship freely and how such actions may impact both immigrant communities and our Christian witness.
1. Educate – Ensure that every person knows their constitutional rights and has access to reliable information about immigration enforcement.
2. Prepare – Have a plan in place if ICE appears at your church.
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Sojourners and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC) have valuable congregational guides, including steps for verifying judicial warrants, defining public & private spaces, and communication protocols.
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A local pastor has created a guide with wisdom and advice for congregational and community leaders on how to care for immigrant neighbors if they are detained. Please share this important resource!
3. Plan – Encourage immigrant families to prepare by gathering important documents and getting legal support.
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Agencia Alpha offers a family emergency plan in English and Spanish.
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ESP provides a comprehensive Spanish-language packet.
4. Act – Everyone can play a role in supporting our immigrant neighbors. Explore this collaborative document with Boston-based opportunities for volunteering, advocacy, accompaniment, and more.
UniteBoston seeks to “meet the moment” as we recognize the role that all play a role in nurturing Boston as a “city of belonging.” Click below to see resources for immigrants, allies, and church leaders to stand in solidarity with our immigrant and refugee neighbors. If you have any resources to recommend adding to this page, email us at info@uniteboston.com!
“In a culture of fear, welcome is a radical act of faith.” – We Choose Welcome
URGENT OPPORTUNITIES
Weekly Vigils
- Bearing Witness at ICE Facility, Burlington | Wednesdays, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
- Vigil for Love, New Bedford | Wednesdays, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
- Vigil for Love, East Boston (Maverick Square) | Thursdays, 4:30 – 5:30 PM
At each of these vigils, people of faith gather to sing, pray, and make manifest their support for those most directly affected by our current immigration policies. These acts of presence and solidarity remind us that while authoritarianism grows, so too does our resistance — grounded in prayer, in love, and in justice. All are welcome.
Join the Boston Immigrant Resource Dashboard
Many new immigrant and refugee neighbors and service providers struggle to find up-to-date information on available resources such as shelter, ESL classes, legal aid, and workforce development. BIRD addresses this gap by providing a dynamic, real-time platform that allows users to see service availability at a glance, using a green light, yellow light, and red light system.
BIRD’s mission is to provide real-time, accessible information on essential resources and services for immigrants, refugees, and service providers, ensuring timely and effective support!
RESOURCE LIST
- Resources for Immigrants & Allies:
- Review key data on how immigrants contribute to Massachusetts.
- Familiarize yourself with the Protect Our Immigrant Communities bills and talking points.
- What to Do During ICE Encounters: Check out this series of short videos on what to do during ICE encounters of various kinds. They are available in numerous languages.
- The Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition has Know Your Rights handouts in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Kreyol.
- Episcopal City Mission has ICE Protocols for Places of Worship and a powerpoint that can be used to present the ICE protocols to others. Here is also a 1/2 hour presentation recorded by UU Mass Action Here – use Passcode: “QQ4iJ2@.
- Download copies of the “Know Your Rights” cards in English or Spanish.
- The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office offers a dedicated page with regularly updated information about immigration rights.
- City of Boston Immigrant Advancement Office Website lists free immigration consultations and other legal resources
- USA Hello offers immigration resources in twenty languages – Learn what changes are happening now, what may happen soon, and what they mean for you
- LCR’s Immigrant Defense Hotline at 617-988-0606 is providing timely and free legal advice for immigrants facing imminent threats related to immigration enforcement.
- Conversation Guide: How to Talk to Your Family About Refugees
- Resources for Church Leaders:
- The Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ has gathered an excellent resource page here, including a sample policy for how a church can handle ICE presence.
- Welcoming, Protecting, and Preparing: A Congregational Guide from Sojourners
- Know Your Rights Training for Massachusetts Faith Leaders with presentations from the Attorney General’s Office and Office for Refugees and Immigrants
- Responding to ICE in Places of Worship by World Relief
- The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General has issued guidance for providers here
- The National Latino Evangelical Coalition offers a manual on how to think about and respond if ICE shows up at your congregation.
- Education
- Check out a new online workshop from the Mygration Christian Conference on what the Bible has to say about migration and how it can speak to contemporary narratives of immigration today.
- World Relief’s has a new guide to pray, lament, intercede, and stand in the gap: Prayers for Such a Time as This: Seeking God’s Heart for Immigrants, Refugees, and Those Who Walk Alongside Them
- “One Part of the Body: The Potential Impact of Deportations on American Christian Families, a report co-authored on the impact of deportations by a variety of organizations. Webinar recording here
- Color for Welcome – from We Choose Welcome
- Action
- Episcopal City Mission and UU Mass Action have toolkits for congregations wanting to do more immigration justice work
- With the recent cut in federal funding such as with USAID, now is the time to support local and global immigrant and refugee efforts, such as through World Relief and Catholic Charities
- There is an upcoming need and opportunity for non-immigration MA-licensed lawyers who can be trained in asylum law and take 1 or more cases pro-bono with support from PAIR (the political asylum and immigration representation project). For more information, email hannah@ecmteam.us.
- Change the narrative: Each of us can share how immigrants are assetts, not liabilities. In fact Immigrants contribute more than $100 billion annually to Greater Boston Economy
- De-Escalation Resources from Interfaith Alliance
- A Faith That Does Justice is seeking volunteers for its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program for beginner English-learners. Many of our students are newly arrived migrants and learning English provides vital skills as they begin their new lives in our country. This is an opportunity to support newly arrived immigrants and provide community and kinship.
A sign to post at church doors, created by Lang Haynes, parish administrator from St Peter’s Episcopal Church
URGENT OPPORTUNITIES
Here is the list of current opportunities to support immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers that is updated regularly from the many organizations that are using this document as a place to connect resources and needs. The most urgent need is physical space to shelter our new neighbors so those that are fleeing hardship and seeking safe shelter can have a warm place to sleep. Even one or two nights in your home or congregation building can make a difference! There are also a variety of volunteer and supply drive opportunities listed. Please take a look and share widely with your communities!
UniteBoston has compiled a “A Sanctuary for Strangers” campaign, which was a response to the urgent call from both the mayor and governor for churches to address the increasing number of migrants in Boston, a sanctuary city. As Christians, we recognized the migrant crisis as a pressing local issue that demanded our compassionate response.
The campaign title, “A Sanctuary for Strangers,” reflected the need for a safe and welcoming space for those who are displaced or seeking refuge. Scripture guides us to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us (Romans 15:7) and to love the ‘stranger’ among us as ourselves, for we were once strangers (Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 10:19). This call to hospitality echoed the teachings of Jesus, who urged us to care for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40).
The campaign included featured articles focusing on the themes of “understand,” “believe,” and “act.” Additionally, the UniteBoston website offered resources for deeper learning and action, which could be tailored to meet the evolving needs of the migrant crisis.
The campaign continues, providing more opportunities for churches to host Migrant Sunday. To support churches in their response, a comprehensive preaching package is now available in English, Spanish, Portugese, and Haitian Creole complete with designs, multimedia content, sermon examples, and more.
Migrant Sunday
Here are some national commemorations around refugees and immigrants that you can come alongside as you recognize Migrant Sunday with your congregation to extend our hands in welcome and support of our new neighbors. We’re calling on churches in Boston to join us for Refugee Sunday on the following Sundays:
- June 20 – World Refugee Day
- September 28 – World Day of Migrants & Refugees
- December 18 – International Migrant Day
NOW AVAILABLE: PREACHING PACKAGE IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES!
We want to help every church, big and small, to feel equipped to address the migrant crisis and mobilize their church to ACT. We have put together a full preaching package complete with designs, multimedia content, sermon examples, and more, to help churches recognize Migrant Sunday across Boston effectively.
Service Elements and SERMON RESOURCES
TAKE ACTION!
1. Forward this information to your pastor, encouraging them to join into the collective Migrant Sunday effort.
2. Share any articles, resources, or graphics on your social media channels from this page to broaden the movement of awareness, compassionate hearts, and action-taking to care for our new neighbors.
3. Email us. We’d be happy to hop on a coaching call to come alongside as you discern how to bring Migrant Sunday to your community. We’d also love to hear about any action steps you took and how it went!
4. Pray – Pray that the body of Christ would rise up in this pivotal moment to show self-giving love, care, and hospitality for our new neighbors. Pray for the coordination of various groups so that practical needs can be met, and our new neighbors will have what they need (including food, clothing, housing, and jobs) to thrive in our city. Pray that all people would be drawn closer to Jesus as we embody Christ’s call to care for “the least of these” (Mt. 25:40) during this Lenten season.
Join us in praying “for the Courage to Do Justice.” We offer up this prayer from the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Other immigrant-focused prayers are listed here and here.
O God, open our eyes that we might see the needs of refugees;
Open our ears that we may hear people’s cries for justice;
Open our hearts that we may assist sojourners near and far.
Show us where love, hope, and faith are needed.
Use us as ministers of your healing.
Let us not be afraid to protect the weak because of the anger of the strong, or to defend the poor because of the power of the rich.
Sustain us so that in these coming days we may be able to do some work of peace for you. Amen.
BELIEVE
In an age of global migration and mass displacement, what is the responsibility of the Church to respond to the needs and realities of migrant and displaced communities? All too often, the narrative surrounding immigration is depicted within mainstream media as highly political and divisive. In evangelical and charismatic circles, many Christians are more likely to be influenced by what the media says about immigration than the Bible.
For our week on “Believe,” we are sharing piece entitled, “The Church: A Place of Belonging” which is a chapter from local author Daniel Montanez’ book entitled, “The Church and Migration: A Theological Vision for the People of God.” The book seeks to transform the narrative of immigration by approaching it from the larger lens of human migration. By exploring the theme of human migration throughout the grand narrative of Scripture, this resource sets forth a theological vision for understanding migration from a Biblical-theological perspective. This article highlights practical ways in which the Church can get involved in serving migrant and displaced communities.
P.S. Daniel’s book serves as an accessible and educational guide for pastors, church leaders, and parishioners to better understand what the Bible says about God’s heart towards people on the move and how these truths can be applied in our modern world. It is available for purchase in English and Spanish.
GO DEEPER:
“America’s immigration policy has made the country a lot less white and Christian than it used to be. Is this diversity something to celebrate, or something to fear, resist, and, if possible, reverse? Skye Jethani talks about immigration policy, how it’s changed in the last century, how those policies have changed America, what role racism has played, and how Christians should think about immigration today.”
- “The Church as Sanctuary: What does it mean for to be a Refuge for Immigrants?“ Local author and theologian Daniel Montanez explores the Biblical and historical foundations of church as sanctuary.
- MYGRATION CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE: Explore God’s Heart Through Stories of Migration
- The Church and Migration: A Proactive Response Panel Discussion (Rev. Dr. Scott Sunquist, Dr. Ruth Melkonian Hoover, Daniel Montañez, Sage Shaw)
- How Should Christians Support Immigration Laws? by The Gospel Coalition
- Lots of other great resources from: the Evangelical Immigration Table, SojoAction and World Relief
*Special thanks to friends and partners who have contributed to this page, including Daniel Montanez, founder of the Mygration Christian Conference, Sarah Blumenshine, Director of Intercultural Ministries at the Emmanuel Gospel Center, Pastor Melinda Priest who is pastoring Awaken City Church and also organizes Conversational English and Citizenship Classes with her Immigrant Connection Site. The Massachusetts Council of Churches has also put together a list of how Christians can come alongside these new neighbors.