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Statement from The Board of Directors

Faith leaders led peaceful direct action outside the SF ICE Field Office at 630 Sansome Street, where more than 250 people gathered to prevent kidnappings and confront harm to immigrant neighbors (Dec 2025)

We will fight for human integrity. 

We will show the world our “soul force.”  

We are not afraid.  

We practice Love over Fear.

Dear Allies, Accomplices, & Lovers of Justice,

At IM4HI, we honor the integrity and human dignity of every single person. When that dignity is under assault, we must, as Martin Luther King urged us in 1963, “rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”

Physical force is the unrepentant killing of Keith Porter Jr. , Renee Nicole Good, and Alex Pretti by government agents and the deaths of 32 of our siblings while in ICE detention in 2025.

Soul force is tens of thousands of people in Minneapolis marching in minus 9 degree weather to protect their neighbors, and thousands of others gathering in solidarity on neighborhood corners and city hall steps across the country.

In addition to the horrific deaths in Minneapolis, we honor the lives of Jaime Alanis GarciaSilverio Villegas GonzalesMarimar MartinezRoberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, and  Josue Castro Rivera.

We commit to lead with love, hope, and community, and must not allow indiscriminate ICE killings and detentions to continue. The IM4HI board refuses to look away, to make excuses, or to sanitize our language. ICE and Border Patrol are a fascist, para-military force committing acts of evil in our country. 

Our faith traditions teach us how we are to respond to oppression:

“Whoever kills a person it is as if he had killed the whole of humankind. And whoever saves one – it will be as if he had saved the whole of humankind.”

— Qur’an 5:32, Talmud (sanhedrin 37a)

“Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”

— Isaiah 1:17

“Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.”

— Romans 21:12

The forces of fascism and violence are arrayed against us. How we respond could be the difference between living in a diverse, pluralistic democracy and living in a military ethno-state. 

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity stands with all communities that protect their neighbors from violence and oppression. We will continue to organize, coordinate, and collaborate non-violent direct actions. We are here for you. We hope you will join us!

At IM4HI, we believe that all people are sacred, across bars and borders. Join us in this work, as we create an unbreakable web of solidarity across our communities. Like a tree planted by the water, we shall not be moved.

Yours, The Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

Board of Directors —

Benjamin “BenjaSoul” Mertz, Chair

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb

Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow

Martha Matsuoka

Maram Bata

Sergio Jaime

Tarek Shawky