Many people are still under the impression that our country is currently deporting only "the worst of the worst." Perhaps some of the confusion comes from the mislabeling of people and the general misunderstanding of terms. Labels matter. Words matter. So, I thought I would help set things straight:
Did you know that in 2024, there were an estimated 300 million migrants in the world? People are always - and have always been - on the move. There are two types of human migration: voluntary and forced.
Voluntary migration is when someone decides to move from one place to another, either inside their own country to to another country, due to economic, educational, or family reasons. Or maybe, they just want a new adventure. Voluntary migration requires filing for appropriate passports and visas, figuring out transportation, deciding what to take with you and what to leave behind. It can be stressful, but as it is generally a desired move, it hopefully has a positive outcome. People who come on a visa are immigrants.
Forced migration, on the other hand, is when someone may not particularly want to move, but they are pushed out of their home due to violence, persecution, economic deprivation, or another reason that makes life no longer tenable where they are. For example, the people in Ukraine were going about their lives when Russia suddenly invaded and started bombing their cities. They were forced to leave their homes. Some of them moved from the eastern part of Ukraine to the western part of Ukraine, but never actually left the country. They are now referred to as internally displaced people, or IDPs. Generally, IDPs will either settle in the new part of the country they fled to, or, if the upheaval passes, they will go back home.
For those who leave the country, crossing the border into a second country, they may qualify for the humanitarian protections of refugee. In order to qualify as a refugee, individuals must go through the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process. They have to provide evidence that they qualify under the definition. Per the law, a refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, nationality, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political status. Economic reasons alone do not qualify for refugee status, unless you can prove your economic difficulties are linked to one of these other categories. For example, if you are being intentionally starved to death by an oppressive group because of your nationality.
Consider Venezuela. Venezuela experienced a regime change, and the new political group that came into power rounded up many of their political opponents. People disappeared, were tortured, imprisoned, even killed. This oppressive regime also took over all forms of government and limited resources to the public in such a way that many places closed, including schools, hospitals, workplaces, even grocery stores. Life became impossible. Many left Venezuela to seek better opportunities. If they left purely for economic reasons, they don’t necessarily qualify for refugee status. However, those who left because they were part of the ousted political group, whose lives were potentially in danger, would qualify under the definition.
Refugees have three options available to them. If the crisis passes, they can go home. If the country they have fled to welcomes them, they could settle there. If neither of those is a viable option, then they may be eligible for resettlement to a safe third country. Less than 2% of refugees will ever be resettled to a third country. The U.S. used to be a safe third country but is currently closed to just about everyone. Countries who accept refugees provide them with certain rights upon arrival, including the right to work, to go to school, to own property, and eventually, full rights of citizenship.
There is another category of people who face forced migration. We call them asylum-seekers. When they are forced out of their country, migrants have the option and the right to travel on their own to a safe third country. Once they arrive at that third country, once they are on their soil, and only then, they can request asylum status. A few might be so lucky as to receive a legal visa to enter that country, such as a student visa, work visa, or tourist visa. Others have to present at the border or just inside the border. In order to be granted asylum, these migrants must prove they qualify under the definition of a refugee - that they have fled a well-founded fear of persecution due to their race, nationality, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
When it comes to the U.S., legal visas are very hard to come by. There is a limit every year on how many visas will be distributed, what types of visas will be distributed, and to which countries. In some countries, especially those in Central America, the waitlist is 15-20 years. For someone in a forced migration situation, they likely don't have 15-20 years to wait.
This is why so many people come up to the border to request asylum. For a long time, that has been the legal, right way to seek refuge, and the only way available for many. Once an individual or family requests asylum, a few things could happen. In some cases, they are held in immigration detention (read: prison) until their case is decided - even though they haven't committed any crimes. During Trump's first presidency, he made asylum-seekers wait in Mexico, which turned out to be exceptionally difficult in that they could not access legal services and had a hard time video-conferencing their court appearances. For others, especially women, children, and the elderly, they may be allowed to wait within the United States for their case to be settled - a process which generally takes 3-5 years. Before they are allowed to enter, they are screened. They must also have family here to welcome them.
Many people don't know or have forgotten that years ago, before 9/11, there was a labor shortage in the U.S., so the government invited people from Mexico and Central America to come here and work. They were referred to as migrant workers. They didn't have any formal kind of work visa, though, and no pathway to citizenship. The government thought they would come, work in the fields and factories and physical labor-type jobs, save up money, and then go home. Only, a lot of them didn't go home. And not only did they not leave, but then they brought their families up, too.
So, if we're wondering why so many people are coming to our border versus another potentially safe country, it's often because they have family here. Family our government invited to be here.
The last category of immigrants is the undocumented. Although asylum-seekers have legal permission to be in the country while awaiting their day in court, and often have legal permission to work as well, the undocumented have neither. They likely came primarily for economic reasons, which would mean they don't necessarily qualify for the legal definition of an asylum-seeker. Some of them - over half in fact - came on a legal visa but stayed after it expired. Some are those workers from years ago who stayed and brought their families. Some lost their asylum case but never left. Others, a small amount, crossed over the border undetected (we seem to think this is a huge problem, but with current technology, relatively few people are successful in "sneaking in").
The undocumented come from a multitude of different countries and backgrounds and for a multitude of reasons. The majority are hard-working, tax-paying, well-meaning people. And, interestingly, the majority are Christian.
I said last category, but there are others. There are people with Temporary Protective Status, which is a legal visa to live and work here for a certain period of time until conditions in their home country improve. There are visas for trafficking victims (T-visas) and victims of a crime (U-visas). There are DACA recipients, youth who were brought here as children and given legal permission to stay, work, and go to school. (There was always supposed to be a legal pathway to citizenship for DACA, but that never happened.)
Many of us have heard and seen ICE at work over the past eight months trying to keep up with the strict daily quotas on picking up immigrants. Though we were told they'd be targeting the "worst of the worst", that simply isn't what we are seeing. Perhaps because there aren't millions of "worst of the worst" immigrants. The majority of people being rounded up, sent to detention facilities or concentration camps, or deported (most recently, to Africa, even though they aren't African), are migrant workers. Some are undocumented. Some are asylum-seekers, waiting for their case to be settled - ICE has even been picking them up when they go to their court hearings, which should be a clear violation of international law regarding asylum. Some even have green cards or current, legal visas, but are being picked up because they support Palestine or had a couple of parking tickets or an old possession of marijuana charge. Some are DACA youth. Some have been approved for a legal visa, but the final paperwork hasn't gone through yet, making them vulnerable.
Some are people who have lived here 15 years, 3o years, with no problems. People who worked our farms and built our buildings and washed our dishes and cooked our food. Many are here with legal permission and protection.
All that is being violated.
Meanwhile, we're just standing by and watching. Much like people in Europe stood by while their neighbors were being rounded up. Just like Hitler convinced the general populace that the Jewish people were the worst of the worst, were criminals and thieves, we have been convinced, too. Only, it's all lies and propaganda.
As a Church, we need to seriously consider what Jesus meant by loving our neighbor and welcoming the stranger.
Because I don't think this is it.
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