Andrews University Speaker: Churches Should Hide Illegal Immigrants

A recent guest speaker at Andrews University, a Christian institution in Berrien Springs, Michigan, told students that their churches should hide illegal immigrants to protect them from deportation.

According to a report by Campus Reform, Andrews University guest speaker James Standish encouraged American churches to hide illegal immigrants. Standish even went as far as to compare ICE deportations to conditions under Nazi Germany.

“In the law, there is a doctrine called equitable estoppel. Equitable estoppel means that you can’t watch somebody invest and build something and wait until they built it, knowing they exist and they come in and take it away from them,” Standish said referring to the deportation of illegal immigrants.

Standish told students that American churches should open their doors to illegal immigrants because ICE policy allegedly restricts their ability to raid religious buildings.

“A church entity asked me to look into this [immigration policy] because of our members being deported…” Standish explained, “today, except in unusual circumstances, ICE will not raid a church.”

“This is my challenge to you: why not open your church as a sanctuary? Why not say to people that have good reason to be afraid, ‘if you are afraid, come and live in our church? We will turn our sanctuary into a real sanctuary,” Standish continued. “Enough with the blah blah blah, people are being hurt right now across this country. Many of them are our brothers and our sisters. And we stand by with our churches empty where they could be.”

Although Andrews University students were not required to attend the lecture, Standish’s event did count towards an academic requirement. Students at Andrews University are required to attend a minimum number of lecture events. Many students attended Standish’s event to receive this credit.

You can watch a portion of Standish’s lecture below.

Update — A previous version of this article indicated that James Standish holds an executive position in the Seventh-Day Adventist church. Although Standish engages in consulting with the church, he does not hold a position in it.