The current crises on our southern border cries out for our attention as American patriots and subjects in the Kingdom of God. One thing is certain; God hears the cries of the poor. (Job 34:28) As we care for our own families our hearts are also stirred with compassion for the exiles, migrants, and refugee families less than 150 miles away on the Mexican border. If we do a little family research we may find we share a common history.
As a nation of immigrants, most of us are descendants of immigrant grandparents or great-grandparents. Our ancestors may have once been exiles, migrants, and refugee families. They too may have come to America to escape, hunger, violence, and persecution. They too came with a hope for safety, opportunity, and freedom. My Irish ancestors were escaping the Irish potato famine 170 years ago. My German ancestors fled religious persecution 270 years ago. Your ancestors may have been refugees following one of the great wars or exiles of political upheaval. Yes, we may find we are kindred spirits of the strangers at our borders today. Perhaps we will find that we are Strangers No Longer. Can we walk Together on the Journey of hope? These are the proposals presented by our Bishops in their pastoral letter.
The scriptures of our Judeo-Christian roots show us that we have always been a people on the move in need of justice, mercy, and love. Our faith journey has been as one who is a stranger in a strange land, or who experiences God, as a mysterious stranger. Beginning with Abraham and Sara who express generous hospitality to the three strangers who in actuality are a manifestation of the Lord, and this became a paradigm for the response to strangers of Abraham’s descendants. (Genesis 18:1-7) Later the child Jesus, along with Mary and Joseph were refugees in Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-15) Finally, at the end of time, we find that we will be judged based on how we treat the migrants who are the mysterious presence of Jesus and who frequently lack food and drink and are often detained in prison (Matthew 25:35-36)
Reflecting on these scriptures in the light of the current situation with immigrants our Bishops laid out five principles to guide our actions as faithful Catholics:
I. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland. All persons have the right to find in their own countries the economic, political, and social opportunities to live in dignity and achieve a full life through the use of their God-given gifts. In this context, work that provides a just, living wage is a basic human need.
II. Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families. The Church recognizes that all the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right.
III. Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders. The Church recognizes the right of sovereign nations to control their territories but rejects such control when it is exerted merely for the purpose of acquiring additional wealth. More powerful economic nations, which have the ability to protect and feed their residents, have a stronger obligation to accommodate migration flows.
IV. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection. The global community should protect those who flee wars and persecution. This requires, at a minimum, that migrants have a right to claim refugee status without incarceration and to have their claims fully considered by a competent authority.
V. The human dignity and human rights of undocumented migrants should be respected. Regardless of their legal status, migrants, like all persons, possess an inherent human dignity that should be respected. Often they are subject to punitive laws and harsh treatment from enforcement officers from both receiving and transit countries. Government policies that respect the basic human rights of the undocumented are necessary.
If one is not convinced by our faith traditions and the teachings of our bishops then as patriots we would do well to embrace the sentiment captured in the poem at the base of the statue of Liberty.
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