Dear Bishop,
Thank you for being such a tireless voice for the dignity and well-being of migrants and refugees in this country, and their families, who are being terrorized and having their human rights trampled upon. As a native-born American, I am ashamed at what our government is doing. Please know that many Americans stand with you for what is right and good.
I have received many such words from people, and I am glad to see that I and my brother bishops, who are also speaking out, are not alone. I have spoken often about this crisis of humanity in recent months because I cannot remain silent, and I will rejoice on the day when basic human decency is restored in this land and we can focus on other things.
This month, I would like to talk about what is happening to migrants and refugees in the context of this nation’s founding on July 4, 1776, and its subsequent history. Many people know by heart the lines of the Declaration of Independence which say, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (Note, the “pursuit of happiness” does not mean materialistic or hedonistic pleasure, but happiness in the same sense as the Beatitudes; that is, it refers to the right to pursue good and virtue.)
Fewer people, however, know what follows – the list of grievances cited by the Founders as specific reasons for separation from the mother country England. Looking over this list of injuries inflicted by the king, this passage immediately jumps out:
“He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners [and] refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.”
That’s right. From the very beginning of the United States, this country was pro-immigration; and one of the main complaints of the Founders was the English government forbidding the colonies from passing laws promoting migration and naturalization of people from countries other than England.
In his popular pamphlet Common Sense (1776), which helped win over public sentiment to the cause of Independence, Thomas Paine recalled how people from all over Europe – not just England – had fled persecution and oppression in their homelands to come to America, so much so that people of English descent were a minority in some regions, and he welcomed them all with friendship. And in creating a new country, Paine enthusiastically said, they were preparing “an asylum for mankind.” General George Washington agreed, stating at the end of the Revolutionary War that one of the reasons the United States was founded was to create “an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.” Thomas Jefferson, as well, the principal author of the Declaration, welcomed “all those who should settle among [the states] of whatever nation or religion.”
In fact, many soldiers who fought and bled for independence were immigrants from Ireland, Germany, France, Poland, and elsewhere, including the famous Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben. Almost 10 percent of the first Congress were foreign-born, and over 30 percent of the U.S. population in the 1790 census traced their ancestry to countries other than Britain. Immigrants also played a significant role in the Civil War, and newcomers from around the globe helped to literally build this country since that day of Independence. Furthermore, organizations such as the Knights of Columbus were formed in part to demonstrate the patriotism of immigrants and their deep love of the United States. From before 1776, one of the things that immigrants have brought – and bring to this nation now – is hope and the desire to work hard, to make a living, but also to contribute to make society better through our own contributions.
It is disturbing then that our national leaders today should betray the American Revolution and this nation’s heritage and instead play the part of the oppressive king with cruel policies and practices aimed at terrorizing migrants and refugees in this country. Again, it is not only the undocumented who crossed the border without legal authority or violent criminals who are being forcibly accosted by unnamed masked gunmen claiming to be federal agents on the streets, in courthouses, and in their homes, sometimes in front of their panicked children, but also law-abiding and employed visa holders and permanent residents. They are the people who live in our neighborhoods. Now, as foreseen, there are reports that the federal government is exploring the revocation of naturalized U.S. citizenship for some, and there are even calls to expel and banish native-born Americans who are deemed to be undesirable.
How much more misery must be inflicted before it all ends?? I don’t know, but I do know that the time will come when this darkness will end and a new dawn of respect for human rights and dignity will break. That time will come sooner if federal agents and officers refuse to be complicit any longer.
In the meantime, as we look forward to the Semiquincentennial next year, the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, we need to insist upon fidelity to this nation’s true highest values, which cherish the migrant and refugee, as opposed to the perversion of those principles shamefully being carried out each day. The greatness of this nation could not have been, and cannot be, accomplished without immigrants. And especially if we are Catholic, let us join to give voice to and make a reality those words of our national hymn: “America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown Thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”
(Bishop Evelio Menjivar is an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.)
