We Stand With Immigrants

Sunday Worship Experience

November 23rd, 2025 

Bishop Claude R Alexander, Jr.

Title - We Stand With Immigrants

Text - Leviticus 19:1-5,9-10, 32-34 NIV

German Gestapo & Japanese Internment Camps

Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

Because I was not a Socialist

And I did not speak out

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

Our standing with immigrants prompts us loudly and forcefully to renounce militarized lawlessness based upon xenophobia and racial bigotry.

Our standing with immigrants calls for a sensible immigration policy.

Our standing with immigrants is informed by the facts.

American Immigration Council Statistics

Immigrant residents - 47,805,500

Immigrant share of population - 14.3%

Immigrant taxes paid - 651.9B

Immigrant entrepreneurs - 3,855,100

Share of entrepreneurs who are immigrants - 23.6%

Number of undocumented immigrants - 11,809,900

Share of immigrant population who are undocumented immigrants - 24.7%

Total taxes paid - $89.8B

Undocumented entrepreneurs - 1,119,400

Top Industries with Highest Share of Undocumented Immigrant Workers

Agriculture - 15.1%

Construction - 14.1%

Arts, Entertainment, Hospitality, and Food Services - 7.6%

General Services - 6.7%

Wholesale Trade - 6.3%

Sermon Notes Continued: Verses 9-10

“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God. '

Verses 33-34

‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. '

God’s call to stand with the immigrant is the call to open hospitality and generosity.

Standing with immigrants calls us to a commitment to equity and justice for the immigrant.

The call to stand with immigrants in this season is the call to an inclusive love.

Ultimately the long obedience in the same direction is not about the direction. It’s about the director.

Church Website: https://theparkministries.org

The Park Church exists to extend the Love, the Life, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ to every person, in every way, in every place, and at every time that the opportunity is given.