More than 150 bishops of the Episcopal Church urged the suspension of immigration raids in Minnesota and “any community where militarized enforcement has endangered residents or destroyed public trust.” They conveyed their message in “A Letter to Our Fellow Americans,” released as both a statement and a video on January 31, on the eve of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, when the Old Testament reading was Micah 6:1-8.
A commonly cited text about the call to social justice, Micah 6:8 reads, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Retired bishops were among the letter’s signatories.
“We call on the elected officials of our nation to remember the values we share, including the rule of law,” the statement read.
“Rooted in our Constitution, it ensures that law—not the arbitrary will of individuals—governs us all, protecting individual rights, ensuring fairness, and maintaining stability.”
The bishops’ call came nearly a month after Renée Nicole Macklin Good, a mother of three, was killed in broad daylight after an encounter with ICE agents in Minneapolis on January 7. A preliminary autopsy revealed she was shot three times; her killing was captured on video. Her death sparked widespread condemnation and a major protest on January 26, joined by more than 600 clergy members from various faith traditions.
The day after the protest, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse working for a Veterans Administration hospital in Minneapolis, was seen in a confrontation with federal immigration officers before being pinned to the ground and shot in the back. His killing was also captured on video.
Both Pretti and Good were U.S. citizens and served as legal observers of the immigration operations that began in early January. Initial statements from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security said federal agents acted in self-defense.
The bishops called for “transparent, independent investigations of the people killed” and for such investigations to be “centered on truth, not politics” in their letter. “Justice cannot wait, and accountability is essential to healing.”
The Department of Justice has opened a civil rights inquiry into Pretti’s killing. A supervisor in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office resigned after it did not investigate Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Good. The New York Times reported that the supervisor was pressured by bureau leadership in Washington to discontinue the civil rights inquiry against Ross.
Bishop Craig Loya of Minnesota had earlier shared statements about the incidents occurring in his diocese, where DHS is conducting its largest-ever immigration operation, initially targeting Somali Americans who are in the country illegally.
“During these weeks in Minnesota, we have been inexpressibly grateful for the outpouring of support and solidarity from all over the Episcopal Church and beyond,” Loya wrote on Facebook. “Truly, it’s been overwhelming, and has sustained me and many others.” Loya is a signatory of the January 31 letter.
The bishops’ message was published in full by FoxNews.com under an opinion piece by the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of Washington. Her diocese also held a convention that day. A resolution titled “Dignity, Not Hate, Not Mass Deportation, Not Silence” was cited often in the floor debate. The resolution reaffirmed diocesan support for Resolution C031, “Migration with Dignity,” passed at the 81st General Convention.
The video showed several bishops reading the letter aloud and was shared across dioceses’ YouTube channels. Those who spoke include Budde; the Rt. Rev. Scott Hayashi, retired Bishop of Utah; Bishop Lawrence Provenzano of Long Island; Bishop Diana Akiyama of Western Oregon; and Bishop Julia Whitworth of the Diocese of Massachusetts.
A January 31 email from the Diocese of Massachusetts said that assisting bishops Ian Douglas and Mary Glasspool were also signatories. Douglas served as the 15th Bishop of Connecticut and was succeeded by the Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Mello.
In their message, the bishops said that “every act of courage matters.” In the video, Mello read: “Each of us has real power: community power, financial power, political power, and knowledge power. We can show up for our neighbors, support small businesses and food banks, contact elected officials and vote, and learn our rights so we can speak up peacefully without fear.”
The chief pastors addressed safety and fear caused by current conditions in the country. “Safety built on fear is an illusion,” they said. “True safety comes when we replace fear with compassion, violence with justice, and unchecked power with accountability.”
They added: “In the face of fear, we choose hope.”
The statement was prepared by a public relations firm, The Living Church was informed. Around 20 bishops based in the United States and currently in office had not signed the statement at the time it was published, including Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe.
The Episcopal Church comprises 106 dioceses, nine of which do not cover U.S. territory. The House of Bishops has about 300 members, both active and retired.
Mass deportation has been a signature issue of the second Trump administration. Sweeping raids targeting undocumented immigrants have occurred in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, the Twin Cities, and most recently in Portland, Maine, with a focus on the city’s small Somali community. According to reports, at least 200 Maine residents have been detained since the operations began in late January.
The year 2025 was the deadliest on record for ICE, the federal agency tasked with carrying out the administration’s mass deportation agenda. Thirty-two people died in ICE custody last year. In the first 30 days of 2026, eight people have died during immigration operations or while in custody, including Pretti and Good.
What is happening in communities across America, the bishops said, “runs counter to God’s vision of justice and peace.”
“This crisis is about more than one city or state—it’s about who we are as a nation. The question before us is simple and urgent: Whose dignity matters?”
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
