Bringing compassion and mercy to migrants means looking past the fear, resentment and scarcity mentality conservatives are bringing to the immigration debate, Cláudio Carvalhaes said during Fellowship Southwest’s Compassion and Justice Conference.
“It means to continue to live with those who suffer, which means we must be with those at the margin, and that must be with the immigrants, no matter what the world tells us about them,” said Carvalhaes, professor of worship and practical theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Cláudio Carvalhaes
The Sept. 20-21 conference gathered activists from across Fellowship Southwest’s nontraditional network of Christians who share a passion for serving vulnerable communities. This year’s theme focused on “connection,” in reference to the organization’s “Compassion, Justice, Connection” tagline. The event was held at Life in Deep Ellum in Dallas.
Don’t be fooled by discouraging, even threatening voices claiming that to aid immigrants is to aid America’s enemies, Carvalhaes said. “Our world is saying to us: ‘You cannot bear a threat. We have laws here. Let them figure out their lives. What would become of us if we if we attend to all immigrants? Let immigrants and refugees figure out their own problems where they are. We have no part in this.’”
The Christian response should be to focus on Christ’s imperative to show up for those most in need and to ignore xenophobic hysteria, he said. “Compassion is the opposite, it’s what fuels our fight for justice and what keeps us connected. Conferences like this are wonderful ways to remind us that we must be merciful, loving and compassionate and that we must be justice seekers and joy sharers.”
That the anti-immigration movement is built on lies about immigrants was brazenly evident in Donald Trump’s presidential debate claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating residents’ pets, the speaker said. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, and other Republicans have added false claims Haitians are stealing from local stores.
As usual, rhetoric disparaging immigrants does not add up, Carvalhaes noted. “Sorry, but track their messages and ask, ‘Does this make sense?’ It’s time to dispel the rumor. No, they are not stealing from Walmart. No, they are not eating cats and dogs and we have not seen any cases of that. But Springfield is now in a very difficult situation because of these lies.”
“He reduces the complexities of the problems of this country to the single issue of immigrants.”
As ridiculous as they are, such accusations can be dangerous to brown-skinned people across the nation, he said. “Trump’s fear tactics are designed to scare everyone. He reduces the complexities of the problems of this country to the single issue of immigrants. Well, if the economy is not going well, the immigrants are the cause of the problem. Don’t bother about a system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer and is making the middle class disappear.”
The situation at the southern border adds more fuel to the injustice, racism and potential violence migrants and their supporters face from white supremacists, he continued. “It is sad that since 1998, at least 8,000 precious people have died crossing the borders, and now it has been exploited by companies who create private prisons so they can profit immensely with the suffering of the immigrants.”
Trump’s border wall is another evil to organize against, Carvalhaes added. “Fighting the wall is to fight for joy and our own sense of humanity. We cannot naturalize the wall as if it is now just a natural part of the landscape. If we do that, we are naturalizing death.”
Christian activists seeking justice for immigrants need to remember Jesus’ commandment to love God and neighbor and that to feed the hungry is to feed Christ, he urged
“If you want to be a Christian, don’t water down this faith, don’t water down Jesus’ radical message, don’t forget that Jesus was a refugee himself. You are a follower of a refugee and a state political prisoner who was murdered for messing up the social order.”
Related article:
‘If we weren’t powerful, they wouldn’t try to stop us,” Justin Jones says