8/10/2019 Letter to Senator Elect Tillis

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Dear Senator-Elect Tillis,

Congratulations on your recent electoral victory. As you know, many evangelical Christians within North

Carolina were among your strongest supporters: Exit Surveys suggest that white evangelicals alone (not

including the many evangelical North Carolinians of other ethnic backgrounds) were about 40% of all

voters, and almost 4 out of 5 voted for you. Most evangelicals are grateful, in particular, for your strongpro-life position, particularly as the issue of abortion was an important issue throughout the campaign.

As evangelical pastors and leaders from throughout North Carolina, we write to urge you to

demonstrate leadership on another critical issue of human dignity: our immigration system, as you have

acknowledged, is woefully in need of repairs. Immigration reform is long overdue that would secure our

borders, create a more functional visa system that would facilitate economic growth, and establish a

process by which those immigrants currently living unlawfully in our country could come forward, pay a

fine, and work towards permanent legal status and/or citizenship. We see the human costs of inaction

on a regular basis within our congregations and our communities, so we are praying that you will lead on

this issue as quickly as possible.

As pastors and ministry leaders, we recognize that such leadership can be difficult. While polls confirm

that most evangelical Christians support the sort of policies we and other evangelical leaders across the

nation have advocated, there is a vocal minority who will disagree passionately. As we have challenged

our congregations and communities to think about this issue from a biblical perspective—highlighting

the many commands within Scripture to love, welcome, and seek justice for immigrants, while also

affirming the importance of respecting the rule of law—some of us have faced pushback from a few in

our congregations. But as we have spoken out, we have found that most North Carolinians strongly

agree with the need for reform consistent with our biblical principles, including an earned legalization

process for the undocumented. We have led on this issue, and we expect you to lead courageously.

We would also appreciate the opportunity for a small group of us to meet with you personally to discuss

this issue, preferably before you assume your new office. We would ask that you please contact

Matthew Blanton with the Evangelical Immigration Table (matthewblanton123@gmail.com) to schedule

this meeting.

We are eager to work with you (and with other elected officials, on both sides of the aisle) to advance

more just, compassionate, rational public policies. And, as you do, please know that we are committed

to praying for you, that God would grant you wisdom and courage.

Sincerely,

[Pastor’s Name, Title, Church Name, City]