Every week we put our faith into action. This week we are thanking the Pasadena City Council for its recent adoption of an ordinance preserving City property from unauthorized ICE enforcement activity as well as the City’s efforts to support local families impacted by federal enforcement, participating in litigation against the federal government, and distributing know-your-rights materials throughout the city.

Action Letter to Mayor Gordo and Members of the City Council,

As parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church, we write to thank you for the steps this Council has taken to protect Pasadena residents from aggressive federal immigration enforcement.

We appreciate the recent adoption of the ordinance preserving City property from unauthorized enforcement activity as well as the City’s efforts to support local families impacted by federal enforcement, participate in litigation against the federal government, and distribute know-your-rights materials throughout the city. At a time when so many in our community are living in fear, we are grateful that the City has taken action to stand with them.

We urge the Council to continue this work and consider further steps to protect immigrants in our community. For example, residents have raised concerns about surveillance, data collection, and the risk that information gathered by City systems could reach federal immigration authorities. Those concerns deserve thorough consideration, and we encourage you to keep community trust at the center of those deliberations. We also encourage the Council to continue exploring other potential measures, such as improving access to resources and requiring city contractors to disclose any contracts or agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

All Saints stands ready to partner with the City in this work. We have sought to stand with our immigrant neighbors for decades, declaring ourselves a sanctuary church in 1983. Our Immigration Task Force works to educate our congregation and the broader community about the realities of immigrant life and the root causes of migration, in partnership with the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley. In recent years, we have sought to deepen that work by offering our space and resources to the wider community.

As people of faith, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. We stand ready to work alongside you in that spirit.

Options to Take Action:

1. Sign the action letters at the Action Table on Sunday.
2. Download an action letter that you can sign and mail.

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For personal actions or information, here are some helpful resources:

Contact the White House at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ or leave a phone comment at 1-202-456-1111.

If you ever need to look up your member of the U.S. House of Representatives or your U.S. Senators check here: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

To find contact information for your California State Senator or California State Assemblymember check here: www.senate.ca.gov and www.assembly.ca.gov.