“God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:52-53

The Supreme Court’s decision allowing  racial profiling,  to arrest people here illegally, has proven to be exactly what those opposed knew it would be. A license to harass minority groups, aided by agents pushed to arrest and detain, more and more people.

Howard Thurman pointed out,“Too often the weight of the Christian movement has been on the side of the strong and the powerful and against the weak and oppressed-this, despite the gospel.” The Trump administration lays claim to embracing Christianity, while its actions against Immigrants, are anything but Christian. They do not care if people are here legally or not. It has shown this repeatedly, by not allowing asylum cases to proceed, arresting green card holders at their hearings and ignoring court orders.

The sheer lawlessness of what’s happening is what gets to me. People are afraid who ought not to live in fear.  Thugs are in our cities, in unmarked cars, with blurred license plates targeting minorities. There are frequent reports of citizens, detained by ICE, trying to show their papers, being told, “I don’t care,” or “They’re fake.”

In the roller coaster of changing Immigration status, at the President’s whim, people from Somali lost their Temporary Protected Status on Thanksgiving. One week later, ICE arrived in my metro area, with its large Somali  population. Homeland Security claims they are not racial profiling, even as ICE agents walk into East African restaurants, demanding proof of citizenship from every person there.

A young citizen of Somali descent, who was chased, tackled and put in a choke hold, repeatedly told ICE agents he was a citizen, to no avail. Instead he was forced into a car, and detained for hours at an immigration center, before anyone would look at his passport. When he asked for a ride home, he was told to walk the six miles back, in a snow storm.

A student on the private property of a college, is arrested, without a signed judicial warrant. Guns are pointed at students and faculty who protest that arrest.

A 55-year-old woman, who simply asked what was going on, is knocked to the ground, her face pressed into the snow, then detained for hours.

Masked men, in unmarked cars, approached a 53 year old woman at her apartment building, demanding entrance, having neither warrant nor identification. When she refused to let them in, she and her dog were pinned to the ground, with her face pushed into the snow. Only after she threatened to call the police, did they leave. Were they ICE, ICE wannabees, or simply criminals seizing an opportunity, created by ICE?

ICE’s actions of disappearing people, in unmarked cars, and masked agents, is especially troubling where I live. Six months ago, a man with a hit list and impersonating a police officer, killed our State Speaker of the House and her husband, while severely wounding a State Senator and his wife. ICE’s unmarked cars, and masked agents are frightening reminders of that night.

Our rapid slide into a country of vanishing laws and civil rights, has happened far faster than I could have imagined. It’s been said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.”  During this time of moral crisis, it is our time, to protest injustice, to demand that civil liberties and rights are followed, and to protect the vulnerable, who most need our help.

For God is still in the business of, “Lifting up the lowly,” and “Filling the hungry with good things.”  Calling each of us, to be a voice for the voiceless.