The Story of an Illegal Immigrant
To kick off a week of Christo-fascist Project 2025's immigration policies (Scroll to the end to listen)
Imagine you’re a two-year-old who’s awakened by pounding on the front door. Your parents scurry into the room, fully dressed and alert. Your mom’s hands tremble when she picks you up.
“We have to go,” she whispers and plants a kiss in your unruly hair.
The three of you creep out the back door and run along the alley that bisects the homes in your neighborhood. You hear wood splinter, an angry shout, but the noise is soon overcome by your parents’ labored breathing.
“We can’t risk taking our own transport,” your dad wheezes. “They’ve already surrounded it.”
Your mom slows to a stop. Her arms tremble against your dead weight. “But we can’t run all the way to another country.”
Your dad peels you from her chest and buries your face in his neck. His hard-working limbs are solid, sure. “Others are running, too. We’ll help each other cross the border.”
When your mom whimpers, he untangles one arm from your body and pulls her into his side. “We will stay alive. I swear it.”
For the rest of your life, you will recall the next several weeks. Camping under fathomless starlight. Watching your mother starve so you can eat. Baking under relentless sunshine. Catching unexpected raindrops on your tongue.
Finally, the three of you hike over a rise. Your dad points into a distance blurred by waves of heat. “There. Just over the river. That’s where they said we could cross the border.”
What happens next depends on its timeframe. Is this a recent tale of a Honduran family fleeing the promised execution of their only child by a gang? Or is it Jesus, Mary, and Joseph running from King Herod’s order to execute all male children under a certain age?
Perhaps this is a better question: Would you be willing to enter another country illegally to save your only child’s life?
This week, we will begin to unpack Project 2025’s policy recommendations regarding immigration. The mainstream media has made much of this section, but they have failed to drill down to the Christian Nationalist rationales for the inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants.
Tomorrow, we will cover how Christian Nationalists view the role of government and laws, especially as they pertain to immigration. As the week unfolds, I hope you’ll return to today’s newsletter to imagine yourself and your loved ones in this scene.
But for now, it’s important to remember these points:
This is the story of the holy family fleeing King Herod’s murderous rampage.
Mary and Joseph broke multiple laws to keep Jesus alive. They ignored a direct government order. They became fugitives. They entered another country illegally. They stayed there illegally until the danger passed.
If this story happened at our southern border today, Christian Nationalists would watch the holy family drown in the Rio Grande. Or they would let them be shredded by razor wire. Or they would take Jesus from Mary and Joseph, and they would detain them all in animal cages. Several years later, Jesus might still be separated from his parents with little hope of finding them again. They would treat them like the vermin their revered leader believes them to be.
Also, even if someone is here illegally it does not mean they are not paying federal or state taxes - many of them will buy social security cards to then get work. Of course the social security card is of a dead person, but it doesn't matter - the person is still paying taxes like any other American citizen- and they are still paying taxes for gas and all other purchases. When these "illegal" immigrants get to retirement age they never collect Social Security even though they paid into it, because they are afraid of getting caught. Our government KNOWS this happens and they gladly still allow it because they get tax dollars from it and no one comes back later to collect Social Security. The Republicans KNOW this......and gladly take their money.
Then we have DACA kids.....whole other story, set of circumstances......they've been here for years.
Yes. 💔
It might not be as simple as I make it, because I don't know what percentage of the people at the border are actually fleeing violence, as opposed to something else, but none of them were living in tenable circumstances. I always refer to them as refugees, and I think that's a good start. I don't know what impact that would have on the conversation, but I'd like to see it tried out.