[Announce] Statement of the Council of Priests and Archbishop of Oklahoma City about Oklahoma's new immigration law

[Robert Waldrop]

On November 1st, the "Citizens Protection Act" will go into effect in Oklahoma, at which point it will be a felony to provide charitable assistance to undocumented residents.  Below is a statement, signed by the Council of Priest and the M.R. Eusebius Beltran, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, regarding their "Pledge of Resistance".  The statement was originally drawn up by an ecumenical group of religious leaders opposed to this law.

Bob Waldrop, Romero House, Oklahoma City

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PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE

This letter has been authorized and signed in response to the recently approvde law HB 1804.  This law is fiercely anti-immigrant and does not reflect values that respect people or families.

With the advent of this new law, we unite ourselves in opposition and defiance of this unjust and immoral law.  This law makes it a felony to aid, assist, or transport an undocumented person in the state of Oklahoma and "on violating the provisions of subsections A or B of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than one (1) year, or by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Our faith teaches us to do good to all people.  There is no exemption clause for those persons who do not have documentation of their citizenship status.  We will not show partiality aainst those who are in need of humanitarian assistance. Because this law is overly punitive and makes a felony out of the act of providing humanitarian assistance to an undocumented person in need, we the undersigned clergy, religious leaders, and lay people of conscience will not and can not obey this law.  We will continue to aid and assist all people regardless of their legal citizenship status, with charitable care and spiritual counsel.

We people of faith and conscience refuse to allow ourselves to be intimidated by Oklahoma's law which makes those who serve others into felons. To the contrary, as persons of faith, hope, and love, we call for the repeal of this anti-immigrant law and for immigration reform that provides justice for all of God's children.  We are united in solidarity and in defiance of this law because of our allegiance to a higher law, the love of humanity.

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