Why I’m Called To March

By Rev. Paul FlecK

“Faith Matters” is a column that features pieces written by local religious figures.

My name is Rev. Paul Fleck.  I am trained as a lawyer (though I no longer practice law) and am an ordained minister in The United Methodist Church.  My service to the Church is as executive director of Immigration Law & Justice New York, a United Methodist immigration legal services ministry.  Immigration Law & Justice New York welcomes immigrants into our communities with compassion, dignity, and love by providing free, high-quality immigration legal services to low income and vulnerable immigrants, providing education to communities of faith and the public about the immigration system, and advocacy for immigrant rights.  

It’s that last piece of my organization’s mission that I write about today:  Advocacy for immigrant rights.  There are some folks who will tell you the Church and faith communities should not be allowed to seek to exert influence with legislators in the political sphere around immigration.  The most common arguments for their position is 1) it violates the Constitution’s First Amendment proscriptions separating Church and State; and 2) it’s not an appropriate expression of faith.  I would like to examine both of these arguments, in turn.

The First Amendment of the Constitution reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  Congress cannot establish a state religion.  However, nowhere does the Constitution say that faith communities cannot try to influence legislators around immigration—or any other issue.  

In fact, I would take it one step further:  My particular faith as a United Methodist compels me to be involved in the public square and political sphere.  My baptismal vows encourage me to “resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.”  When I turn to the scriptures of the Hebrew and Christian Testaments, that encouragement is even clearer.  

The Hebrew Bible is a story of migrants and migration.  Abraham and Sarah migrated, as did Jacob/Israel and his family.  Joseph brought his family to Egypt to escape famine.  The greatest migration story ever told is of Moses bringing his people out of Egypt.  It is not surprising, then, that Leviticus 19:33-34 (NRSV) reads:  “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

In the Christian scriptures, the Gospel of Matthew begins with a migration story:  Joseph flees Herod’s murderous persecution by migrating with Mary and Jesus to Egypt.  Later, in adulthood during his ministry, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25 (known as “The Judgment of the Nations”) that when you welcome the stranger, you welcome him.  

That ethos of welcome is why I—and over 1,200 United Methodists—will be traveling to Washington, D.C. on Feb. 25 to make our voices heard.  We are concerned about the present broken state of immigration policy in this country.  We are concerned about draconian and violent enforcement measures presently undertaken by Immigration & Customs Enforcement and Customs & Border Patrol without due process.  We engage in advocacy not as an expression of mere ideology:  This is a part of our story as a Judeo-Christian faith and as United Methodists.   Our faith, if it is to mean anything, should be a lived faith.  

Rev. Paul Fleck, Executive Director of Immigration Law & Justice New York, is an ordained Elder in The New York Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church and a former litigation attorney. Prior to coming to Immigration Law & Justice New York, Rev. Fleck served as Pastor of New Milford United Methodist and Hamden Plains United Methodist Churches in Connecticut. While at Hamden Plains UMC, Rev. Fleck helped co-found New Sanctuary CT, a coalition of eleven faith communities throughout Connecticut committed to providing physical sanctuary to immigrants facing deportation.  Rev. Fleck has his Master’s of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.