The Immigration Working Group (IWG) is a group of Wisconsin Conference clergy and lay leaders who are concerned about immigration justice.  We work to stay informed about and provide support for efforts in our local congregations to support refugees and immigrants, including those who are seeking asylum in the United States.

Immigrant Welcoming Conference / Immigration Working Group

The Wisconsin Conference is an Immigrant Welcoming Conference.  To learn more about what this means and how your congregation and you can get involved in immigration justice work, including accessing recordings of numerous online workshops: Immigrant Welcoming Conference page.

The IWG connects monthly (usually on the second Tuesday of the month at 1pm) via Zoom, maintains an email list, and sponsors/produces informative online webinars and workshops.

To learn more about how to get involved with the Immigration Working Group, email Mary Kuenning Gross.

Learn how your community can participate in Welcoming Week (September 10-19, 2026) “Through Welcoming Week, organizations and communities bring together neighbors of all backgrounds to build strong connections and affirm the importance of welcoming and inclusive places in achieving collective prosperity.”

Share this presentation, “Grounding Theology for Migration Justice”, from a recent UCC webinar.

Read this relatively recent (January, 2026) article from Lawfare: “Can ICE Enter a Home to Make an Arrest With Only an Administrative Warrant?” 

 Message from Megan Bergert, UCC Minister for Refugee and Migration Services (1/9/2026):

“…I hope we can lift prayers and intentions of mercy for the family, friends, and community of Renee Nicole Good; for the neighbors who witnessed her killing; for the Black and Brown neighbors who have seen scores of their community members killed with little notice or public outcry. We affirm the presence of Minnesota UCC pastors and congregants who were near the incident and are now leading their communities through the aftermath. We hold in the light the organizers and community members who are planning continued action to protest ICE action and degrading federal migration policy. God, hear our prayers.”

What You Can Do:

1. Go to ucc.org/refugeeto read an action alert from the National Immigration Law Center about an imminent increase of funding for ICE. Fill out the form to message your Congress members to vote against increased ICE funding.
2. Go to ucc.org/refugeeand scroll to the blue box about Global HOPE grants. Apply for a MIRA (Migrant, Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee) grant to fund advocacy and accompaniment work in your community.
3. Sign up for the daily State of Playnewsletter from Church World Service, which offers reliable, updated information on immigration policy and court cases. Offer this reliable information to others in conversation and community.

Staying up to date on the ever-changing landscape of migration is a challenge.  The Immigration Working Group encourages people interested in the most current information, especially on issues around refugee admissions, asylum seekers, the situation on our country’s southern border and in our cities in this awful time of mass deportations, to check out the websites of the trusted organizations listed below.

Listing of trusted organizations:

• National UCC:
  • UCC “Love Knows No Borders” campaign: image and  website
  • Two relevant Resolutions of Witness approved at 2025 General Synod:
    • “Responding to the Federal Government’s Attack on Immigrants, Migrants, and Refugees“
    • “Calling the United Church of Christ to Oppose the 2025 Immigration Rollbacks and Support Immigrants, Refugees, and Pacific Island Communities, While Amplifying Antiracist Work on Behalf of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in Response to the Current Socio-political Backlash“
  • Connect with Colectivo de UCC Latinx Minitries
  • UCC Advocacy Resources for the First 100 Days This excellent compendium of online UCC advocacy resources includes but is not limited to immigration justice.
  • UCC Refugee and Migration Ministries
    • Immigrant Welcoming Congregations information, including the Immigrant Welcoming Congregations toolkit (updated in 2023)
    • Updates on Immigration Pathways
• Church World Service:
  • • “Daily State of Play: Trump’s Indefinite Refugee Ban and Funding Halt” newsletter
    • Migration, Asylum & Refugees
    • Action Alerts
    • Learn more about Rise Up for Refuge, an “…inclusive, nonpartisan moral action movement launched by Church World Service (CWS) to strengthen, resource, and amplify community-led efforts supporting immigrant and refugee communities….”
• HIAS
• Interfaith Immigration Coalition: their newsletter contains a wealth of relevant advocacy information; sign up on their webpage.
• American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  • AFSC explainer on January 2025 Executive Orders related to immigration
• Refugee Council USA
• Episcopal Migration Ministries
• National Immigration Law Center
  • • Information on the immigration registration registration (aka “alien registration requirement“), effective 4/11/25
    • January 2025 fact sheet on the Trump Adminstration’s recission of the “protected areas” policy
      • Department of Homeland Security press release on the recission
    • 2017 guide, “What to Do If Immigration Comes to Your Workplace”
• Columbia Law School Law, Right & Religion Project
  • Report on Religious Liberty and Immigration (July, 2025)  “This report is intended as a practical tool for immigration attorneys, criminal defense lawyers, civil rights advocates, faith-based organizations, and houses of worship.”
  • FAQs on Religious Liberty & Immigration (February, 2025; will be updated regularly)
• The Welcome with Dignity Campaign

Presidential Determination of Refugeee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026: 

• Read official determination here
• And a few reactions:
  • Church World Service statement
  • Global Refuge press release
  • International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) press release

Additional information, including “Know Your Rights”, may be found on the Immigration Justice Resources and Immigration Organizations pages, linked above.

For information on the Welcome Corps, the new-in-2023 program to welcome refugees through private sponsorship: https://welcomecorps.org/  (Note: as of January 20, 2025, this program is suspended per Executive Order)

Immigration Justice News