It's true: Jesus, Mary and Joseph crossed borders shortly after the Christ child's birth to escape Herod's slaughter of the innocents. But it looks like the U.S. Immigration department lacks the ability to see Christ in its neighbors. Last week, immigration agents raided meat processing plants in 6 states, lined people up according to their country of origin, put them on buses and locked them up awaiting deportation. To be thrown from the country, ripped from their children, because they lack a small piece of paper that would make them "legal" in the eyes of the State.
I visited workers from one of those plants (in Iowa) a couple of years ago, to do a training on their rights. They were making $5.15 an hour and supervisors threw animal entrails at them to get the workers to move faster. The plant was the only job opportunity for many in the town, and usually whole families worked there.
On Tuesday, children of these 1,200 folks sat home waiting and wondering when there parents would come back. Many of the children, born here, are US citizens and so can't be deported with their parents. So in a couple of hours, I.N.S. produced thousands of orphans, who are currently sleeping on cots in churches in the midwest. Right before Christmas.
Below I''m posting Duane's write-up of a Christmas action we did a few years ago. What action are we willing to take now? Will we stand up?
A SOCIAL HOLINESS PRAYER ACTION
CHRISTMAS AT THE I.N.S.
There are only a few of us present. After all it is almost Christmas and in the middle of a night time snowstorm in a now deserted part of the city. We haven't called the press. Its not press we want, its worship. We are caught in society's Christmas pageantry of consumer gluttony with (at best), an occasional mention of the cute, meek, and mild pink baby Jesus. But we are hungry for something more. Something beyond the shopping malls and Christmas specials has broken into our world. Our church now includes immigrants.
Those of us born here are aware of their hard stories and they are increasingly aware of ours. They have awakened in us some of the forgotten stories of our own past. Once we were two communities, but now we know each other. We know, or are learning, about the midnight knocks on doors and sudden deportations in our state. As a result we are hearing those original Christmas stories with new ears.
So here we are on a Sunday night before Christmas in Providence, Rhode Island in front of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. With the snow it is beautiful and quiet. There is both peace and desire in the air along with the snow. Someone of our small number has brought a large sheet which says: "The baby Jesus was an illegal immigrant." Someone has made a wooden manger which we have filled with straw. We have laid strips of cloth across the straw in preparation for the baby. Someone else has brought a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine which we rest in the manger.
The body. The blood. The redeemer.
We clump together and pull up our collars against the weather. We read the story again: how they were forced to move by the economic policies of the Empire, how Mary agreed to the pregnancy though unwed, how Joseph tried to stand with her. We read about the feeding trough in which he was laid and the despised shepherds who heard the words in the sky that a new time had come. We take the bread and wine and bless it, confess our sins, accept God's forgiveness, and ask for power. We break the bread, pour the wine and pass a cup. We hold hands and pray for the workers at the Immigration who might see these symbols tomorrow as they enter work. We pray for those of us who are immigrant and living in fear, and for those many beyond our little circle who are also hungry for justice and mercy. We pray for ourselves, and for courage. We pray in thanksgiving and joy. We sing something, hug each other, and walk away in the snow.
For the INS, we leave the empty manger there in front of the door as a sign of Christmas
3 comments:
Hi All,
When Josue was deported back to Haiti, the members of "Hillsgrove" stopped protesting at the Wyatt Detention Center. I can understand this, We were there because one of our own, our brother Josue was being punished for no crime. That injustice was a slap in the face to all, not just to one man.
I honestly believe that the way things worked out was the will of God, and that what Josue learned while waiting for deportation is now being put to good use in Haiti.
It bothers me greatly that we seem to have forgotten about all the other people at Wyatt. Is it because we may have been "fighting" God that we have stopped trying to help people at Wyatt, or trying to discover any other injustice there? (does anyone believe that it was Josue only who was picked on?) Was it because Josue was the only brother (or sister) at Wyatt that we knew the name of? - that was harsh to say but I think I will leave it in because I am guilty about it, and feel that it may be true.
I feel like I've abandoned all the rest of those people whose only crime is not being born American.
Wendy, I feel the overwhelmingness of the situation quite often as well. I think protesting at the prison is good, but it's got to be connected to other actions as well--from demanding immigration reform from our elected officials, to entering into conversations with people to challenge them everytime they use the word "illegal" to describe a person who is entering the country the same way most of our politicans' ancestors did--by arriving, often with nothing, to try to improve their life situation for future generations. It's not that people are "sneaking in" but rather that beauracracy and corruption on both sides of the border(s) makes it impossible for many poor folks to get visas to come. Which stands in direct contrast to the famous message on the Statue of Liberty, known throughout the world--"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to break free..." It doesn't say, please supress your yearning to break free for 26 years or so (it frequently can take this long---great article in the Boston Globe) while we decide your eligibility.
I feel like there are small acts of resistance we can do every day, between the larger protests, that contribute to the movement for immigrant rights.
I see Elvira Arellano as a real hero in this movement: she is undocumented, and her son is a US citizen, and she has taken up refuge in a Methodist Church in Chicago, publicly announcing her immigration status, and standing up to breakk through the fear so many immigrants feel.
Cut and paste the following in your internet browser to read about her: http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2006/people/3.html
Hi Greg,
Thank you for sharing that story about Elvira Arellano, but it is so incomplete. There is a congregation and a minister who is also standing behind her. If the story had mentioned them more people may join the cause. The fact that the feds have refused to cross a line they believe that God has put down is also very significant! It's a lie of course, man made that line, but it's true that God has given that woman and her son sanctuary. A wonderful story, thanks again for sharing.
Wendy
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