By Ron Sinclair

I have a question for those who are cheering on the wholesale round-up of people believed to be undocumented. Most of these folks are contributing to the economy in real ways. After all, they are even being arrested at their places of employment. Some have bought homes, raised their families here, pay taxes, and have added vibrancy to our communities. We eat the food they prepare. We employ them as housekeepers and gardeners, they pick our crops, they even tend to our children in nurseries and day care.

Once your purported goal of removing all these folks you so conveniently demonize is realized, who is going to do this work? And who is going to do it at the wages they are being paid? Remember when Alabama did a crackdown on undocumented workers during the last Trump administration? Crops rotted in the fields because there was no one to pick them.

Everything that is being championed by those cheering on this action, rests upon the simple premise that it is okay to demonize others if it suits your narrative. Hate is a powerful political force. It also makes those hating “the other” blind to the humanity of those being targeted.

I make no attempt to hide the fact that I claim to be a follower of Jesus. When asked by those in religious power at the time “What is the greatest commandment,” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” And then he added: “the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

There are indeed some of the folks being rounded up who are criminals. But the widest majority are good law abiding folks who are valuable members of our communities. Many who crossed the border illegally did so for reasons that most of us might have considered if our own families were faced with the same dire circumstances.

Not all offenses are equal. If we are to consider ourselves a civilized, compassionate people, we need to do a gut check over what is happening across the country in OUR name. And if we claim to be a Christian nation as this administration proudly does, we need to practice a politics of abundance instead of scarcity.

Jesus clearly showed us how.

© Ron Sinclair, 2025. Sinclair is a retired musician, active woodworker, husband, father, grandfather, passionate advocate for justice and true shalom. Photo by Gift Habeshawon Unsplash