March 2022

The people of Texas and the United States need to hear from our President that he is determined to ensure the nation NOT go backwards on key rights that generations have fought for, including Roe v. Wade and voting rights, and that we will protect the earth for the generations to come. 

I want to hear President Biden promise heartbroken elders that they did not fight for civil, voting, and reproductive rights only to see those dashed in their own lifetimes, and I want him to assure our concerned children that this planet will still be here for them, their kids, and grandkids – that our elected leaders will see to that via laws and regulations at the highest level.

Across the large and diverse state of Texas, 25 congregations voted on our Texas UU Justice Ministry priorities for 2020-22. As people of faith, our values call us to work for 1) racial justice, 2) environmental justice, 3) healthcare access, 4) economic justice, and 5) voting rights. We call on President Biden to speak to those issues and work on them with us. 

In addition, I know from personal experience that queer and trans kids and their families need clear reassurance of legal protections, mental health resources, school safety, and affirming educational environments. 

Politicians like to talk about unity. What I want to hear from the President is bravery – the courage and clarity to be explicitly anti-racist as he addresses everything from election integrity to healthcare to international affairs. I want to hear that the Biden-Harris Administration will build communities, not cages, and stop the shameful, inhumane, and discriminatory border policy and enforcement at ICE detention centers.

This nation calls itself the land of the free and the home of the brave. We need to hear the President bravely committing to seeing that everybody is free.

Rev. Erin Walter is the executive director of the Texas UU Justice Ministry; she is also a musician.

Image courtesy
Immigration Rescue Committee

Write Here! Write Now!
Restoring Asylum and Ending Misuse of Title 42

This month’s Write Here! Write Now! (WHWN) issue is Immigration Justice. UUSJ will be collaborating with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee on a joint action - Restore Asylum and End Misuse of Title 42. 

The Biden Administration is using the Title 42 expulsion policy and other policies created under the Trump Administration to expel people arriving at our borders without providing a  chance to request humanitarian protection. This violates U.S. refugee law and international treaties. It forces asylum seekers into crowded, dangerous, camps in Mexico or returning to the unsafe conditions they fled.  Our Unitarian Universalist faith tradition has a powerful legacy of journeying alongside those who flee their homes from danger, and we strongly oppose the U.S. government’s efforts to limit immigration and constrain refugee programs.

Ways you can support  this joint campaign:

1. Review and join the sign-on letter urging the Biden Administration to take swift action 
2. Spread the word about the letter!  Use our mini media toolkit
3. You can also help us do this work by using our WHWN online letter-writing platform [LINK] or by using the related Write Here! Write Now! handout [LINK].

Board Member Search

The UUSJ Nominating Committee is looking for up to five people to join the Board of Trustees to continue building a dynamic national social justice advocacy organization representing our UU values at the U.S. Capitol and White House. Applications for nomination to the Board are due by May 1, 2022. (Earlier is appreciated.)

The Board members would serve up to two 3-year terms and begin on July 1. Nominees need not be UUSJ members but are expected to join once appointed.

We’re looking for all kinds of folks with great communication and collaboration skills, a passion for social justice, a commitment to UU values, and an interest or experience in making federal policy. People who want to make our nation more just, compassionate, and sustainable. Experience with organizations in transition is a plus.  Marginalized folks to the front!

To submit your name, contact Chloe Emily Ockey, Nominating Committee Chair (info@uusj.org) as soon as possible. For more information.

Texas Rep. Donna Howard

State of Our US Democracy: A UU View from Texas

Texas Rep. Donna Howard (Austen) says it’s important that legislators hear from people of liberal faith. The state Democratic lawmaker joined UUSJ members last month to discuss the obstacles they are up against in Texas. She described how other state Democrats have responded including flying to Washington, DC to prevent Texas Republicans from passing voting rights restrictions.

"People of faith have a huge role to play to help people recognize that when you draw the circle you're not drawing it to say who's in and out, but you're drawing it to be inclusive and to bring everybody in," Rep. Howard said during the UUSJ Briefing. “When we talk about being a liberal religion, we're talking about being a generous religion, we're not talking about liberal politics." 

“We've got to find a way to invite people in who have different beliefs politically, but who share common values,” she added. Watch the video of the meeting HERE

Send a letter to your Senators with this Action Alert

It’s Time to Modernize the Electoral Count Act

Since the failed Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act vote, there’s been an effort to overhaul the Electoral Count Act (ECA). The move has attracted bipartisan collaboration among at least 15 Senators, according to New York Times reporting. 

What remains to be seen is will it address any of the substantive voting dysfunction and inequity that the John R. Lewis Act (H.R. 4) sought to address? 

Urge Senators to closely examine what elements from that bill can be included in the new ECA effort. 

Please join in strongly underscoring that the right to vote is fundamental to our lives as U.S. citizens and voting should be easy for everyone. Gerrymandering and dark money corrupt our democracy and need to be eliminated. We must have legislation at the federal level to ensure that all 50 states are following a fair and unbiased election process. They must contend with these issues as they look at ECA.

Use this Action Alert
to contact your senators

What’s Next for Voting Rights? 

The Democracy Action Team (DAT) is focusing on reforming the Electoral Count Act,  after the disappointing Senate filibuster of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

One measure under consideration – the  Electoral Count Modernization Act – does have bipartisan support.  It would update and clarify the current 1887-passed law that governs the casting and counting of electoral votes for president as well as the role of Congress and the vice president. Reforming the current law is aimed at averting the chaos and misinformation following the 2020 presidential election.  

There is some interest in adding a few crucial voting rights protections to the Electoral Count Modernization Act.  However, some lawmakers say it would only reprise the January failure of John Lewis voting rights bill and stall reforming the ECA.  

[Read More]

Communities Not Cages National Day of Action

March 3
Find or Start An Action
Register for the Digital Hour of Action

Join UUSJ, UU Association, UU Service Committee, and UU Refugee and Immigration Services and Education (UURISE) as well as our allies at Detention Watch Network, We Are Home, and other frontline immigration advocacy groups, for the “Communities Not Cages” National Day of Action. There will be events across the country calling on the Administration to stop expanding and begin dismantling the current system of detention for migrants caught in the immigration enforcement process.

The current Administration campaigned to end prolonged detention and for-profit detention centers and create a fair and humane immigration system that preserves the dignity of immigrant families, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Instead, the Administration has expanded detention and failed to address health and safety issues raised by detention, especially during the pandemic as COVID-19 cases spread rapidly through some detention centers.

As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to honor the inherent worth and dignity of all people and to seek justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. This means restoring fair access to asylum and dramatically reducing and phasing out detention.

We encourage you to work toward these needed actions by participating in the National Day of Action activities. You can find a list of activities here.

UUSJ Board Member, Johannes Favi, was an ICE detainee and is still navigating the system. We want the President to #ProtectDontDeport.

Campaign to Restore Asylum and End Misuse of Title 42

The Immigration Action Team (IAT) continues working with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) on a joint campaign to advocate for:

• Ending expulsions carried out under Title 42 section 265 of U.S. public health law; and 
• Terminating the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which has been used to send some undocumented people back to Mexico to wait while their asylum cases are considered. The Biden administration terminated the protocols, but they were reinstated in August 2021 after a Texas federal court ruling. The ruling is being appealed.

The first part of the campaign is a letter to President Biden asking that fair access to asylum be restored as soon as possible and that the use of the Title 42 and MPP policies be ended. Please review and join the sign-on letter urging the Biden Administration to take swift action, then spread the word about the letter! (Use our mini media toolkit.)

The campaign's second part is e a Write Here! Write Now! (WHWN) letter-writing campaign, urging members of Congress to press the Biden administration to end both Title 42 expulsions and forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico under MPP.  Use our WHWN online letter writing platform [LINK] or review the related Write Here! Write Now! handout [LINK].

The third part of the campaign will be meetings this month with Congressional offices urging an end to these policies. IAT will again be inviting constituents from the appropriate states to join in these meetings. Watch for details. 

Reform Immigration Court System

The IAT also sent a letter expressing concerns about the immigration justice system to the offices of the Senators we met with last year. Immigration courts are a part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is also the law enforcement agency that prosecutes immigration cases in federal courts. We urged that the Senators introduce or co-sponsor a Senate companion bill to the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022 (H.R. 6577), which would create an immigration court system that is separate and independent from the DOJ.

Celebrate World Water Day, March 22

UUSJ is partnering with UU Ministry For Earth (UUMFE) for World Water Day 2022 in calling for the United States to address historic injustices when planning and implementing water resources projects

The March 22 joint action addresses the planning and implementing ecosystem restoration and new water infrastructure projects, and pursuing more nature-based solutions for water resources development. (Watch for details)

We can do better. Nature-based solutions – restoring wetlands, flood plains, oyster reefs, and coastal forests – are more sustainable strategies in addressing extreme weather events brought on by climate change than traditional approaches such as seawalls and levees.

Nature-based solutions avoid the ill effects of human-built infrastructure such as increased erosion while benefiting fish and wildlife, which provide a critical foundation for coastal economies, and also respect traditional community uses. Poor communities should have access to comprehensive, systems-based approaches for mitigation elements. We need to green our approach, policies, and programs – to become more resilient, sustainable, and responsive to community needs.

UUs Get Behind Build Back Fossil Free, in a Big Way

In late February, 138 congregations and/or congregational teams, 17 UU State Action Networks, as well as the UU Association, UU Ministry for Earth, UU Service Committee, UUSJ, and UUs for a Just Economic Community signed on to Build Back Fossil Free. We were part of more than 1,100 organizations, representing all 50 states, joining an open letter to President Biden urging him to take executive action in 2022 to stop approving fossil fuel projects, and declare a national #ClimateEmergency with action to Build Back Fossil Free.