A Safe Haven Any Longer?
ICE and the American Church
Hello healer friends,
With Independence Day coming up, many of us Americans are conflicted. Will we feel the swell of pride in our nation as we ponder freedom, liberty, and justice for all? Maybe not this year. While we have much to be thankful for living in this land, we are upset and sorrowful over the flagrant abuses of power taking place around us. I'm speaking most specifically about the ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) dread sweeping the land.
Although I've been helped by the Spirit to not get caught up in the news barrage, I am well aware that many legitimate immigrants, who have gone through the proper channels to call this country home, are living in fear right now. I read a statistic obtained through ICE detention data in a KPBS article that only 7% of deported immigrants in recent months have a criminal background. The refrain that we need to rid our land of dangerous infiltrators doesn't hide the fact that tens of thousands of non-threatening individuals are being detained. Yes, some of those detainees are undocumented individuals (I could not find a reliable statistic on the number of undocumented citizen arrests), but others are American citizens, those born here legally of undocumented parents, those in the process of becoming citizens, and those who came to this country as refugees fleeing political and religious persecution in their countries of origin.
I'm not going to get into every statistic on immigrant detainees in this piece, but I want to share this article I came upon through a missionary acquaintance I've followed on Facebook since we met in Minnesota more than a decade ago. (The article shines light on the arrests taking place among Christian church members lately). This man has served the immigrant and refugee community for his entire adult life along with his wife and children—both here in the US and abroad.
I noted several years ago that Eldon was deeply concerned about America's turn toward MAGA and its incongruity with the teachings and heart of Jesus. I took note, because Dan and I were having the same stirrings of concern—although in decades previously we had voted conservative Republican along with many of our Christian friends. Over the years, Eldon rarely posted about political issues and for that matter didn't post much overall. But since the new administration began taking away protections for refugees and more recently has begun to deport them too, I've watched for his well-informed posts. They are few but they are heavy hitting.
Like our family, Eldon laments over what much of American Christianity has aligned itself with in the past decade: power, white nationalism, crudeness, rudeness, fear, and disdain for the vulnerable and oppressed. All because we believe going back to some other era of American history is the answer to our fears and insecurities. And all because some people know how to stoke those fears and insecurities. In grasping so tightly to our Christian nation status, we've become the very opposite of what we claim to stand for, and the most vulnerable among us are suffering.
My friends, I don't write this with despair or a sense of wanting to divide. I write this because the heart of Jesus is for the oppressed. It's for compassion and especially for children. We have many scared children in this nation right now whose parents have been snatched or who wonder if they're next. We have people hiding out in homes, not turning up for work, not going to the store, because they're afraid of being apprehended—even if they are innocent of any wrongdoing. Among our friends and colleagues, we know some who are actually carrying their birth certificates and passports with them in case they are stopped and need to prove their citizenship. These are legal Americans who happen to be of Latin American descent. We know others who will not leave the country during this administration for fear that they will not be able to return—just because of where their ancestors came from.
Does this sound like America? The land of the free and the home of the brave?
I recognize that deportations have been a reality for years and sometimes in even greater numbers in other administrations, but it's the mode in which this administration and ICE are operating which is so horrible. There's an atmosphere of intimidation and terror, and it's affecting individuals, families, communities, and workplaces. It's affecting local economies and schools—and now churches too.
So why am I writing about all of this, if you can just see it yourself on some news sources? Well, because God put it on my heart and because maybe we Christians don't realize that this terror and injustice are not just happening to random strangers but to people like us: our neighbors, friends, those in our communities of faith, and those in our local businesses. And also that these ICE raids are, by and large, discriminatory in targeting the poorest and least resourced among us. I noticed in the Christianity Today article I referenced above that a major (wealthy) tax evader was just pardoned by the President, and I think back on all the violent January 6th criminals who walked free, pardoned by Trump, earlier this year. There is clearly a caste system at work here, as I have written about in the past in referencing Isabelle Wilkerson’s work.
What can we do? For my part, as you regular readers know, I've been an active NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) member these past five years. Attached to the NAACP is our separate legal arm, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), which is consistently banding with other legal and civil rights organizations to issue statements and pursue legal action on behalf of those whose civil rights are being threatened or violated. That is to say: something is being done to combat the flood of un-American activities taking place across our land by those seeking to “cleanse” America of certain elements. And I know that the LDF is not the only astute group working hard to stem the tide of vigilante-like actions on the part of this administration. So I take some comfort and security in supporting that endeavor. As I've said before, the NAACP (and the partner LDF) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. At 116 years old, we are not going away, but we are only getting stronger.
Friends, as this 4th of July holiday approaches, my prayers are over this nation—that enough of us would have the conviction that supporting unchecked power is not the path to any greatness for this nation. Allegiance to our Creator and to each other, compassion, protecting the vulnerable—all these Christ-like values are what should motivate us and the leaders we choose. Sadly, this is not the tone of leadership we are seeing.
Yet, like I wrote last week, we can continue being leaders in our own right. Keep being involved in things that promote peace, compassion, mercy, justice, and love. And don't underestimate the power of prayer and financial giving to make a difference as well. The LDF takes donations as does our local NAACP branch.
I hope you find some joy and peace in the days ahead as you gather for celebrations with family and friends—even as we affirm the concern we all are feeling. I'll be lifting up this nation, the vulnerable, and all of you in my prayers.
I'll be on summer vacation with my family for much of July. I will be back with you here on July 22nd, friends. Take good care of yourselves and your loved ones.
For liberty and justice for all,
Jen
More articles like this one:
The Facade of Fake Christianity (Violence and Hate Mail Hiding Behind Scriptures)
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (#unityinmotion and our economic power)
We Are Great Americans (things that are encouraging me lately)
That is a powerful article you linked. Thank you so much for your compassionate heart and open eyes, Jennifer. For being aware, for using your voice, and for so heartily being part of working towards a solution.