A release from the Deportation Defense Response
The Deportation Defense Response team is incredibly grateful for the generous support of the Legal and Mutual Aid Grant Fund. At the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference on July 7, 2025, On Earth Peace challenged the denomination to raise $100,000. And the church did it, and more. As of Dec. 1, 2025, $138,300 has been raised to support individuals and families caught in the immigration system.
The Deportation Defense Response is an initiative of several Church of the Brethren districts with On Earth Peace and the Intercultural Ministries of the denomination.
Donations to the Legal and Mutual Aid Grant Fund have arrived from 6 districts, at least 50 individuals, and at least 12 congregations. Also, Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed a grant from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund in support of the effort.
The Legal and Mutual Aid Grant Fund, which is administered by Atlantic Southeast District,* has approved grants to 13 congregations of the Church of the Brethren on behalf of 40 individuals. Grants are disbursed to congregations on behalf of specific individuals in need.
Grants are given up to $2,500 per person. A committee of three representing the districts of Virlina, Atlantic Southeast, and Pacific Southwest reviews applications and makes decisions. Most grants have gone to help with attorney fees. Several have been used to pay for the application process for temporary protective service cards, green cards, and other immigration status-related petitions. A dozen have included requests for mutual aid while a family member is in detention or has been deported and no longer contributing to the family income.
A new video titled “Walking with Our Immigrant Brothers and Sisters” about the Deportation Defense Response and the Legal and Mutual Aid Grant Fund, produced by David Sollenberger, is now available to view online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ4tpVBq8Yw. The video shares how Church of the Brethren members are being swept up in the deportation crisis in the United States and shares the church’s Deportation Defense Response. This video accompanies a request by On Earth Peace to raise another $150,000 to support those Brethren who are being impacted by the immigration crackdown. The video is meant to be shared widely, with districts and congregations invited to recommend it to their members and to arrange viewing by small groups and Sunday school classes.
In light of the pressing and ongoing need, On Earth Peace has announced a call for another $150,000 in fundraising to meet urgent needs related to immigration enforcement, so that we can continue to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters as they occur.
Will you and your congregation or district support the Deportation Defense Response Legal and Mutual Aid Fund in reaching the new total goal of $250,000?
Irvin Heishman, pastor of West Charleston Church of the Brethren in Tipp City, Ohio, writes:
“A grant from the Legal Fund paid a fourth month of rent (after our church paid the previous three months of rent) keeping a Haitian family from becoming homeless after their work permits were revoked. The humanitarian parole program for Haitians under which they were legally in the US was canceled by the US government, which invalidated their work permits and their driver’s licenses. The father had wisely applied for asylum for the family in January, and so in October (over nine months later, and four months after their documents were invalidated because of the closure of the humanitarian parole program), both parents now again have work permits and are back to work. The Deportation Defense Response Team helped our congregation help this family bridge four months of unemployment with rent payments, keeping them from homelessness. They are now back on their feet and more secure with an active asylum case in process. Thanks to OEP and the DDRT Legal and Mutual Aid Fund for supporting folks like this to bridge gaps and address needs in this insane time.”
In October, moved by the ongoing crisis, Mark and Rhonda Pittman Gingrich (director of Annual Conference) gave a $10,000 challenge gift, hoping it would inspire others in the Church of the Brethren to step forward with generous gifts to sustain the program and the fund.
“We are making this gift in memory of Rhonda’s mother, Marianne Rhoades Pittman, who would be heartbroken and angry about what is happening to our brothers and sisters,” they shared. “Our family life has been enriched by the inclusion of a Vietnamese refugee family the Champaign congregation sponsored in the 1980s. Marianne was known for how she embraced the beauty of diversity and her gift of turning strangers into family.”
Pacific Southwest District executive minister Russ Matteson has written to church members about reaching the previous goal of $100,000.
“We are so thankful that you have been willing to care for neighbors in this way,” he wrote. “And, you need to know the truth. We are still receiving applications, and we still need your support. In fact, having already made forty grants, we already have applications in hand for the next thirty.”
The fund is described at www.onearthpeace.org/immigrant_legal_mutual_aid_fund.
Donate online to the fund at www.onearthpeace.org/legal_mutual_aid_fund_donations.
Checks may be made out to Atlantic Southeast District with “DDR” in the memo line and mailed to Atlantic Southeast District, 64954 Orchard Dr., Goshen, IN 46526.
To send checks larger than $10,000 and for any other questions contact Beth Sollenberger, Atlantic Southeast District interim director of administration, at atlanticsoutheastcob@gmail.com.
Congregations needing financial help to aid their immigrant church members may apply for grants from the fund by contacting ddrcobcoordinator@gmail.com or 561-647-8981 to receive the application form.
On Earth Peace is a Kingian Nonviolence leadership development organization and an agency of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference with a mission to develop and walk with leaders and communities who work for justice and peace. For more information see www.OnEarthPeace.org.
*Legal and Mutual Aid Grant Fund donations sent to On Earth Peace or Atlantic Southeast District are designated funds and do not contribute to those organizations’ annual budget needs.
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