Bless the Ballot Week 6 #1: Immigration Reform
Stories from our Congregation - Immigration Reform by Denia Perez
Denia was born in Mexico City and migrated to the US with parents at 11 months old. She grew up in the SF Bay Area and was the first in her family to graduate from college in 2012 and went on to graduate from Law w school in 2018 (Quinnipiac School of Law). Denia worked to change bar admission requirements in Connecticut and became first DACAmented person admitted to the Connecticut Bar in November 2018. Denia completed 2-year IJC fellowship at MRNY and now serving as a policy advisor for the NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA).
Matthew 2:13-14
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]
Growing up in the Roman Catholic church in a predominantly Mexican immigrant community meant that there were many cultural celebrations that were intertwined with my faith. December was my favorite month because we celebrated el Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe (the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe), Christmas, and my birthday. This overlap between my cultural traditions and my spiritual ones shaped my understanding of Jesus, the Church, and my identity as a Christian. At church, I learned that as an undocumented Mexican immigrant, I shared a sacred and humble connection with Jesus. At church, I learned that God loved me and my community. Over the years, however, my relationship with the Church and Christianity eroded due to the harmful xenophobic rhetoric and policies I heard prominent Christian leaders espousing.
My parents and I migrated to the U.S. when I was eleven months old. Like many before us, my parents and I came to the U.S. in search of a better, more opportune life. Like Mary and Joseph, my parents courageously moved to a foreign country in order to give me a stable life in a safe environment; they left their homeland and everything that was familiar to them out of love and a desire to protect me. Within my church, there were countless families like mine. In fact, it was so common that our priest made it a point every Sunday to encourage our congregation to pray for all of our brothers and sisters crossing the border so that they may have a safe journey. Hearing these prayers made me feel affirmed and loved by God. These prayers helped me understand that my identity, and the identity and struggles of my community, were sacred and important to God.
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During my adolescence and early twenties, however, I became aware that not all Christians viewed immigrants or the issue of immigration as sacred. I remember watching the news and experiencing a sort of cognitive dissonance as I listened to self-identified Christian lawmakers like Steve King and pundits like Bill O’Reilly disparage and demonize undocumented immigrants. My confusion and hurt about how differently other Christians viewed this issue, and by extension, me and my community, was only exacerbated after Trump was elected president in 2016. When I learned that a majority of White Christians voted for him, I was angry and deeply hurt. I could not understand how my brothers and sisters in Christ could support someone who routinely went out of his way to oppress and exclude those on the margins when the God I know calls on us to be hospitable, gracious, and loving.
My relationship to the Church and other Christians has been rocky at best during the last four years. After the 2016 election, I took a break from attending services because I could not reconcile or stand to look at other congregants who may have potentially voted for a man that was working hard to expel people like me from the country we call home. I have been angry and have felt betrayed. However, in the last two years, I’ve made my way back to church, and have been working on practicing the values of forgiveness, grace, and love that I believe all Christ followers have been called to practice. As an undocumented Mexican woman, I am nervous about the upcoming election - I’m afraid of what might happen to my community and other communities I care about if Trump is re-elected. However, as a Christian who has come back to the Church after some time away and has been working to encourage other Christ followers to combine their social justice values with their faith, I feel hopeful that we will act differently this election cycle and choose to act out of a place of love and hospitality for the stranger as opposed to a place of fear and loathing. Welcoming refugees and immigrants should not be a controversial issue for Christians. The Holy family is the most obvious example of the importance of embracing those fleeing persecution of all kinds and my hope is that as Christians, we look around us and accept the invitation to welcome and support the modern-day Mary and Josephs of the world instead of turning our backs to them.
Matthew 2:18
“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”[d]
These election day decisions can play into our overall voting plan. We are challenging all of our Justice League members to make a voting plan and we encourage you to join along with us, by following the guidelines below:
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