Fall Creek Friends approved the following minute in our August business session:

Fall Creek Friends’ deepest-held belief in that of God in every person leads us to express our deep concern for immigrants and asylum seekers. We are especially grieved at the separation of families and the inhumane treatment of those who seek refuge here. As Quakers, we believe that every human life is a gift from God. As Americans, we must acknowledge that nearly all of our ancestors came to this country seeking to improve their lives’ condition, and we must recognize the right of contemporary immigrants and asylum seekers to do the same.

We recommend that our government focus attention on identifying the root causes of the need for asylum and on crafting foreign policy that would create a more just and peaceful world in which people do not have to flee their homes for survival. In the meantime, the immigrants and asylum seekers who are here deserve to be treated with compassion, respect, and generosity. At the border, representatives of both political parties together must be allowed to make extensive observations of the camps to ensure that conditions are humane. Nonprofit groups must be allowed to contribute help. Families must be immediately reunited.

We are also led to condemn the operation of ICE agents to arrest contributing members of American society, causing further division of families and communities. We urge our government and those in power to restore basic human dignity and compassionate care as the basis of any solution to the crisis at the border.