Millions of illegal immigrants have streamed into the United States in recent years, a surge some critics pan as detrimental to the American way of life. Many of the faith-based entities who bear the weight of guiding the newcomers to firm ground say otherwise. They worry the nationalist rhetoric they hear from a growingly influential faction in the Republican Party is anti-immigrant and, by default, anti-American.
In fiscal 2023, official estimates put encounters of illegal immigrants at the border at 2.5 million. That came after another historic high of 2.8 million border encounters in fiscal 2022. The government estimates approximately 7 million illegal immigrants have settled in the U.S. during the Biden administration. As illegal immigration has reached historic highs in the last four years, the border has become a top conservative talking point this election cycle.
Religious groups are a key component in counteracting the New Right’s hard-line take on immigration. Alejandro Olayo-Méndez is a Jesuit priest who works with Kino Border Initiative, a Catholic organization that assists migrants at the Arizona-Mexico border. He says faith-based groups play a vital role in supporting immigrants, suggesting that without their support, Immigration Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, and Border Patrol wouldn’t be able to function.
“They’re the first responders, the first point of contact for many people and organizations that support migrants,” Olayo-Méndez noted as he mused about the “critical role” religious groups play. He’s been working with KBI for eight years, serving as a board member for two. The priest calls faith-based organizations “the brokers” who help integrate immigrants into American society.
Federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Border Patrol, ICE, and DHS, are responsible for processing immigrants at the border. After vetting immigrants and determining if they qualify for asylum, these agencies often refer newcomers to outside groups that can help connect them to family members, jobs, and housing.
From KBI’s headquarters in Nogales, a border community split between Arizona and Mexico, to a small church in San Diego’s migrant hot spot, religious groups are an integral piece of the framework that supports newcomers in the U.S. They credit their faith as the driving force motivating their mission to migrants.
“People like us, they have the heart to help our neighbors, because that’s what the Bible tells us to do,” Jackeline Wilson says. She helps pastor a San Diego congregation and assists approximately 100 immigrants a month. Born in Puerto Rico, Wilson moved to the U.S. when she was 17 and has lived in San Diego since 1993.
Wilson says that just a few blocks from her church, ICE commonly practices “street releases,” where the federal immigration enforcement agency releases illegal immigrants onto the streets without legal documentation. The practice reduces overcrowding caused by the agency’s inability to process a record number of illegal immigrants. After founding Iglesia Cristiana Getsemani 17 years ago, Wilson started a support system for South Bay migrants in 2017.
Wilson, her husband, and four volunteers have jumped to assist many of these street releases, giving them aid. “If I don’t open the door for migrant families,” Wilson said, “I’m not being an example of Jesus.”
The pastor said she obeys a higher authority than the government. “We are following the steps of Jesus. That’s a command for us to help our neighbors, so we don’t see migrants. We see the people, human beings,” she told the Washington Examiner.
While a new faction in the Republican Party, the New Right or National Conservatives, suggests immigration erodes American identity, religious groups told the Washington Examiner that immigrants aren’t reshaping America. They say immigrants are America.
“This country was built by immigrants,” Wilson said. She believes most of the immigrants coming “have value” and want a better life and more opportunities for their families. Wilson worries over rhetoric from the Right over “migrant crime,” saying, “Once in a while you’re gonna find a bad apple in the bag,” while advocating for the “90% of these people” who have “strong values.”
Her belief that immigrants, even illegal immigrants, form the bedrock of American society comes as a resounding rebuke to the New Right. “There are people in this country that are realizing that, over time, we’re going to become a very much more diverse country,” Kenneth Ferrone, the executive director of Catholic Charities in Southern New Mexico, said. “And I think there’s… people that are very frightened and scared about that.”
In the past few years, many conservatives have perpetuated fears that illegal immigrants are spurring crime across the country. While critics say there’s little data to back up claims that “migrant crime” is increasing, several atrocities allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, such as the murder of Laken Riley, have captured the country’s attention and led the New Right to proclaim that illegal immigrants are a menace to society.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), recently announced to the nation as Donald Trump’s running mate, is one of those people. Earlier this month, Vance said, “The one thing on immigration that no one can avoid is that it has made our societies poorer, less safe, less prosperous, and less advanced.” The Ohio senator made the remarks during the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C.
Vance and other members of the National Conservative movement mourn what they call the economic decline of white Americans, in particular. They blame non-European illegal immigrants in the U.S. for perceived hits to native-born Americans.
“All net job growth under the Biden administration has gone to the foreign-born,” Vance said in March. The New Right supports mass deportations and wants to reduce the number of individuals who come to the U.S. legally, viewing immigrants as a drain on American infrastructure.
“You know what happens when you bring in 20 million people and you have to give them all shelter?” the Republican vice presidential nominee asked last month at a Turning Point USA event in Detroit. “Well, not only do your taxes go up because somebody has got to pay for that shelter, but homes become so expensive that our young people can’t afford to raise families in them anymore. So that is the problem. And the solution is to deport every single illegal alien who came to this country under Joe Biden’s regime.”
After Vance gave his speech to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, William Wolfe, who served in the Trump administration, celebrated the Ohioan’s rhetoric that slammed the political class for “importing” foreign labor.
“We’re going to fight for American citizens and their good jobs and their good wages,” Vance told Republicans. Wolfe praised the speech, hoping that Vance’s leadership would stop America from “go[ing] the way of Europe, where the native-born populations are being utterly displaced by third world migrants and Muslims.”
Ferrone shares concern about National Conservatives’ anti-immigrant rhetoric. An Irish-Italian descendant of immigrants who fled to the U.S. in the 1800s, Ferrone worries that with every wave of immigration, the country sees, “every generation that comes in after people want to close the door behind them and say no more people are allowed.”
Ferrone helps Catholic Charities operate in migrant hot spots across border states. From El Paso, Texas, to Arizona, Ferrone’s organization serves approximately 2,500 immigrants a year.
Far from being a danger to the U.S., Ferrone sees similarities between the immigrants he helps and America’s founders who fled religious persecution in Europe. Immigrants seeking a better life in America “have been part of our country from the beginning,” the Catholic advocate says. “That makes us a stronger country.”
While other conservatives often tout their support for legal immigration, saying newcomers just need to come the right way, Olayo-Méndez believes it’s not that simple. “We tend to forget that [with] all the waves of migration from Europe” over the course of America’s history, that “’the ‘right way’ wasn’t the way it is now,” he said. The Jesuit priest believes that under current immigration laws, many “people cannot access the ‘right way.’”
The U.S. is one of the most difficult countries in the world for individuals to immigrate to legally. Immigration caps and the growing difficulty in obtaining green cards required as part of the legalization process mean many people hoping to become an American have to wait from several years to up to decades if they wish to enter “the right way.”
In 2021, the Cato Institute estimated the backlog for green cards to be over 9 million. Meanwhile, the birth of immigration judges in the U.S. has helped create a backlog of immigration cases in the courts, meaning many illegal immigrants are on a waitlist for years before they’re told whether they have legal status.
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If Vance is elected as vice president, he will likely push stricter policies at the border as a new era of the New Right cements itself in the White House. Regardless, faith groups are committed to helping immigrants adjust and establish themselves in the U.S.
“Various leaders say all sorts of things, but we believe that the gospel teaches us, tells us that we need to care for our neighbor,” Ferrone said.
