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Blessed Are the Dreamers

Jennie Belle, Former Immigration and Farmworkers Director · September 7, 2017 · 1 Comment

This week, the Trump administration announced it will end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama initiative protecting hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from​ deportation. This protection allows them to work, study, get a driver’s license, and more easily afford college. Unless Congress acts in the next six months to save the program, the individuals protected will lose their current legal status. This announcement immediately impacts nearly 800,000 young DREAMers whose futures are now uncertain.

The Bible tells us a lot about dreamers and God’s care for dreamers. For example, the story of Joseph is the story of a dreamer who is a foreigner being held​ in jail. ​Pharaoh recognizes that Joseph has unique skills and wisdom; thus,​ he responds to Joseph with hospitality rather than fear, elevating him to a place of status. ​ Pharaoh works together with the immigrant to finda way to face economic uncertainty. The story shifts when another Pharaoh ascends to power, one who is afraid of immigrant dreamers. This is a different Pharaoh with a different approach to dealing with immigrants. Rather than seeing their potential to contribute to his nation’s well-being, he only  sees them as a threat to his power. He responds with hostility rather than hospitality.  Today we​ are at a crossroads in our immigration policy. We can respond with hospitality to immigrants like the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time, recognizing the gifts and skills that DREAMers have to offer, or we can respond with hostility like the Pharaoh of Moses’ time, rejecting DREAMers because of our own fears.

God came to Joseph and sent him to a strange place with no more than a dream. Most substantive transformations in our society begin with  a dreamer—someone who is able to imagine a reality different than the current one. That same dream sequence is occurring​ today, as parents dream for their children and as children work hard to live out​ the dreams of their parents. The dream remains alive​, even as we struggle to figure out who should be allowed to stay and who should be pushed​ out. God’s dreams for us, however, have no borders. God’s dreams for us do not discriminate because God’s love extends to all. Every transformation in our society has happened because of a dreamer—someone who is able to imagine an alternate reality and work toward that reality. Living into God’s dream for us is about imagination; God’s dream for humanity is about making other people’s dreams our dreams. Now, more than ever, let us reimagine what the Beloved Community could look like if we responded to all dreamers with welcome rather than fear.

The next six months will require continued persistence as we work to hold Congress accountable and to deliver the message that they must protect the DREAMers. Right now, we can all call our representatives and urge them  to support the Dreamers by passing a clean version of the bipartisan Dream Act. Use dreamacttoolkit.org to call and urge your member of Congress to stand up for Dreamers. There are also statewide events to show support for the DREAMers. You can find one in your area using Resistance Near Me. Finally, you can show your support online. To find messaging, sample tweets, hashtags, slogans and more, click here. Our faith guides us into a call of compassion, especially for those children and youth who are most vulnerable. Losing DACA is a morally unacceptable future and one we must change.

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Children & Youth, Good Government, Immigration

About Jennie Belle, Former Immigration and Farmworkers Director

Jennie was born and raised in Savannah, GA. She moved to Texas for her undergraduate education at Rice University, during which time she studied in Mexico, Peru and Argentina and participated in service projects in Central America. After graduation she moved to Spain for a year to teach English. Jennie then came to North Carolina for a dual degree MDiv/MSW graduate program at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill where her work focused on advocating for farmworkers and organizing churches for social justice. Recently graduated, Jennie is excited to use these skills in her role at the Council of Churches as she works to help improve conditions for immigrants and farmworkers in the state.

Jennie lives in Durham and attends First Presbyterian Church. In her free time she enjoys dancing, distance running, traveling, walking her dog, and planning her upcoming wedding. Jennie can be reached at: jennie@ncchurches.org.

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