Immigrants are Your Neighbor. They are in Danger

I don’t even know how to write about all the political news lately.

I am at a loss, because if you can’t see how wrong this is, I have no idea how to reach you.

In 2016, it was different. When people were claiming that Trump wasn’t a very good person but that electing him would make abortion magically go away forever, and was therefore the good Christian choice, I thought maybe I could convince them they were wrong. Abortion rates have been rising since 2017, and they only got worse after Dobbs, so I thought people would listen to me in 2024, but they didn’t. In fact, the situation got worse: Trump’s supporters had decided that he was actually an exemplary person. They weren’t voting for him in spite of his faults. They thought he didn’t have any. I don’t think any of the remaining MAGA voters are reachable now. But I don’t know how I can live with myself if I don’t say something.

I don’t know how to explain, if you don’t already know, that hurting your neighbor is wrong. That’s a statement that’s so obvious to me, I shouldn’t have to say it.

And I don’t know how to explain that according to the Gospel, the definition of “neighbor” isn’t “someone who lives near you” or “someone in your peer group, it’s “the person who needs your help.” In fact, to be a neighbor, according to the Gospel, is to help the very person that your culture tells you you ought to despise. Your neighbor is the helpless person that the powerful are pointing to and saying “this is a bad person, and all your problems are their fault.”

I’m at a loss to get through to you, that immigrants are your neighbors.

Yes, even illegal immigrants. There’s no “they should have followed the rules” exception to an immigrant being your neighbor. All have sinned. All have fallen short. You, yourself, are a sinner, and so am I. God forgave you and gave you a clean slate. That’s the mercy you should show your immigrant neighbor.

A country has a right and a duty to make laws to protect its citizens from harm, including by harm committed by people from other countries. It’s reasonable to have a vetting process to make sure the people coming to your country are unlikely to commit crimes. That process will probably involve only entering the country a certain way, and perhaps being detained for a certain amount of time. That’s reasonable. Immigrants who break that law should face a penalty of some kind. Immigrants who were in the country legally and then committed a violent or dangerous crime, might well be forced to leave the country. You and I can fight over exactly what kinds of rules and penalties there should be, and neither of us is necessarily a bad person. But human beings don’t forfeit their humanity by becoming immigrants. Immigrants are human beings with rights. And they are your neighbor.

I don’t know how to explain that Christ is present with you, in your neighbor.

The way you treat your neighbor is the way you treat Christ.

One day, you will see the face of Christ, and either He will say to you “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Or, He won’t. 

That is going to happen.

Right now, in America, your neighbor, Christ, the immigrant, is in danger. 

Right now, all three branches of the the United States government are under the control of the Republican party. The Republican party, at least at this point in history, keeps claiming that they’re the protectors and promoters of Christianity against the godless left. And the Republican party is also doing everything it can to persecute immigrants.

I’m not talking about enforcing our laws. We can have a conversation later about whether our laws are right or wrong. I’m talking about behaving lawlessly, dangerously and cruelly, for no reason other than to abuse immigrants.

I’m talking about shackling and arresting law-abiding immigrants at their Green Card hearing, mocking their tears, and making them disappear.

I’m talking about shackling comatose and dying immigrants to hospital beds.

I’m talking about terrorizing children.

Violating immigrants’ free speech rights.

Handcuffing innocent people without probable cause.

Arresting people without warrants or probable cause.

Assaulting journalists who attempt to exercise their right to free speech and their duty to inform the public.

Attacking clerics who protest at the Immigration facilities.

Abusing citizens who look like they might be immigrants, whether they turn out to be immigrants or not.

These things are wrong, they’re getting much worse, and they’re going to get worse still.

If you’re not convinced these things are wrong, I don’t think there’s anything more I can say to get through to you. But I feel that my own soul would be in danger if I didn’t tell you what was happening anyway.

Christ, your neighbor, is being abused and terrorized by our government. We have to stand up against this and do everything in our power to make it stop.