By Corey Fields
We hear a lot about the declining influence of the church and decreased religious participation. I can’t help but think that this has been partially self-imposed by our tendency to let issues of individual morality and other distractions consume our attention while large-scale or systemic problems fly under our radar. We have too often been modern-day Pharisees who neglect “justice, mercy, and faithfulness” and who “strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matt. 23:23-24). We have a very urgent opportunity to provide what I believe can be the most powerful prophetic witness to some serious moral issues. This is the first article in a series on Christian teachings for which there is a desperate need in our world today.
Despite being a nation of immigrants whose motto for roughly 170 years was “out of many, one,” the United States can be a hostile place for immigrants, particularly the undocumented from Latin America. Many of the mantras repeated about these immigrants do not stand up to scrutiny. Though some claim they are a drain on our resources and tax dollars, the vast majority work, and one study found that they paid taxes upward of $11 billion in 2012. Though some accost them for “sneaking in” and say that they should just “come here legally,” it is literally impossible for many to do so, and often too complicated and costly for those who do have a pathway. Time and money are what the desperate do not have. Never mind that immigrants are required to pass tests that some natural-born citizens could not.
The connection between immigrants and crime is also grossly exaggerated, a fact that the Wall Street Journal recently addressed. Robert Kinney, a public defender in Las Cruces who works with immigrant populations, has said that the vast majority “would be model citizens of this country if they were allowed to live here.” Judge Robert Brack, who works in the same area, said, “I just don’t think people with the loud, angry voices have a sense of the innocent people who are being crushed every day by this machine that’s like a steamroller without anybody at the wheel.”
There is much about the situation with Latino immigrants that adds insult to injury. 2014 saw a sharp increase in immigrants — including many children — fleeing deteriorating conditions in their home countries. It prompted calls for the United States to treat them as refugees, not immigrants, which would afford them certain rights and protections that we don’t seem willing to give. The conditions in some detention centers went from bad to worse, and we saw several instances of groups protesting and blocking the arrival of buses carrying children. Of course, some immigrants never make it, and reports surfaced in June of a mass grave found in southern Texas.
In the midst of all this, seven of the Republican presidential candidates have openly said that they do not support birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents, a right guaranteed in the 14th Amendment. Combine this with the reinterpretation of the Second Amendment to allow an unregulated, well-armed populace (instead of a “well-regulated militia,” as the text says), and one begins to wonder what the overall vision is for what our society should be.
The Judeo-Christian tradition of welcoming the stranger is no peripheral matter in the Bible. The Mosaic law repeatedly forbids oppressing foreigners. It’s a command that comes with a reason behind it: “You were once foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 22:21, 23:9). This is a call to remember that we are all strangers somewhere. It is at least a plea for empathy — putting ourselves in another’s shoes — which is so often what’s missing from these conversations. If it were me, and I thought my child’s only chance at a better life was for me to cross the border undocumented, I can’t be so sure I wouldn’t do it. Mercy is a major biblical theme, but there seems to be none to spare, even for the children who have no control over their situation.
The prophets threatened judgment on God’s people for oppressing such people and for “shedding innocent blood” (Mal. 3:5). The words of Ezekiel seem all too relevant: “The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice” (Ezek. 22:29). Such is the experience of millions of immigrants every year.
In keeping with Jesus’ words that our acts of compassion toward “the least of these” is like doing it unto him (Matt. 25:40), early Christian communities were known for their radical hospitality. “Transcending social and ethnic differences by sharing meals, homes, and worship with persons of different backgrounds was a proof of the truth of the Christian faith,” writes Christine Pohl. “The distinctive Christian contribution was the emphasis on including the poor and neediest, the ones who could not return the favor.”
Paul urged the practice of welcome and hospitality (Rom. 12:13), as did the writer of Hebrews, saying that we never know when we might be entertaining angels (Heb. 13:2). The New Testament Greek word for hospitality is philoxenia, a compound of a word for love (philos) and the word for stranger (xenos) — literally, love of the stranger. It is the word xenos from which the English word “xenophobia” is derived, which, tragically, is more often our posture than philoxenia. Even if we did have good reasons to turn away desperate immigrants (which, as I argue above, we don’t), our own well-being is not the only concern of a Christian (Phil. 2:3-4).
In the face of all this dehumanization of the immigrant and neglect of the refugee, we need loud Christian voices to say that all of these are beloved children of God. That affirmation, rather than economics or fear, should be our starting point. A call for compassion and understanding toward immigrants is not a call for open border anarchy, as some rabble-rousers like to suggest.
There is a common dismissive response to the plight of immigrants: “the law is the law.” These objections and the debates over President Obama’s executive actions have only served to distract us from the conversation about how the laws need to change. We too easily find excuses to look away from the tremendous pain and suffering endured by those whose best option is to leave what they know and throw themselves at the mercy of the United States. Where would we be today if all the iconic civil rights leaders of the past had said, “Follow the law, ’cause it’s the law”? When there is injustice, there is more to it. There is wide scholarly and legal agreement that our immigration laws are outdated. According to those closest to the ground, they are even inhumane.
The first order of business for a Christian who shares God’s concern for the vulnerable is not laws and numbers but people and stories. Do we get caught up in the rhetoric and division, or do we listen and give voice to the lived experience of real people?
What we hear when we stop and listen to these people and their stories reveals one of our country’s biggest moral crises, exacerbated by high levels of fear and racism. Followers of Christ have a difficult and counter-cultural — but desperately needed — witness to bear. May we be found faithful.