'Brothers and sisters': Local clergy, immigration leaders call for unity ahead of Mayor Johnson testifying in DC

Pastor Juan Pablo Herrera of Urban Village Church
Pastor Juan Pablo Herrera of Urban Village Church addresses reporters at City Hall a day before Mayor Johnson was set to testify in Washington over sanctuary city status. Photo credit Craig Dellimore

WASHINGTON (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Mayor Johnson is expected to testify today before a Congressional Committee investigating sanctuary cities, and many immigration advocates and clergy here in Chicago say they support his mission.

Religious leaders standing with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant Refugee Rights like Pastor Michael Ware of North Shore Baptist Church see Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance as a moral obligation.

“My faith will not allow me to not welcome in the immigrant or the stranger,” Ware said Tuesday.

Like   Imam Tariq El-Amin of Masjid Al-Taqwa, they all stand with Johnson as he testifies on Capitol Hill.

“Let us affirm our commitment to standing together and up for our common humanity,” said El-Amin. “Let us remember the rights of the stranger, well there are no strangers, so let us treat each other as brothers and sisters.”

Another said sanctuary is a God-given right  and a God-given gift.

The clergy said they will not let Congress divide our communities.

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Featured Image Photo Credit: Craig Dellimore