What I’ve Learned about Immigration From Being a Missionary
Missionaries have a different label. Missionaries are called expats, not immigrants, aliens, or foreigners, even though we are the same thing.
Missionaries are encouraged to do whatever it takes to get into a country to serve there. I was told to marry a Brazilian, or have a baby in Brazil (an anchor baby). Any Latina doing the same thing I did (having an anchor baby in the USA) would not have been praised and celebrated like I was.
Missionaries know that Immigration often dictates their lives. I had to plan my life around meeting the requirements of my visa. The paperwork was so hard that I often wondered if I could just stay (illegally). Legal immigration is on the whim of strangers: like the time my visa sat at the consulate until I picked it up in person. Like when my sister came to visit and the officer randomly wrote “30 days” on her visa, and we didn’t know. When she went to leave, we were sent to the FBI because she’d overstayed. We paid the fine and caught our flight. You constantly feel out of control because other people messed up something, or might mess up something.
Every Missionary has stories. Stories of not being able to vote or fully understand and participate in local/national politics. Stories of being embraced and loved. Stories of being “othered” and always being different. Stories of being 5,000 miles away from who really knows you (who would notice if I decided to become someone else?).
Missionaries dread headlines about crazy Americans. Anything that happens in America is put on us: we will be asked to explain it. American stereotypes are put on us: It doesn’t matter that whatever is said/done has nothing to do with me.
Missionaries know the Immigration system is broken. We feel the effects of broken systems all the time. Many developing countries have an even worse and corrupt immigration system than the USA.
Missionaries understand that we are called to work within a broken system. Just because it is broken doesn’t mean we give up or just complain about it. God doesn’t say the rules change just because the system is broken: missionaries are still called to serve those around us.
Many Missionaries are confused at the double standard. The same people who send us to serve a people group are treating/talking about that same people group badly if they are in the USA. The same people who send us to serve a people group are supporting politicians who consistently talk about them inhumanly. It seems that giving your life to serve those around you is only a good thing if it is FAR AWAY. Instead of welcoming the people we’ve been sent to serve, they are calling for them to be deported.
Conclusion: As the church, we are called to do the best we can within a broken system. Yes, laws need to change AND we are called to LOVE no matter what. The Bible is very clear on how we are to treat refugees and displaced people (SEE HERE). This generation is seeing clearly that for many of us in the church, we have one standard for our missionaries, and another standard for when it is in our own backyard. If we don’t live up to our calling to serve others now, it doesn’t matter HOW good our immigration system becomes someday: WE WILL HAVE FAILED.