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The disgraceful animosity being expressed by the U.S. government toward immigrants is a reminder of the shameful racism that stubbornly continues to plague life in the United States. Many of our myopic government leaders have forgotten that early pilgrims who came to America from Europe were themselves (ahem!) “undocumented.” (“Last time I checked,” there’s no record of a pilgrim requesting a “green card” from the Indian residents.) But that’s just history.
More immediately relevant is the current U.S. president’s contemptible efforts cavalierly to scapegoat and deport immigrants (one of the most vulnerable social groups in our country) by suggesting (falsely) that immigrants are a major cause of serious crime in the U.S. Without even considering the arrant immorality of such scapegoating, statistical research on the matter indicates overwhelmingly that the president’s fatuous charges are, indeed, without merit and foolishly biased. (Cf. American Immigration Council’s report, “Debunking the Myth of Immigrants and Crime” and for a judicial perspective on the rights of immigrants residing in the U.S., see Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s comment in Reno v. Flores (1993): “It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens [non-citizens] to due process of law in deportation proceedings.”)
Biblical Christians ought to be appalled by the recent efforts of government officials and politicians to take advantage of weak and vulnerable members of our society. The Old Testament speaks often of the serious responsibility of “God’s “chosen people” (Israelites) for the foreigners (“aliens”) living among them. Aliens were to be treated as if they were native-born Israelites.
The psalmist tells us particularly that “the Lord watches over the alien.” In accord with Mosaic law (Torah), aliens were to enjoy the same privileges that the Israelites themselves enjoyed, e.g., access to the “cities of refuge,” the right to participate in the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, and the provision of food for those who were poor. And in case anyone were to question the justification for all this, Israelites were reminded that they themselves had once been aliens (Leviticus 19:34). Clearly, aliens were legitimate residents and, most certainly, not to be mistreated. Furthermore, in the New Testament, Christians are reminded that, because of their relationship with Christ and their citizenship in the Kingdom of God, they too have become aliens in their earthly world, ergo, Christians should know, from experience, how it feels to be an “outsider.”
Recently, a bevy of self-serving U.S. politicians has despitefully created nefarious, anti-immigrant narratives to inflame the passions of voters during election seasons. Once these narratives are scooped up by the mass media, the effects of the false impressions created can snowball, with apologies for the
deleterious effects of these impressions providing scant compensation for the damage they cause. One pathetic example is the spurious contention of one presidential candidate that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating the pets of other Ohioan residents. Though most saw that prevarication as the foolishness
it most certainly was, such lies can still inflame the imaginations of those who hear and absorb these heinously negative impressions of immigrants.
Though people in Jesus’ day enjoyed neither the agonies nor the ecstasies of the mass media, they were not averse to utilizing false narratives to manipulate public opinion, as indicated by the attempts of Christ’s opponents (Jewish chief priests and elders) to create a false narrative about how Jesus’ body could have disappeared from the tomb in which it had recently been buried. Roman governor Pontius Pilate had taken steps to secure the tomb, putting the governor’s seal on the tomb’s stone and posting a Roman guard at the tomb to prevent any shenanigans he feared might be initiated by Jesus’ followers. These precautions notwithstanding, shortly thereafter Jesus’ body was gone from the tomb, since, as the Bible explains, Jesus had risen from the dead. Greatly perplexed, the chief priests and elders concocted a false narrative about the disappearance of Jesus’ body. They paid off the guards and instructed them to report (falsely) that Jesus’ disciples came to the tomb one night and, while the guards were asleep, stole the body. To assure the compliant guards that they would not be punished for negligence, Jewish leaders promised to do what they could to palliate the governor, should he get wind of what had happened.
In the false narrative concerning the disappearance of Jesus’ body, the disciples were the scapegoats, just as Haitian immigrants were the scapegoats in the false narrative promulgated by the U.S. presidential candidate. When the rich and powerful are stymied by the truth, they are prone to spare no expense (financial or moral) in their search for alternative ways to make their spiteful points and to accomplish their self-serving goals. Some things never seem to change, even with time.
From INDEPENDENT PRESS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025, p. A15
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