The MAGA Cult constantly cosplays as persecuted Christians when they are themselves the biggest persecutors on US soil–and their targets are brother and sister Christians, especially Catholics, guilty of Christianing while brown and/or Spanish-speaking. But the Church is resisting this antichrist cult:
Cardinal Robert McElroy wasted no time pointing out that this year’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees is not like the others — at least not in the U.S.
“For this year we are confronting — both as a nation and as a church — an unprecedented assault upon millions of immigrant men and women and families in our midst,” McElroy said during a Sept. 28 homily at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, as the archdiocese in the nation’s capital observed the church event that celebrates, on Oct. 4-5 this year, the resilience of displaced people around the world.
Though McElroy has been steadily defending migrants, the archbishop of Washington on Sunday focused on the government’s actions that kept many in his flock from attending the event, following reports of catechists and ministers detained on their way to Sunday Mass and other church activities.
No one argues that removing those convicted of serious crimes is a legitimate national goal, McElroy said, but the way he sees it, what the administration is doing in Washington and the rest of the country has a different goal.
“We are witnessing a comprehensive governmental assault designed to produce fear and terror among millions of men and women,” he said. The government’s actions make life unbearable for migrants, robbing them of peace “so that in misery, they will ‘self-deport,’ ” he said.
The Trump administration has said it aims to deport 1 million in the first year of its second term, though some, including The Wall Street Journal, have cast doubt on data that would make that a reality. Even so, reports about detained or deported churchgoers, and viral videos, such as one circulated Sept. 26 showing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent pushing a woman and shoving her to the ground in a New York immigration court building, have been sowing mass fear among immigrants with and without permission to be in the country. The New York Times reported Sept. 29 that even U.S. citizens have been detained or arrested by immigration officials.
During a procession — from Washington’s predominantly immigrant Shrine of the Sacred Heart to Mass at the cathedral that hosts Masses for government officials and workers — women religious and priests shared anecdotes about massive drops in church attendance, parishioners detained and others afraid of leaving their homes. They also expressed outrage at some of the tactics employed by the government.
Holy Cross Sr. Ruth Nickerson said she took part in the procession to “support the migrants and refugees, especially those who are being disappeared in our own city here in D.C.” as she walked with other Catholics along a main street in the District of Columbia, where countless immigration-related arrests have taken place shortly after President Donald Trump declared a public safety emergency in August.
“We’re hoping that the prayer and coming together will help people to understand that this is really about human rights for everyone, not just for them,” Nickerson said.
In El Paso, Texas, Scalabrinian Sr. Leticia Gutiérrez Valderrama told Global Sisters Report Aug. 28 that the current immigration crackdown is just the latest assault for victims of an unjust system that tells people who have contributed to the economic development of this country: “You don’t matter. I will criminalize you, and not only that, I will expel you, shut the door on you.”
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One Response
You know what really pisses me off about the whole immigration issue? Its how arbitrary it all is. Really, when it comes down to it, a lot of it is just “follow the rules for the sake of following the rules” nonsense.
Substantively, its really no different than people leaving their hometown and moving out of state for a job. Yet, people act as though our borders were this deep ontological divide, instead of what they are: an imaginary line in the dirt determined by geography, politics and history.
Truth is, we could change our immigration policy to make it as lenient and flexible as we wanted to. But the reason we won’t, is because for far too many, it serves as a convenient permission structure and entry point, to be as racist as they want to be.