Some people seem to have a very odd idea of what is meant by “equal treatment under the law.”
For example: A recent study highlights that the majority of illegal immigrants, also referred to as “individuals facing deportation,” are Christians.
Around 80% of immigrants facing deportation in the United States belong to the Christian faith, reveals a recent report urging their fellow believers to assess the consequences of the strict deportation strategies enforced by the Trump administration.
The report points out that approximately 10 million Christians are in danger of deportation, and 7 million American citizens who practice Christianity reside in households where someone is at risk of being deported.
The report, under the auspices of major Catholic and evangelical organizations, draws on a range of data, including percentages of religious affiliation in various migrant and national populations and on an advocacy group’s analysis of U.S. census data on migrants.
The obvious response to this is a resounding “So what?” So, 10 million Christians are at risk for deportation. Why?
Honestly, who wouldn’t have thought of this, given a moment or two? A majority of illegal immigrants come from Latin America, and the people of Latin America are overwhelmingly Catholic. But that doesn’t matter. The fact – assuming we take it at face value – that 10 million illegal aliens in the United States are Christians doesn’t matter. If 10 million illegal aliens in the United States were Buddhists, or Hindu, or worshipped the old Roman gods, that wouldn’t matter either.
There’s a very simple process here. “Is this person in the United States illegally?” If the answer is “No,” fine. If the answer is “Yes,” then back they go to where they came from.
Their faith, whatever it is, simply isn’t a factor.
“Though we’re deeply concerned about fellow Christians, we’re not exclusively concerned with immigrants who happen to share our faith,” said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, an evangelical humanitarian organization that cosponsored the report.
“As Christians, we believe that all people, regardless of their religious tradition or nationality, are made in God’s image with inherent dignity,” Soerens said in a video statement. But he added that many Christians in the U.S. may not realize that most of those who could be deported share their faith.
Those are all fine, noble sentiments. But they are sentiments that have no place in law enforcement. And no Christians in the U.S. should be concerned that most of those who could be deported share their faith. What they should care about is that our immigration authorities are enforcing the law and not playing favorites.
