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Forming Identity – Rick Santorum, Twitter, and Immigration

Forming Identity – Rick Santorum, Twitter, and Immigration

Last updated on: December 8, 2016 at 3:48 pm by Adam Ericksen

Forming Identity – Rick Santorum, Twitter, and Immigration 2016-12-08T15:48:15-05:00 Adam Ericksen

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Rick Santorum, former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, appeared on CNN’s “The Messy Truth with Van Jones” yesterday. The show is a town hall style debate with Van Jones moderating. In the audience was a Dreamer, an undocumented immigrant since childhood, named Elizabeth Vilchis. Elizabeth came to the US from Mexico with her parents when she was seven years old.

Vilchis has lived into the American dream. She earned a degree in mechanical engineering, is employed in technology, and works to inspire younger students to earn degrees in engineering. But as a Dreamer, Vilchis is undocumented and could lose her ability to work in the United States.

The good news for Vilchis is that in 2012, President Obama enacted DACA, the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.” DACA “allows certain undocumented immigrants to the United States who entered the country as minors to receive a two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit.” After the initial two-year period, undocumented immigrants can attempt to renew their permit.

This matters for Vilchis because President Elect Trump could repeal the act. Because no one knows what President Trump will do, she asked Rick Santorum for advice.

Santorum’s Family of Immigrants

Santorum told a story about his life. Like Vilchis, he stated that his father came to the United States when he was seven years old. There was a law in the US at the time that stated his father couldn’t come until then, despite the fact that Santorum’s grandfather had been in the US for those seven years. His grandfather worked in the US, but wasn’t allowed to have his family with him until those many years later. Santorum’s father had to live in Mussolini’s Italy and reported that it was a “horrible childhood.” But you know what? Rick Santorum said that his father did it the right way. And so should Vilchis. Santorum stated,

You have the ability to go to any other country right now and apply those wares and be successful and reapply to America if you so choose.

What I hoped would be a beautifully empathetic story from Santorum turned out to be the complete opposite. I admit that I’m showing my bias here, but I felt sick as he turned from a story of empathy to a suggestion of exclusion. Admittedly, Santorum is concerned about following the law. That’s a good concern. But under DACA, the law allows Vilchis to stay in the US. The law would have to be repealed by Trump for Santorum’s vision to come true.

Twitter Responds

I was upset with Santorum, but then I went to Twitter. Many who disagreed with Santorum’s comments went to Twitter, too. One comment feed begins:

I’ll chip in good money to send Santorum to another country. Any country.

If you are a progressive like me, that’s kinda funny. But if you are a conservative, there’s a good chance you are offended. Unfortunately, humor often works on the scapegoating principle. But then there were replies to that tweet, including:

Me too.

I’m in also.

No decent country would take him.

Me too. He needs to go.

Count me in. Santorum was embarrassing.

Some suggestions: Yemen. Aleppo. Afghanistan. Next to the Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster

There is a clear dynamic here and it looks like this, “Santorum wants to send undocumented immigrants to another country. Well, let’s send him to another country!”

Mimetic Theory and Identity

Mimetic theory sheds light on this dynamic. It claims that our identity is always created in relationship with others. We are not autonomous creatures who create our own identity. Our identity is always formed in relationship.

For example, immigration policy is often based on a relationship of exclusion, which easily leads to a sense of identity over and against another. You can see this dynamic in the way Santorum proudly describes his family history. His family was good, because they emigrated to the United States in the “right way.” Of course, the implication is that Vilchis’s family is bad, because they emigrated in the wrong way. And now they should be excluded from the American way of life.

But Santorum isn’t the only one who creates a sense of identity over and against others. Let’s remember Twitter. Santorum’s way of forming identity over and against undocumented immigrants is mirrored by my fellow progressives who form identity over and against Santorum. “Send him to another country! We don’t want him here! What a jerk!”

The reason that Santorum and progressives create a sense of identity over and against one another is not because we are evil. It’s because we are human. As mimetic creatures, we always for identity in relationships with others. And tragically, as this example reveals, we can start to mimic one another in forming identity through acts, threats, or mere suggestions of exclusion.

The Bible’s Solution

But there’s an alternative way to form identity. When it comes to immigration, this alternative way of forming relationship is found in a strange place. There’s an ancient book in the Bible called Leviticus. It claims,

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

This command is commentary on the more general command found in Leviticus to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Loving our neighbors, including undocumented immigrants, progressives, and conservatives, means that we no longer form a sense of identity in opposition to others.

It does mean that we work for a more just world where all people are included in relationships of love and acceptance. And as we work for that more just world, let’s not be guided by the spirit of opposition, but by the spirit of love.

Image: Screenshot from YouTube

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