Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar of the Archdiocese of Washington DC compares Trump’s immigration enforcement policies to the passion of Jesus Christ in a shameful column published in his Archdiocesan newspaper:
The Church remembers Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus in a spiritual and sacramental way during Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, but some people actually experience the Passion in a tangible and personal way in their very lives. Among them are members of the immigrant and refugee communities today.
Each day this situation is getting worse and more ominous. For weeks now, the federal government has pursued a “shock and awe” campaign of aggressive threats and highly visible operations of questionable legality that go far beyond mere immigration “enforcement.”
In an attempt to win favor with his boss, Menjivar goes on to cite the radical statements of Cardinal Robert McElroy:
Cardinal Robert McElroy has bluntly called this unfolding misery and injustice a “war of fear and terror,” and it is. In fact, it could be said that “this war is Christ’s Passion in us,” which is how spiritual author Caryll Houselander described the experience of the English people during World War II in her book, This War is the Passion. And as with Jesus in the Garden and after His arrest, this suffering includes not only the abuse inflicted upon migrants and refugees by the government, but the lack of noticeable support by people they considered to be friends.
Mejivar’s views on illegal immigration are likely impacted by the fact that he himself entered the United States as an illegal alien in the 1990s, as describe in this opinion piece from the Washington Post:
Three times in the space of a year, the undocumented teen fleeing war-torn Central America tried and failed to make it over the southern border of the United States. On his first attempt, he was deported from Mexico. On the second, his guide turned back in Guatemala. On his third, he once again was apprehended in Mexico and landed in jail.
Evelio Menjivar-Ayala’s next option, maybe his only one, was to risk a more desperate gambit. After two days in detention, Menjivar, his brother and two cousins paid a mordida — a bribe — to get released. Then, by arrangement with a trafficker, they stuffed themselves into the trunk of a car driven by an elderly American. When they felt the car stop and heard the man crank up the music on the radio, it would be their signal to remain still and silent.
That is how they got past the teeming port of entry at San Ysidro, Calif., between Tijuana and San Diego. The four young men spent hours in that trunk before reaching Los Angeles, where Menjivar’s sister and a new life were waiting. In a mountainous village in El Salvador, his mother, who had been lighting prayer candles for their safety, offered up a Mass of thanksgiving.
Please Pray for bishops like Evelio Menjivar who are willing to go so far as to exploit Holy Week to win political points with their constituents.