Photos and Story by Deaconess Sophia Agtarap
Volunteers welcomed over 100 community members across Tacoma and Pierce County who gathered at Tacoma First United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 1, to say with moral clarity, Abolish ICE.
It began with Mike Collier, who has served as a local pastor in Tacoma over the years, approaching Rev. Shalom Agtarap, Pastor of Tacoma First UMC and a member of the SeaTac District Superintendency team, with the idea of hosting a vigil for ICE victims. Rev. Shalom’s response: “Only if we are clear in saying Abolish ICE, can we host one.”
There was a common desire to share a faith space where we talk about divine promptings and the witness of Jesus (and other names for God) that lead us to liberation. And because we are faith-filled, we resolve not to despair in these times.
The event was well-attended by colleagues who’ve already said “Yes” to deportation defense through their participation in our NWDC solidarity Day in October and now in our faith gathering last Sunday.
Episcopalians, Quakers, Lutherans, practicing Buddhists, United Methodists, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and neighbors longing for an alternative to despair gathered and sang together as a community.
One JVP member said, “I’m in these streets! Every week! And I needed this.”
Another said, “I’m not churchy, and I’m really glad I came tonight and brought my neighbor with me.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates a system fundamentally incompatible with our deepest values.
Rev. Katie Klosterman, pastor of Browns Point United Methodist Church, reflects, “The interfaith gathering was deeply connectional, not only to see so many people gathered from different groups and different faiths, but it gave us grounding and a rootedness to love beneath our feet, within our hearts and all around us.”
She reflects further, “That grounding and rootedness allowed me to hold the heaviness and the heartache of what is happening to our immigrant siblings and also hold an inner peace that will not allow me to give up as we all work to abolish ICE and protect the human rights of our neighbors. “
The proximity of Tacoma First United Methodist Church to the Northwest Detention Center, one of the largest immigration prisons in the United States, is just under two miles away, a constant reminder of who our neighbors are.
We gathered because this is what faith communities do: we create spaces where people can tell the truth, mourn, and commit together to the hard work of repair and restoration.
Abolition is faithfulness, and a different world is possible. We are called to imagine and build systems rooted in welcome, dignity, and justice rather than surveillance, detention, and exile.
Our sacred texts don’t promise this work will be easy. But they do promise we don’t do it alone.
Sophia Agtarap is a deaconess in The Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church. Agtarap also serves as co-lay leader of First United Methodist Church of Tacoma, Washington.
