Responding to the Statement
“IMMIGRANTS ARE RUINING AMERICA”
(Excerpted from Chapter 7 of
Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, by Caleb E. Campbell)
Immigrants are ruining America.
Statements like "immigrants are ruining America" are often targeted against non-White immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. The underlying anxiety stems from a belief that they are bringing foreign cultures, languages, and practices into America and will eventually eradicate the American way of life. Many American Christian nationalist leaders capitalize on instances of violence and use them to paint immigrants as criminals. They warn their hearers that there is a flood of illegal immigrants invading our country seeking to rape and pillage our neighborhoods.
Coaching notes.
This topic can be especially difficult to navigate because our conversation partners will often use racist and xenophobic rhetoric. Knowing how and when to call someone out on bigoted statements will require guidance from the Spirit (see chapter 6). One of the primary goals in the following conversations is to humanize immigrants and reconnect our hearers with their family's immigration story.
Clarifying questions
> Why is this important to you?
> Are there negative changes you have noticed in our community that were caused by immigrants? > Are there specific immigrants you have in mind? > In what ways are they negatively impacting our community?
Possible shared values
> Care for our neighbors.
> A desire to be safe from people who would do evil in our community.
Shibboleths (i.e. I am your friend, part of your group)
> I am also concerned about the well-being of our community.
> I believe our government should protect the lives and livelihood of its citizens.
Red flags (i.e. I’m “woke,” ignore anything I say.)
> Globalization is inevitable.
> We should have open borders.
> You are blowing this out of proportion.
Good things to honor
> The values of hard work, justice, mercy, community, and the like.
> Ensuring economic stability for our community.
> Providing safety for the community by working to keep bad actors out (e.g., border security, policing, etc.).
Humble subversion
> I too believe that our government should work to protect us from people wanting to do evil in our community. However, I also know that immigrants are often fleeing from harm, just as Jesus' family fled to Egypt to find safety from Herod's murderous threat (Matthew 2:13-23). America, like Egypt in Jesus' day, has a lot of financial resources and military might. I've been wrestling with our responsibility to use those resources to help protect people fleeing from bad situations. What do you think?
> When I hear statements about immigrants invading our country, I feel fear. But lately I've been thinking about the frequent commands in Scripture to care for foreigners in our community. Would you be willing to read some of these portions of Scripture with me and explore how they might shape our views of our posture toward immigrants.
> I have been thinking about my ancestry. Do you know yours? Where do your people come from? Did they migrate to America? If so, where were they from? What was their immigrant journey like? What were the circumstances that caused them to move here?
> Do you know anyone who has recently immigrated to America? [Maybe from their church, doctor's office, or restaurant they frequent.] Are the immigrants you know negatively or positively influencing our community?
> You know, my friend [immigrant's name] is an immigrant. Their story has impacted me. [Share their story.]
