It is almost the end of Holy Week, and is the annual Christian memorial of Jesus’ betrayal, crucifixion and resurrection. Faithful people all over the world are taking part in our services to hear the gospel. He is delighted with the good news as he sees reenactment of key moments from the last seven days of his life.
Easter should be a happy time, but all I can think of is the people who persecuted Jesus. When Christians are asked to embrace Jesus’ message of love and charity, our president, well, enjoys the cruelty of the Bible.
Even if you’re not a Christian, you’re probably familiar with the proverbs and characters of the Holy Week that showcases the worst humanity.
Judas, for example, is just as badly traitor as the apostle who handed over Jesus to the authorities. We accuse them of “washing their hands” when they are in charge of a bad situation but refuse to be held responsible – as stated in the Gospels, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who ordered the execution of Jesus despite his first intent. The commentator compares the dictator to Herod, the king who ordered the massacre of children in his quest to kill the young Christ.
President Trump embodies all of this in his campaign against undocumented immigrants and things related to remoteness with them.
Trump is trying to reject the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. He is attempting to rescind the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, and has illegally ordered the nation’s people to register with the federal government under the threat of fines and prosecution. He also places thousands of immigrants on the Social Security Agency’s list of dead people, which means they are financially suffocated abroad.
And we’re only three months into his second term.
His underling monkeys his horrifying joy to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Norm has deported live tweets while wearing makeup suitable for real housewives and wearing a shiny Rolex watch. On Valentine’s Day, the official White House Instagram account said, “Red Roses/Virus are Blue/Come here illegally/We’ll expel you.” Earlier this month, the White House shared a video about X, a handcuffed immigrant escorted by ice agents, and won it on “Na na Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye).”
This nasty reaches a crescendo with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadora national who crossed the border at the age of 16 to escape gang violence. The immigration judge denied the request for asylum in 2019, but since then he has allowed him to remain in the United States. He got married, had children and obtained work permits.
Abrego Garcia is now called a “terrorist” and a member of Trump’s MS-13, despite being jailed in El Salvador, kicked out of the United States without a court hearing, and has never been convicted of a crime. The Trump administration has admitted that deporting him is a “administrative error.”
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen will speak with Kilmer Abrego Garcia at a hotel in El Salvador’s capital on Thursday.
(US Senator Chris Van Hollen/Associated Press)
But instead of doing everything they can to get him back to the US, they’re not doing everything they can – they care about the law. And leaving Abrego Garcia, they care about the costs of people suffering in the prison system, crammed into cells and increasingly used as photoshoots by Republican lawmakers.
Please don’t take my words. Federal judges described Trump’s actions as “illegal” or “shocking,” and one judge said the administration’s claim that Abrego Garcia is not obligated to return to the United States is “falsely accused.”
There’s a reason Trump is using illegal immigration to push America’s boundaries. His supporters believe they are not affected. That means only criminals are targeted. And even if immigrants with no criminal history were abused, they shouldn’t have come to this country, as they shouldn’t have come to this country, like Garcia or hundreds of other people who had no chance to challenge their deportation.
If Trump’s advisor is his apostle selling his anti-immigrant crusades, then Pontius Pilate in this passion play is President Naive Buquer, El Salvador’s president, and is worshiped by American rights as the NE Plus Ultra of modern Latin American strongman. However, unlike the Roman clerics, Buchere is pleased to keep his hands filthy with unjust persecution.
In an oval office chat this week, Trump said that only Buckel could bring Abrego Garcia back to the US, and President Salvadora vowed that it wouldn’t happen. When Trump suggested that El Salvador should build more prisons to retain American citizens, Bukere agreed, adding that “you have to jail some” in order to “free” the American people.
On social media, Buquel laughed at the recent meeting between Abrego Garcia and Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Abrego Garcia “miraculously rose” from “death camp,” “now sipping a margarita…
Instead of trembling at these words, too many Trump supporters, many of whom are publicly declared Christians, are shrugging.
The persecution of Abrego Garcia and other deported immigrants reminds me of another Christian, German theologian, Martin Niemerer.
Nie Mehler was denounced for his complacent fellow citizens as the Nazis first targeted the most despise groups in German society. Prose is just as famous as it is cliché, but Niemerer’s message is the same as the message we Christians have in mind during Holy Week.
Tyrants never want to stop them. Only by standing with the fewest among us can a good victory be made – otherwise, the evil rules.
So which is it, American?
Source link