Rev. Timothy Smith will share his views on United States immigration policy this Sunday in an uncommon forum â€" he’s going to give a sermon about it. As one of Tacoma’s most active opponents of a private prison for immigrants on the Tacoma Tideflats, Smith is concerned that the human and moral elements of immigration enforcement measures have been lost. 

“I think all too often we get the conservative Christian view of ‘round them up and ship them out’,” says Smith, a former Army intelligence officer and current human rights advocate. “I think we have a responsibility to share the human side. It’s going to be couched in a Christian perspective, but this is based on the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution.” 

Immigration detention currently is the fastest growing form of incarceration in the United States. Many people taken from their homes and workplaces are held in privately run facilities such as the Northwest Detention Center, which is within short walking distance of downtown Tacoma. Recently, reports have begun to emerge indicating that the care of people dragged into detention centers such as the one in Tacoma is inhumane. Smith and others have opposed operations at the detention center on those grounds, as well as what Smith characterizes as clear violation of constitutional and human rights standards.

Many faith-based organizations receive financial assistance from branches of Homeland Security, while others invest a great deal of time and energy ministering to people imprisoned at the Northwest Detention Center. Oftentimes these organizations fear speaking out for fear of losing funding, or for fear of being barred from carrying out ministries at the facility, Smith speculates. His sermon will serve as a call to the community to consider what’s happening on the tide flats from a moral and human perspective. 

“I’m not decrying the actions of people,” says Smith. “I’m decrying the inaction of the vast majority of Americans â€" the people who don’t have a position.” 

A Christian’s View of Immigration, and an update on the Northwest Detention Center will occur Sunday, March 8, 1 p.m. at Hillside Community Church, 2508 S. 39th St.