FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS ADVISORYContact: Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler | Director and Chief Visionary, Faith Strategies, LLC, and Advisor to Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA | gshagler@verizon.net | 202-302-0307Clergy Demand DC Mayor and City Council Seek Legal Action Against Texas, Florida, and Arizona Governors for human trafficking and any other appropriate charges and legal action.Where: Font steps of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DCWhen: 10 AM, Thursday, October 13, 2022What: Press ConferenceWho: Faith Strategies, LLC – Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA- The Wednesday Clergy Fellowship – The Center for Racial Justice and Equity – The Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative – The Downtown Cluster of Congregations – The Baptist Convention of DC and Vicinity – Missionary Baptist Ministers Conference of Washington, DC and Vicinity – The Society for Faith and Justice – Clergy of Various CongregationsWashington, DC – On Thursday, October 13 at 10:00 AM national and local faith-based organizations and clergy will demand that the Mayor of The District of Columbia, and theDC Council pursue all legal measures to hold the governors of Texas, Florida, and Arizona legally culpable in the transporting of migrants across state lines through deceptive means without their consent. Over 25 leaders and institutions of various faiths have signed onto a letter calling for accountability and action. A nationwide petition is being circulated.“In what is nothing short of a vulgar display of racism reminiscent of the Reverse Freedom Rides of 1962, Republican governors are using the most vulnerable among us as unwilling pawns in a political spectacle designed to make headlines, incite constituent bases with xenophobic proclivities, and advance political careers,” said Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, director of Faith Strategies and advisor to the Fellowship of Reconciliation. “While claiming to be people of the Christian faith, DeSantis, Abbott, and Ducey are showing utter disregard for the safety of immigrant women, men, and children. Their preaching of religious adherence on political pulpits is a manifestation of the unholy alliance that is Christian Nationalism.”Since April, the Republican Governors of Florida, Texas, and Arizona have bused or flown thousands of migrants to Washington DC, New York, and Massachusetts in high-profile stunts designed to put pressure on the Biden administration’s border policies.While lawyers are uncertain if the governors could be prosecuted on charges of human trafficking or kidnapping no evidence has not been found that the migrants boarded the flights or buses unwillingly, the acts are certainly immoral and in violation of the law. According to Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf, along with possibly engaging in human trafficking and kidnapping, Governor Ron DeSantis, by deceiving migrants – telling them he was sending them to Boston to waiting jobs and instead flying them to Martha’s Vinyard – without a doubt violated Texas’s laws against “unlawful restraint,” a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.“The Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest interfaith peace and justice organization in the US, is against the unholy and hypocritical treatment of migrants by these republican governors,” said Fellowship of Reconciliation executive director Ariel Gold. “Ron DeSantis came from a family of Italian immigrants and the wife of Greg Abbott is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants. Despite their families surely having experienced discrimination as newcomers in the US they are showing to today’s migrants the worst, rather than the best, of America’scharacter.”The Republican governors engaging in these deplorable acts are already derelict in their duties to serve their citizens – according to the Urban Institute, Florida and Texas ordinarily expend less than $1,500 per capita in social services, while by comparison Washington, DC, which is not yet a state yet, expends more than $2,500 per capita – yet they are attempting to pass on costs to cities like Washington, DC for political theater in an election season.Migrants coming to “sanctuary” cities, such as Washington DC are being served by faith communities, mutual aid groups, peace and justice organizations, and people of conscience who rise every day to help the US live up to the words on the Statute of Liberty declares: “Give me your tired…poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Dear: Honorable Mayor Muriel Bowser, Mayor, District of Columbia and Honorable Phil Mendelson, Chairmen, DC CouncilWe, diverse clergy, peace, justice and faith organizations, and people of conscience and goodwill, call upon the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the DC City Council, and the Office of the Attorney General to do whatever is necessary legally and otherwise to hold the governors of Texas, Florida, and any other state accountable for dereliction of duty by transporting migrants across state lines without permission, knowledge, or consent.It seems that by transporting migrants to other states without their consent amounts to kidnapping, or human trafficking, and at the very least is an act that is morally reprehensible, dishonest, lacking any human compassion or decency, and is racist upon its face. These political tactics by these governors are designed to make headlines, incite a constituent base with xenophobic proclivities, and to advance these individual governor’s political careers while treating immigrant women, men, and children with the utmost disregard for their value as human beings or respect for their safety.Many of these migrants have been loaded onto busses, and in some cases airplanes, to be transported to locations somewhere in the United States unbeknownst to them. They have traveled, sometimes days, without proper nutrition, medications, or clothing. From any perspective these governors and their states have trafficked human beings, endangering them for the purposes of personal gain. These governors have sought to advance their careers through these immoral, unethical, and possibly illegal acts.These governors wanted to put a financial burden on the cities and states that have declared themselves “sanctuary” communities, of which the District of Columbia is one. But given the fact that the states of Florida and Texas only expend less than $1,500 per capita in social services ordinarily, according to the Urban Institute, in comparison to a “sanctuary city,” like Washington, DC, (which is not a state yet) which expends more than $2,500 per capita — these numbers demonstrate that the issue for these governors is not about immigration but ideology. Or put another way, Texas and Florida is forty-second and forty-fifth in the country in respect to public welfare expenditures. Which means that these states are not even offering adequate services to their own citizens, and yet they want to pass on costs to places like Washington, DC, which has not shirked in its responsibility to its citizens, and to others. As the Statute of Liberty declares, the “…Tired…poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore”.Serving these arriving migrants coming into Washington, DC, and as a “sanctuary” city, faith communities, mutual aid groups, peace and justice organizations, and people of conscience have risen to the occasion of offering the best of US values, while the states of Texas and Florida have done exactly the opposite. Texas and Florida’s political theatrics have impacted negatively and unfairly Washington, DC, which works to repair the wrong perpetuated by these states, and therefore reimbursement and damages are warranted to DC, the faith communities, mutual aid groups, and other organizations delivering relief and aid to these migrants.Therefore, we are asking that the Mayor of the District of Columbia, The DC City Council, and The Office of the Attorney General request that the Department of Justice investigate the governors of the states of Texas and Florida as to whether they have engaged or are engaging in kidnapping and/or human trafficking. That the District of Columbia bring suit against the Governors of Florida and Texas for reimbursement to The District of Columbia for expenses incurred, and that faith communities, mutual aid groups, and others be reimbursed and receive punitive damages for services offered by those groups which should have been rendered by Texas and Florida. We the undersigned humbly ask that our request be considered and taken with the utmost urgency.Signed:Ariel Gold,Executive Director,Fellowship of Reconciliation USARev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Director and Chief Visionary, Faith Strategies, LLCRev. George C. Gilbert, Jr.Executive Director,The Center for Racial Equity and JusticeRev. Dr. Wanda Thompson, Ward 8 Elder Serena K. Parks, Ward 5Rev. Daryl M. Washington, Pastor, St Mary’s Baptist Church, Ward 4The Wednesday Clergy FellowshipThe Downtown Cluster of Congregations, Terry LynchRev. Patricia Fears, Pastor, Fellowship Baptist Church, Ward 4Rev. Dr. Christopher L. Zacharias, Pastor,John Wesley African Methodist Episcopal Zion ChurchThe Missionary Baptist Minister’s ConferenceRev. Keith Byrd, President,The Baptist Convention of DC and VicinityRev. Dr. Lewis T. Tait, Jr. Pastor/TeacherThe VillageBishop Allyson Abrams, PhDPastor & Founder,Empowerment Liberation Cathedral.President, Empowerment Justice Center CorporationRev. Freeman L. PalmerConference Minister,Central Atlantic Conference of The United Church of ChristRev. Marvin SilverAssociate Conference Minister,The Central Atlantic Conference of The United Church of Christ, Director, Justice & Witness Action NetworkRev. Jason Carson Wilson, Founding Executive Director, Bayard Rustin Liberation InitiativeRev. Amanda Hendler-Voss Senior MinisterFirst Congregational UCC Washington, DCRev. Lionel EdmondsPresidentMissionary Baptist Ministers Conference of Washington, DC and VicinityRev. Frank Tucker, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Washington DCDr. E. Gail Anderson Holness, Senior Pastor,Adams Inspirational African Methodist Episcopal ChurchReverend Clarence L. Cross, Jr,Washington District Social Action Committee, African Methodist Episcopal Zion ChurchRev. Darryl! LC Moch (Ward 7) President/CEO,Innergy, Inc,Senior Associate Minister, Inner Light Ministries, UCC,& CoChair, Places of Worship Advisory BoardRev. William H. Lamar, IV, PastorMetropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, DCBishop Dwayne D. Royster, SFJSenior Pastor, Faith United Church of Christ Founder, The Society for Faith and JusticeRabbi Yosef BermanRabbi, New Synagogue ProjectRabbi Charles Feinberg, Executive Director Interfaith Action for Human RightsImam Johari abdul-MalikSoulful Muslims of Washington Metro Area www.soulfulmuslims.orgCAIR National Board-memberMuslim ARC, President