A Spiritual Foundation for Immigration Justice

I used to serve two congregations in southern Minnesota, an area of the country noted for the settlement of largely Scandinavian immigrants beginning around 1880. There were the Norwegians and the Swedes, of course, and the Irish and the Germans and others joined them, all bringing with them their own reasons for making the long and arduous trip to the difficult climate and rich soil of that region. The story of 19th century immigrant life on the American prairie has been told countless times and even today it is a story of softened, but very real, survival. The old stories are still passed down, tales told and retold, comic and tragic, trivial and profound, stories that paint a rich picture of individuals, families, and communities in relationship, learning how to live on the land, how to live (or not) with others unlike themselves, how to build churches and faith communities without the benefit of state support, and how to be citizens in a nation whose centers of power and wealth are already established. There's a lot more to that experience than Lake Wobegon and Grumpy Old Men, which remain affectionate caricatures.

Immigration is back on the national agenda. The immigrant experience is in the DNA of this nation and it has never been an easy road. Immigrants have historically been easy targets for ridicule or blame, but eventually they are assimilated, after the language and the cultural cues are learned and the initial bicultural identities are more or less shed. But it takes time. Those of us whose families have been here a while can be impatient, forgetting or not even knowing our own immigrant family histories.

In our Denver metro region Metropolitan Organization for People (MOP) is beginning its campaign in support of immigration reform. On January 12 at St. Therese Catholic Church in Aurora a number of clergy and lay people spoke at a prayer rally before 610 people, most of whom were Latino. No doubt many were members of the St. Therese community. I can't personally put "prayer" and "rally" in the same phrase, but the intent was to mobilize the faith community around the spiritual foundations of immigration reform. My own comments focused on the biblical grounds for immigration justice:

The Hebrew scriptures tell a story of a nation, ancient Israel in fact, whose identity was rooted in being liberated by God from exploitation by Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. They had known the experience of being second class workers in an economy that used them but would not dignify them with their God-given status as human beings created in the image of God. Judeo-Christian tradition has ever since stood up for the refugee, the one who lives among people of another nation. The biblical word is to treat them honorably and help them to the fullness of life. Jesus, too, was a Jew in the Roman Empire, second class all the way and not given the fullness of citizenship and the rights that came with that.

What are we to say today as we face immigration issues in the United States? People of faith know that we must stand up for the rights and dignity of all people. There are no “immigrants” in the eyes of God. We know the results of a broken immigration policy. Families are broken apart, children suffer, workers are taken advantage of, the rights given to citizens are denied, and the fabric of our own humanity is torn as we artificially label one another “legal” or “illegal.” Lies are told as people feel threatened by something they don’t understand.

As people of faith we know where our values lead us. But the political battle will be a hard one. We will need to remember the spiritual roots of our support for immigration justice. We may need to pray for those who oppose reform, forgiving as we are forgiven. We need to remember our faith in a God who values justice.

The debate is about to begin. Our Judeo-Christian values are clear and they trump the values of capitalism and any sense of privilege that we may imagine belongs to us. We'll see what happens next.