How Evangelicals Opposing DACA Imitate Segregationist Theology

Jim
Society & Culture
DACA
Dreamers

On September 4th, in anticipation of President Trump’s decision to sunset legislation protecting illegal immigrant minors from deportation, a group of evangelical leaders issued a public letter under the auspices of “Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration.” The letter supports Trump’s repeal of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), an executive order issued by Barack Obama. The letter begins with shallow declarations of compassion for immigrants as well as a shout out to #alllivesmatter. Those are reason enough to be disturbed by the letter, but it was something else that really jumped out at me as a professional historian who is also an evangelical Christian. The letter’s reasoning mirrors that of evangelical proponents of segregation in the mid-20th century.

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Profile picture for user Bert Perry
Bert Perry
Wed, 09/06/17 9:07 pm

The statement more or less slanders Trump supporters by claiming that most are favoring the end of DACA for reasons of ethnic purity. Um, no, I oppose and opposed DACA because we have huge numbers of people whose job set is more or less “unskilled labor” who are taking it in the shorts because they’ve got ten million extra competitors for their jobs. Most of them happen to be Hispanic or black. I also oppose it because our legal system requires the rule of law that Mr. Obama so blatantly ignored in enacting DACA.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.