There Have Always Been Refugees

I belong to a denomination that has been making the news recently. The Episcopal Church  has a long history of advocating for refugees who enter this country. We have a ministry that resettles migrants from a cluster of countries where violence and poverty are making their lives miserable, and their continuing existence uncertain. The Episcopal Migration Ministry has resettled almost 110,000 individuals in the USA since 1988. (www.episcopalmigrationministries.org)

My own local church is an active supporter of EMM. That is, we WERE supporters of EMM.

In January of this year the work of EMM was shut down by the government. Hundreds of staff working in resettlement agencies have been laid off, but more upsetting is the fact that thousands of refugees in camps around the world have had their hopes for their future dashed. Some of them have been waiting for years to qualify for resettlement. Some of them even had airline tickets for their journey to safety. I cannot imagine how despondent they felt over the news that they were not going to the USA after all.

Then in May the government informed EMM that they were expected to use the Federal funds they had received to resettle a group of Afrikaans “refugees” from South Africa. While it may be true that these white minority South Africans have endured racial persecution, they should not be bumped ahead of others and given preferential treatment, while other refugees wait. As a result of the turmoil this has caused The Episcopal Church will no longer apply for federal grants.  You can read our Presiding Bishop’s comments here: www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/letter-from-presiding-bishop-sean-rowe-on-episcopal-migration-ministriestt./

Immigration is a hot topic in many countries right now. The European Economic Union’s policy of free movement of workers within member states has come under strong criticism, and the UK voted to exit the Union in 2020. The jury appears to be still out on the effect that “Brexit” has had on the UK and on Europe, but from my quick survey of opinions it appears to have been a negative one.

When we were in England in 2023, we were regaled by several taxi drivers about the evils of immigration. It was apparently ruining the country by taking away British people’s jobs and houses. I mostly stayed silent in the face of the prejudice (I didn’t want to be turned out onto the street!) but I wanted to ask them if they were direct descendants of the Britons who first occupied the British Isles. Because if not, they were immigrants themselves!

Wikipedia has a very informative article about the genetic history of the British Isles. It is complicated, because that part of the world has been a destination for immigrants since the iron age. Aethelreda’s people were Britons who were a subgroup of the Celts, who either migrated east from Ireland, or West from Europe. Then, of course there was an influx of Roman genes from the four hundred years of occupation, followed by infusions of Anglo Saxon, Viking, and Norman genes. By Shakespeare’s time the British people were a thoroughly mixed population of peoples who were jostling elbows in the attempt to live with each other. This scenario has been acted out in many other countries, including the USA, much more recently.

I think that the decision of the poor and suffering to leave their homelands for a better life is an understandable one. I imagine that the decision is very difficult – to leave behind all that you have known and set out for a shadowy future –and that it takes a lot of courage, or desperation. I’m pretty sure that the hearts of all of those who still wait in refugee camps for that illusive better life are currently filled with a strange mixture of disappointment, fear, and hope.

Let US hope that they will be safely resettled in the near future.