For Veterans Day, Rev. Linda Orsen Theophilus has written an excellent piece on America’s deportation of immigrant servicemen and women.
The piece, “Deportations are Not the Way to Show Respect for Veterans,” appears today on the much-read Sojourners blog, God’s Politics. It mentions and links to LIRS’s Unlocking Liberty report, and embodies much of what LIRS sets forth about better treatment of migrants affected by detention.
Rev. Theophilus begins:
When I go out with my Dad, he often wears a cap identifying him as a Korean War veteran. Over and over again, people tell him, “Thank you for serving.”
Over and over again. I’m always struck by the contrast between that appreciation and the sad, hidden truth about our country’s treatment of some other veterans. I’m speaking of the government’s detention and deportation of many immigrants who served in our armed forces but who are not yet citizens.
Rev. Theophilus is pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Eastmont and chairs the Immigration Taskforce for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Sojourners is gracious to publish this, and Rev. Theophilus was generous with her time to write this. Thank you!
Image credit: Marlon E.