On International Human Rights Day, faith leaders from across Long Island gathered at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Huntington Station to publicly affirm their solidarity with immigrant communities and to denounce policies and practices that separate families and sow fear. The press conference was organized by Long Island Jobs with Justice and brought together clergy and advocates committed to justice, dignity, and human rights for all people.
The Rev. Canon Marie Tatro, Canon for Community Justice, and the Rev. Lilo Carr Rivera, Priest-in-Charge of St. Andrew’s, Yaphank, represented the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island at the event. Although the Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano was unable to attend, Mother Rivera shared a statement from the Bishop of Long Island with those gathered.
In the video, Canon Tatro reflects on the significance of standing together in this moment, naming the moral urgency to respond to the suffering of immigrant families. “The cruelty that we’re seeing in this nation right now is intentional,” she said, adding that the separation of families and the climate of fear surrounding immigration enforcement are tearing communities apart. Yet, she affirmed, people of faith are paying attention and organizing in response.
In his statement, Bishop Provenzano recalled a recent march and interfaith service in Huntington Station honoring immigrant day laborers taken by masked ICE agents. “For our immigrant neighbors, there will be empty chairs at dinner tables,” he wrote, as families face the holidays with loved ones missing. A son of immigrants raised in Brooklyn by Sicilian parents, he named the current climate of hatred and cruelty toward immigrants as “among the darkest times in our nation’s history,” and pointed to the many scriptural commands to “welcome the stranger.” He concluded by reaffirming his commitment—along with the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Long Island—to continue fighting “for the rights of all of God’s children.”
The press conference served as both a public witness and a pastoral moment, making clear that faith leaders on Long Island stand united in resisting fear, naming injustice, and accompanying immigrant neighbors with courage, prayer, and action.