Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
A Word On Our Treatment Of Haitian Refugees

A Word On Our Treatment Of Haitian Refugees

Last updated on: September 23, 2021 at 5:02 pm by Mary Pezzulo

A Word On Our Treatment Of Haitian Refugees 2021-09-23T17:02:55-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I want to say a few words about our treatment of refugees.

I’ve written about our treatment of refugees many times. This time, I’m responding to our treatment of refugees from Haiti. And I’m using the word “our” very deliberately, because the United States is supposed to be a representative democracy. What our government, its law enforcement and its military do is done in our name because we vote. When they do something wrong, we do something wrong. The sins the United States commits against helpless people are our sins, because we’re the United States.

In the past week, we’ve all seen the images of Hatian refugees being pursued by Border Patrol officers with what looked like whips. The usual cranks reassured us that the officers were whipping the terrified men with their horse’s REINS and not actual WHIPS, as if that changed anything.

Hopefully, you’ve also seen the images of desperate Haitians being turned out of an airplane at Port-au-Prince, their belongings thrown out after them, and the refugees scrambling around the tarmac to collect their things.

These are desperate people who came to us for asylum in a time of great need. In order to apply for asylum, you have to be in the country you’re applying to, so they came here in compliance with the law. They camped on our border. And we– we, the United States, you and I, charged them with horses and whipped them with reins. We deported them by the thousands. We coldly deposited them back in a country where they will be hurt or killed. We did this to people who needed our help.

And now, almost comically, the White House is announcing that Border Patrol officers will no longer ride horses, to keep this from happening again.

I’m surely not the first person to opine that the horses were not the problem.

The horses didn’t voluntarily charge a gaggle of frightened refugees. The horses didn’t whip anyone. The horses didn’t arrest anyone. The horses didn’t put anybody on a plane, force them to return to the country they fled in desperation, and throw their belongings onto the tarmac before taking off again. We did that. If the Border Patrol did not have horses to ride, they would still abuse refugees. If the border were patrolled by riderless horses, on the other hand, the refugees would be safe. Horses are the last thing they need to eliminate.

Insofar as I’m famous at all, I became famous as a Catholic blogger for insisting that Donald Trump was a bad person and Catholics shouldn’t vote for him. I stand by that. But over the past nine months, there has been a very strange tendency to act as if Trump is Voldemort and he’s going to come back if we say anything that isn’t complimentary about a democrat. I refuse to participate in that superstition. I’m not a political shill, I’m a Christian, and Christians are supposed to speak out against injustice. I criticized Trump for his many atrocities against immigrants and now I’m doing the same for the next president. The Biden administration is doing a terrible job on immigration. I don’t care whether it’s a better job than Trump did, I don’t care whether it’s taking him extra long to clean up the mess Trump made. We elected him to do a job, it’s not an acceptable job he’s doing, and that’s all that matters. It’s inhumane to treat people who come to us for help this way and it has to stop.

As I write this, the news has broken that the United States’s special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, has resigned in disgust. I can’t write a better reaction to the situation than he did: “I will not be associated with the United States inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs to daily life. Our policy approach to Haiti remains deeply flawed, and my policy recommendations have been ignored and dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own.”

I would also like to include a few words from the Holy Bible, since Biden is a fellow Catholic and so many Americans on both sides of the political aisle wave the Bible as an excuse for the way that they vote:

When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I don’t think there’s anything unreasonable about any of that.

image via pixabay

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.
Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Previous Post

September 22, 2021

A Conversation About Victim Blaming

Next Post

September 23, 2021 On The First Day of Autumn

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Comfort, comfort my people! Prepare the way in the wilderness for the Lord. Whose voice cries out this message?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jeremiah Isaiah John the Baptist Jesus