Key Issues in Liberation Theology and Migration Today

Liberation Theology and Migration Key issues in liberation theology II Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936)

Todays session Contemporary statistics about immigration Tower of Babel, language and empire Theology of the New Sanctuary Movement Honore Daumier, The Refugees (c.1855)

Part 1 Immigration in the US today Dorothea Lange, The Road West (1938)

Immigration today US 2022 (Pew) 47.8 million immigrants in US population (Pew, 2023) ~50% immigrants since 1963 from Latin America 23% Mexico, 6% India, 5% China, 4% Philippines, 3% El Salvador 27% from Latin America excluding Mexico 49% naturalised US citizens, 24% lawful permanent residents, 4% temporary residents, 23% unauthorised ~3m temporary legal protection Ivan Milev, Refugees (1926)

Prevention through deterrence (HRW, 2024) Clinton policy (1994): close of traditional smuggling routes, force through perilous terrain (tripled deaths) Making crossings hazardous: increasingly high walls, razor wire on Texas border etc Operation Lone Star pushing back migrants (inc children), racial profiling, legal investigation of immigrant rights groups, dangerous chases in populated areas (61 killed, 164 injured in 2023) 2022 >850 deaths on Mexico/Texas border Vasily Ryabchenko, Deterrence (1988)

Closing off legal access (Amnesty, 2023) Since 2016 metering (only so many applicants/day: pushbacks, queues, waiting in dangerous locations) 2019-20, 2021-22 - remain in Mexico policy: must return to Mexico while waiting for asylum claim to be processed General presumption of ineligibility unless criteria for arrival met Including CBP One app: required to schedule time of arrival at prescribed ports of entry along US-Mexico border, lottery Biden capping asylum for border crossings 2024 Recent Trump attack on Birthright citizenship Nicholas Roerich, Tibetian Fortress (1936)

Immigration detention (ACLU, 2024) May 2024 36,000 detained each day 91% held in detention facilities owned/run by private companies often prison companies Infectious disease, poor nutrition, bad healthcare Punitive use of sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, physical and psychological abuse 2017-2024 70 reported deaths, all avoidable, ICE obstructs oversight and reporting Illegal prolonged and indefinite detention (AIC 2021) Vincent van Gogh, Prisoners Exercising (1890)

Part 2 Language and empire Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Destruction (1836)

Ched Myers and Matthew Colwell, Our God is Undocumented: Biblical Faith and Immigrant Justice (2012) Colwell - Presbyterian pastor, active in living wage campaign, New Sanctuary Movement (harbouring immigrants), Presbyterian Border Ministries and conversations with migrants Ched Myers Mennonite theologian, worked with indigenous peoples movements in Pacific Basin, Sanctuary Movement, various immigrants rights work Looking at Myers work in book Ched Myers

Language and racial justice US has always been racially diverse both native groups, and Spanish colonisers Resisted by ideologies of racial superiority on part of dominant group Contemporary battleground: language Promote English as official language in State, forbid Spanish in workplace etc Jose Clemente Orozco, Cortex and the Cross The Epic of American Civilization (1832-4)

The Tower of Babel Written during Babylonian exile coming to terms with failure of Jerusalem as urbanised seat of empire Reads as critique of empire People drift East from Eden, settle in linguistically homogenous, hierarchical state Tower embodies slavery (bricks like Egypt), hierarchy (a ziggurat like Babylon) Casting down of tower, scattering of people, confusion of language: God reasserting rightful diversity Peter Bruegel the Elder, The Little Tower of Babel (1563-9)

A new ethic: Pentecost Read as healing of divisions of Babel But actually quite different! Disciples speak many different languages Time of jubilee redistributing wealth. Spirit distributes self, disciples sell possessions Unlearned disciples (inc women) instruct people eruditely, even their betters Backdrop of Christ s death and resurrection overcoming imperial power; Peter proclaims as Lord Juan Bautista Ma no, Pentecostes (c.1615-20)

Part 3 A theology of the New Sanctuary Movement Robert Lentz O.F.M., Christ of Maryknoll

The Sanctuary Movement Transporting Mexican refugees to safety, sheltering them on the way Like underground railroad New Sanctuary Movement refuge to families separated by border regime prophetic hospitality Hale Woodruff, The Underground Railroad (1939)

Prophetic hospitality in the OT Biblical hospitality practices shelter the stranger Sanctuary practices God marks Cain, sanctuary cities harbour manslaughterers while awaiting trial God appears as in need of hospitality Nameless (undocumented) outside boundaries of Egypt on Horeb Leads Israelites to wander in desert Speaks through wandering prophets Rembrandt, Abraham Serving the Angels (1646)

Recapitulated in NT identity of Christ with immigrants Jesus: flight to Egypt; itinerant, dependent on hospitality of strangers; no claim on kingdoms of the world intensified in resurrection appears unrecognised by friends Acts: risky hospitality Ananias shelters Saul, smuggles across border when converts Revelation of John Jesus knocking at the door Peter Bruegel the Elder, Landscape with the Flight to Egypt (1563)

Jesus as Buen Coyote In Paul: the law condemns us Like border law, preventing crossing in Kingdom of God Christ helps us cross despite the law Jesus as Buen Coyote (Ekblad, 2011) Harrowing of Hell (c.1350)