Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s continued push of a narrative about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, has some Christian immigration advocates concerned about the anti-immigrant posture behind it, saying it is divisive and un-Christian.
Vance doubled down this week on a claim that Haitian migrants are “eating pets” and are overwhelming the city of Springfield as he appeared on the Sunday shows and in campaign stops throughout the week.
In Sunday’s “State of the Union” on Sept. 15, host Dana Bash asked if Vance would affirm the story about Haitian migrants eating pets was “a rumor without evidence,” and Vance said “the evidence is the firsthand account of my constituents who are telling me this happened.” The Republican senator said he had been talking about the problems in Springfield for months, but that the “American media totally ignored this until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes.”
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” he added. When asked to clarify, Vance said, “When I say we’re creating the story, I mean we’re creating the American media focus on it.”
Springfield has been overwhelmed because “Kamala Harris allowed 20,000 Haitian migrants to get dropped in a small Ohio town of about 40,000 people,” Vance asserted.
When told by a reporter at a rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday that most of the Haitian migrants in Springfield had come there legally, Vance said Vice President Kamala Harris used mass parole and temporary protective status “to wave a wand and to say, ‘We’re not going to deport those people here,’” according to the Raleigh News and Observer.
“Well, if Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these people are now here legally, I’m still going to call them an illegal alien,” he said.
It’s this continued focus on a debunked narrative and the rhetoric that comes with it that Christian immigration advocates say is un-Christians and runs contrary to biblical teachings.
Noel Andersen
“Dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric is directly opposed to the biblical message to welcome newcomers in our midst and love our neighbors as ourselves,” said Noel Andersen, national field director for Church World Service and coordinator for the United Church of Christ National Collaborative on Immigration.
Christians across the spectrum of denominational affiliation and theological beliefs have taken “strong stances supporting welcoming immigrants,” he noted. “This is consistent with our sacred scriptures, our tradition, and our experience.”
Alexia Salvatierra, academic dean of Centro Latino at Fuller Theological Seminary, has worked in immigrant ministry for more than 40 years and is a co-founder of the Evangelical Immigration Table. She says the Bible overwhelmingly calls for care and hospitality for outsiders.
Alexia Salvatierra
“The 92 verses in the Bible that call for the people of God to practice hospitality reveal that strangers are not more of a threat than neighbors,” she said. “Strangers can be a threat but they can also be a blessing.”
She added that Jesus also commanded his followers to welcome strangers. “As Jesus says in Matthew 25, when you are rejecting or welcoming the stranger, you are rejecting or welcoming him.”
For Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, the narrative pushed by Vance goes beyond the pale.
“As a Christian, I am appalled by his racist claims about the Haitian community in Ohio and of his view of all immigrants,” said the consulting minister for justice and organizing at Middle Church in New York City and co-founder of the New New Yorkers Community Partnership, an initiative to help the immigrant population in the city.
Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft
“Immigrants remind us of the rich diversity of God,” she said. “We do not have an immigrant crisis; we have an immigrant opportunity.”
She said the term “New New Yorkers” is a local reference to immigrants in the city and “a nod to our theological mandate to love our neighbors, of which all immigrants are.”
Advocates say Vance’s use of a false narrative is wrong in and of itself, but is being used on a deeper level to further marginalize people groups in the country and amplify divisions already present in the U.S.
“Using fear tactics to manipulate popular sentiment and public narrative through knowingly false accusations is morally wrong and has real-world implications that are impacting people who have already been through much in the struggle to find safe refuge,” said Andersen, who noted the string of bomb threats and school closings that have challenged Springfield in the last two weeks.
“On the surface, it’s an argument about whether immigrants from Haiti eat the pet dogs and cats of their neighbors,” Salvatierra said. “On a slightly deeper level, former President Trump and Sen. Vance’s remarks seem to be designed to paint a picture of immigrants as a threat.”
She says this tactic is nothing new in politics: “This has been a regular political practice on and off during the whole history of the U.S. Ben Franklin railed against the immigration of Germans, stating in a 1753 letter that Germans who immigrated were generally ‘of the most ignorant stupid sort of their own nation.’”
Immigration has been a centerpiece of all three of Trump’s presidential campaigns, with his latest emphasis on deporting all illegal immigrants from the country. And now, the false narrative spread by his running mate has brought the immigration issue into particular relief.
“They are grasping at threads to win voters.”
Yet it’s an issue that plays well with the Republican base, especially the white evangelical block of it. A 2023 PRRI survey found 69% of Republicans believe the growing newcomers from other countries threaten traditional American customs and values, and 65% of white evangelical protestants agreed. Overall, only four in 10 Americans said newcomers from other countries threaten traditional American customs and values.
“Trump and Vance are doubling down on this harmful narrative of immigrants because it’s all they have. They are grasping at threads to win voters,” Ashcraft said. She believes the goal is to distract people from their candidacies.
“I think there is an underlying message in Sen. Vance and former President Trump’s words,” Salvatierra added. “‘The current government is not protecting you from threats; get rid of them and we will protect you.’ This can feel to some people like rescue.”
She says it’s a proven way to strengthen support for a cause: “Stoking the fires of xenophobia is a time-honored method for building political passion.”
While it may help strengthen the Trump-Vance base politically in the short-term, Andersen worries about the longterm damage it may do in the U.S.
“Attacks on newly arriving migrants who have fled life-threatening circumstances have led to rising anti-asylum sentiments across both major political parties and could result in permanent damage to this country’s tradition of welcome,” he said.
“They would do good to remember that, in fact, we are all immigrants,” Ashcraft added, a nod to the history of immigration in the U.S. since its inception.
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