Episcopalians from across the great state of Minnesota, together with the Minnesota Council of Churches, with the Interfaith Council on Immigration, and many brothers and sisters of faith to call for the immediate removal of the name “Bishop Henry Whipple” from the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, under 40 USC § 3101, 3102.

We are aware that the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building serves as a regional hub for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which includes the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  We are aware that the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building holds our immigration courts, the strategizing and execution of ICE raids and arrests that happen in our communities, and the dispersing of immigrants for detainment in Minnesota’s county jails, and planning for eventual deportment. From within the Whipple Building’s walls, DHS, USCIS and ICE feed immigrants into Minnesota county jails that abhorrently are making profit from human suffering.

We have witnessed the cruelty, injustice, inhumane treatment, and inhospitable practices that occur on a daily basis, all in a building where our beloved Bishop Henry Whipple’s name hangs over the front door. We do not accept this perverse and ironic use of the name of the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota whose life-long vocation was serving, and advocating for, marginalized people, particularly Dakota tribes during the mid-1800s. The Whipple Building lies just a stone’s throw from where the Dakota believe all of creation began and where Bishop Whipple walked among a beloved Dakota community. We denounce the oppression that took place against Dakota people then and the oppression that is being perpetuated against immigrants today at the hands of DHS, USCIS and ICE.

This well-oiled, ruthless, and inhumane deportation machine fills deportation vans that depart weekly from the Whipple Building, to the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport, where deportation planes eagerly deport immigrants back to certain suffering, torture and even death in their home countries.

The Episcopal Church has a 62-year history of opinion and policy-setting regarding immigration, always with the theme of welcome and hospitality, always calling for a clear path to citizenship through comprehensive immigration reform. The current practices and actions taking place within the Bishop Henry Whipple building, by DHS, USCIS, and ICE, are contrary to the belief, policy, values, practices, and theology of the Episcopal Church, and of all people of faith. The fact that the building carries the name of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota’s patriarch, and icon of human rights, is an affront to our church. We join with our partners in faith -- and with all those who seek immigrant justice -- in demanding its immediate removal.