febrero: Faith and immigration

I am a person of faith. Therefore, I also have to consider the issue from that perspective. How do we confront the needs of the strangers in our midst as people of faith, be it faith in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or just plain old faith in the human spirit to do what we know to be right? How can we balance the secular need of a nation to have controls on the flow of migration while still being conscientious of our call to care for our neighbors who are dying of starvation at home and dying in the desert to feed their families?

John Fife explained, “There’s just no wiggle room. I’ve looked, and I can’t find any.”

This is what John Fife, a former Presbyterian minister discussed with our group during our border immersion retreat. He admitted that serving our brothers and sisters that are strangers in our midst is one of the most difficult duties for people of faith. He told us that the Bible only has to tell us once to love our neighbor, “God knew we’d get that one pretty easy.” Afterall, it is easy “love thy neighbor” when the “neighbor” is someone like us, a look in the mirror at a familiar face. The challenge is when we have to love, just as genuinely and just as equally, the stranger in our midst as if he or she were a neighbor too. Fife reminds us that “The Torah, or Old Testament, had to tell us that one 17 times; He knew we’d have a bit more trouble with it.”


Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
-Matthew 25: 34-40


Fife was a cofounder of the First Sanctuary Movement during the 1980s and rallied his church (and several others) to provide sanctuary for political refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala. While US-supported dictators and their Death Squads massacred innocent people by the thousands, Fife found no wiggle room. His faith called him to help start a movement to serve the “least of my brothers.” Hundreds of churches across the nation joined the movement despite lawsuits, convictions, and pressure from the government to stop. Thanks to these congregations that lived into the difficult task of following the faith call to serve our brothers and sisters in need, the US government had to confront the reality of supporting those dictators and put an end to our terrorism of innocent Central Americans.

Today, our ineffective border policies are not decreasing the number or migrants that cross, but are forcing migrants to make life-threatening treks through dangerous desert crossings. In essence, our policies are killing people. Fife still hears the call and is now responding with a new movement that makes my skin tingle and my heart race called No More Deaths. It is a US-American group that pulls volunteers from all over the country (I hope to be one someday too) that fights the unnecessary loss of life every year in the desert by bringing water, food and medical attention to dying migrants. “It isn’t illegal to give someone water” is his response when criticism comes knocking. Although many find this humanitarian aid controversial, he still sees no wiggle room. No More Deaths is calling attention to the harm that our policies are causing. It is controversial, it is raising eyebrows, and it may be frowned upon by hundreds of disapproving US-Americans, but it is an inspiring example of how one man is following his faith that calls him to serve the needs of the strangers in our midst.