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This week, Texas Impact hosted a press conference in partnership with our member faith communities as part of a coordinated week of action with faith leaders across the country who are joining together to take a stand against ICE’s violence.
The press conference got extensive coverage—and actual ink in the Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman. We’re really excited that the media see faith perspectives as an important part of the larger story about the current crisis in American immigration policy.
Texas Tribune: Texas faith leaders condemn ICE-related deaths, demand to end “terror campaign” against migrants
FOX 7: ICE in Texas: faith community calls on state leaders to end violence
ABC Amarillo: Texas faith leaders rally at Capital, urge action after Houston ICE shooting
Texas Signal: Faith Leaders Condemn ICE Violence In Texas
Religion News Service: ‘This isn’t a peacekeeping initiative — this is a terror campaign’: Texas faith leaders condemn ICE deaths
Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Read the entire post on Substack
Also this week, we learned that the federal contract funding lawyers for more than 20,000 unaccompanied children ends on July 31. New reporting shows the administration has asked the State of Texas to take over that representation, while children may soon be transferred to Texas facilities that no state agency has inspected since 2021.
Congress guaranteed these children counsel because a child's lawyer is often the only adult positioned to detect trafficking and prevent a child from being returned to the people who exploited them. Stripping children of independent counsel dismantles the screening system that federal anti-trafficking law depends on.
Join faith leaders and anti-trafficking, victim services, child welfare, youth advocacy, and faith-based organizations across Texas in urging Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton to decline any role in this plan, restore state oversight of facilities housing children, and insist that independent counsel stays in place. You can view the letter text here.
We are continuing to schedule webinars and in-person events, including our upcoming Ready...Set...Go! events in Denton, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston (coming soon), and upcoming immigration webinars on July 28 and August 18. Check our Events page for all our upcoming events.
Weekly Witness will be back next week. While you wait, you can catch up on episodes you missed, and check out all the great content on our YouTube channel including the video of this week's press conference.
Thanks for being part of Texas Impact! |
