By
Kerry-Anne Mendoza
As tens of thousands of worshippers filled St. Peter’s square in
Vatican City, Rome, the Pope made his traditional Sunday blessing. But he chose
this moment, with the whole Christian world watching, to remind us of our human
responsibility to help those who require it.
“I ask the countries of the region to generously resume efforts to find a quick solution to this humanitarian drama,” he said.
Gang violence, corruption and economic instability are driving a
refugee crisis across Central America, according to the UNHCR (UN Refugee
Agency). Violence and poverty are creating an exodus of primarily women and
children from The Northern Triangle Region (El Salvador, Honduras and
Guatemala), Nicaragua, Cuba and Mexico.
“With authorities often unable to curb the violence and provide redress, many vulnerable women are left with no choice but to run for their lives,”
The report also contained some stories from these women,
escaping for their lives. As The Guardian reports:
One 17-year-old Salvadorean girl called Norma says she was gang raped by three members of the notorious M18 gang in a cemetery in late 2014. She said she was targeted because she was married to a police officer.“They took their turns … they tied me by the hands. They stuffed my mouth so I would not scream,” Norma is quoted as saying in the report. Then “they threw me in the trash”.
This is the horror that Central American refugees are facing.
Yet, when these traumatized travelers arrive on US shores, they are greeted not
to safe harbor, but ruthless condemnation.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is the clearest possible instruction
to Christians of the danger of mistaking piety for goodness. All the prayers in
the world mean nothing if a person cannot open their doors, and their
hearts, to those in need.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Unfortunately, it appears that the Republican lawmakers, so
avowedly pious, seemed to miss a few Bible study classes.
GOP Presidential front runner Donald Trump would deport Norma and her fellow
immigrants back to the
horrors the fled, then build a giant wall preventing them from ever seeking our
help again.
His closest current contender, Ted Cruz, would follow the same path —
ending routes for illegal immigrants to become citizens, and putting “boots on
the ground” (military) at the borders.
The whole narrative of the conservative
media and political class is that migrants are dangerous, lazy, disease-ridden,
national security risks that America should erect the highest barriers to
exclude.
Not only is this contrary to Christian morality, it is contrary to
the entire premise of this nation of immigrants, and the message of Lady
Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” reads the plinth at feet of the Statue of Liberty. It is taken from Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, New Colossus. The poem itself, continues:
“The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The reminders are all around that the Republican Party has lost
its way on immigration. There is nothing Christian about slamming the door in
the face of desperate human beings.
Author Kerry-Anne Mendoza is an independent journalist. She is well known for investigative reports on politics, economics and social policy and is author of Amazon best-seller "Austerity: The Demolition of the Welfare State and the Rise of the Zombie Economy". She has been traveling to and reporting from the Middle East for 13 years, most recently reporting from Gaza
during Operation Protective Edge, and making the film 'Palestine: What Hope Peace?' After a career as a management consultant holding senior positions in Banking, Health and Local Government - she gave it all up to live in a tent at Occupy London and has been writing ever since. She is based in the UK.