From Dallas to Denver: Faith Leaders Connecting, Preparing, and Caring for Immigrant Communities in an ICE Age

Cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul have witnessed strong faith-led resistance to the current ICE regime invading their neighborhoods. But in cities like Dallas and Denver, faith leaders are already organizing themselves while working alongside grassroots movements to meet their current conditions regarding ICE facilities, companies that threaten the safety of immigrants and citizens alike, and threats of increased ICE presence throughout their states. Following two clergy-led immigrant support movements – CLEAR DFW and Colorado Clergy Alliance – this paper utilizes an ethnographic approach to examine how faith-based organizing in Dallas and Denver is adapting historic methods of organizing to meet the current crisis, connecting across state lines, and employing an “ethics of place” that centers immigrant communities with special attention to their physical locals of origin as well as the unique challenges of their current locations.