by Heather Hahn, UM News
Four United Methodist ministries (including the Council of Bishops) are among 215 nonprofits facing demands from a U.S. congressional committee about their work with immigrants.
Two leading members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security sent letters to the nongovernmental organizations seeking to know how they used U.S. taxpayer dollars in their work during former President Biden’s administration.
The letter states the committee “is conducting oversight of the potential use of federal resources to facilitate illegal immigration.”
The Council of Bishops, the bishops’ Immigration Task Force, United Methodist Board of Church and Society, and the Immigration Law and Justice Network all confirmed receiving the letter.
Neither the bishops group and its task force nor the board of Church and Society receive any federal funding.
“The Council of Bishops does not receive any resources from the federal government,” Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, the Council of Bishops executive secretary, told United Methodist News. “We have responded to the inquiry stating the same.”
Church and Society, the denomination’s social witness agency, plans to respond the same way.
Immigration Law and Justice Network staff told United Methodist News that all they can comment for now is that they are reviewing the letter. The ministry provides legal aid to low-income immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers each year. That means they essentially work within the U.S. legal system. The United Methodist Committee on Relief founded the ministry in 1999, but did not receive a letter.
The letter demands recipients complete a survey that, among other things, asks about the government grants, contracts and disbursements they have received as well as any assistance they provided since January 2021.
The letter also accuses non governmental organizations of getting rich off of federal aid by helping undocumented immigrants, saying they “saw their annual revenues rise significantly” during the Biden administration.
Since 2021, United Methodist ministries have been reducing staff and adjusting to smaller budgets in the wake of church disaffiliations.
U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tennessee, and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Chairman Josh Brecheen, R-Oklahoma, announced their probe on June 11.
“The chairmen are examining whether these NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity, as the previous administration incentivized millions of inadmissible aliens to cross our borders,” said their press release.
However, the chairmen’s ranking-member counterparts (U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Mississippi, and U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Michigan) denounced the targeting of charities, religious groups and other nongovernmental organizations.
“The fact that they sent demand letters to groups that have never received federal funding and others that received money specifically provided by Congress to assist immigrants, shows how unserious their investigation is,” the Democrats said.
Green and Brecheen did not name all the letter recipients. Among the recipients the chairmen did publicize are the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities.
The U.S. Catholic bishops conference did receive federal support for its Migration and Refugee Services, which has long resettled refugees who arrive in the U.S. each year legally through the nation’s refugee programs. The bishops have since ceased cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support after the Trump administration suspended the federal refugee resettlement program and froze federal reimbursements.
While neither the United Methodist bishops nor Church and Society receive any federal funding, The United Methodist Church has long taught (based on multiple scripture passages) that church members are called to welcome migrants, refugees and immigrants.
Church and Society and the bishops’ Immigration Task Force also have long advocated for U.S. lawmakers to pass immigration reform to offer more legal pathways for people to come to the U.S.
Most recently, United Methodists in Southern California have been praying and engaging in peaceful protests for an end to immigration raids in their communities. Most of those being arrested have no criminal record.
“We oppose all laws and policies that attempt to criminalize, dehumanize or punish displaced individuals and families based on their status as migrants, immigrants, or refugees,” said the Social Principles approved by General Conference last year.
“Additionally, we decry attempts to detain displaced people and hold them in inhumane and unsanitary conditions. We challenge policies that call for the separation of families, especially parents and minor children, and we oppose the existence of for-profit detention centers for such purposes.”
