Extending care and concern only to “true Americans” normalizes violence, degradation, and the violation of basic human rights. Our elected leaders need to hear—loudly, repeatedly, and insistently—that we are not in unity with laws and policies that deny the humanity and rights of immigrants.
Efforts that exclude and punish by race, religion, or other visible markers of difference cannot be supported. We must advocate for Congress to undertake a long-overdue overhaul of the legal immigration system and to curtail the administration’s attempts to reshape immigration policy.
In all this work, we can let our lives speak. How are we recognizing the divinity in each person, regardless of their immigration status or background, in our advocacy and our actions? How are we avoiding the reproof of Matthew 25:43, “I was a stranger and you did not welcome me”? How are we holding our members of Congress and our policymakers to the highest standard of compassion and justice in our immigration system?