Faith, Family, and Immigration Double Standards
Facts…
The Trump administration and several allies in Congress have called for ending
or restricting birthright citizenship, despite the 14th Amendment’s long-standing interpretation by courts as
guaranteeing citizenship to nearly all people born on U.S. soil. Supporters
argue—contrary to settled precedent—that the Constitution allows exceptions for
children of undocumented immigrants.
President Trump has framed immigration as an existential threat,
warning that the nation cannot survive if children born to undocumented
immigrants become citizens. He has also spoken with open contempt about
immigrants from certain regions, referring to some countries as “shithole countries” and questioning why the
United States should accept people from them.
A significant share of Trump’s most loyal
political support comes from self-identified Christians, particularly white
evangelicals. Also part of this coalition are Catholics, Mormons and Jews.
At the same time, Trump has used language claiming immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country and has
portrayed outsiders as a danger to America’s identity. That
rhetoric echoes America’s nativist past and poses a profound moral
challenge for people of faith who profess commitments to human dignity and love
of neighbor.
Now consider… Melania Trump, born Melania Knauss, first entered the United States
on a visitor visa, which generally does not allow paid employment. Reporting
later showed she earned money from modeling shortly after arriving, before
obtaining a work-authorized visa. While her representatives deny any
wrongdoing, critics have pointed to her case as an example of how immigration
rules can be applied unevenly.
Melania later received permanent residency through the EB-1 “extraordinary ability” visa category, often
associated with elite scientists.
The Trump administration, ICE and MAGA supporters have argued that
immigrants who violate visa conditions or enter under false pretenses should
face removal, and have questioned birthright citizenship for children of
undocumented immigrants, calling them “anchor babies”.
The parents of Usha Vance immigrated to the United States under
legal pathways expanded after 1965—pathways that the Trump administration and
allies like Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly criticized and sought to
restrict. JD Vance’s marriage to a woman of color who practices a
different religion has drawn criticism from the fringes of the MAGA right. Many
evangelical churches teach the biblical call to avoid being unequally yoked,
instructing believers not to marry outside the faith, and some far-right
interpreters, who are MAGA supporters, extend this principle to race and
ethnicity.
Bottom line… There is a well-documented impression, based on public actions,
statements, and policies, that President Trump, Vice President Vance, and their
administration are hostile to immigrants. Yet many of the policies they promote
stand in stark contrast to their personal lived experiences, which include
close family ties to immigrants and communities that their rhetoric and
proposals often portray as threats.
This is what most people would call hypocrisy.
12 comments:
Ik Oankaar
Guess we know where the Sikhs stand! Dave makes a good case for hypocrisy. Throw in the need to name buildings, institutions and places after oneself and we have a fruit & nut bar and below par cabinet bobble heads steering hideous tentacles hither and yon. But that old endless span called Time knows -
" "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Worse than hypocrisy. It's double standards with entitlement for the connected and oppression for the marginalized.
In other words, the old, and new again, "American way".
David, It does seem that trump and vance are opposed to ILLEGAL immigrants as the majority of US citizens are. We are, or use to be, a country built on immigrants and laws and run by citizen legislators. Now we are a country where laws don't matter run by professional politicians who have no idea what is is like to be an average citizen.
Your examples are not entirely accurate. The parents of Usha immigrated to the US so she was born a US citizen. Melania came on a visitors visa. I guess you don't see the difference between legal immigrant and illegal. In many countries crossing their border illegally means jail time, in the US it means housing, food, cell phone and medical care.
Making citizens sleep on the street and housing illegals is what I would call hypocrisy.
Well of course Dave... Look, on his most corrupt day, Hunter Biden grabbed about 10-15 million off his last day. And everyone on the right went crazy. Low estimates have the Trump Crime Family [if the right can say that about the Biden's, I can say that about a convicted felon's family] grift off the Trump Presidency at over $450 million.
And yet we hear nothing.
It's as if the value people expressed was only a value back in the day. You know, when it would smack a Dem. Just like immigration.
skud, I re-read Dave's post. Nowhere does he say that Usha Vance is not a US citizen. He did mention that her parents immigrated to the US.
Dave is accurate in mentioning that Trump's 3rd wife did illegally work in the US while she was on a visitor visa, which was illegal. She broke the law, but she had powerful, influential friends, apparently, that allowed her to get away with what any other immigrant would have been kicked out of the country for.
PS. Trump promised the American people that he'd go after the bad undocumented people. He lied (what a surprise!). His ICE thugs have gone after people who are here legally, who have their paperwork in order, and who have broken no laws. His thugs even go after American citizens, who, even when they present proof that they ARE American citizens, still get beaten, injured, shot, and some, even executed in cold blood.
Are you okay with this?
The hypocrisy of the rightwing MAGA, Christian Nationalists, and non MAGA Trump supporters are without a doubt at the top of the hypocritical class.
I don't believe the majority of U.S. citizens are opposed to illegal immigrants. I posted the video of the 1980 Bush/Reagan debate, specifically a question from the audience about immigration. I found a transcript from the Reagan Library and am posting it here. I particularly was amazed to see Bush saying this "we are creating a whole society of really honorable, decent family-loving people that are in violation of the law" :
MR. GROSSBERG: My name is David Grossberg, and I would like to know: Do you think the children of illegal aliens should be allowed to attend the Texas public schools free, or do you think that their parents should pay for their education?
MR. BUSH: Who are you addressing that to?
MR. SMITH: I think you are first in this.
MR. REAGAN: He was looking right at you.
MR. BUSH: I was afraid he was.
Look, I would like to see something done about the illegal alien problem that would be so sensitive and so understanding about labor needs and human needs that that problem wouldn’t come up; but today if those people are here, I would reluctantly say I think they would get whatever it is that they are, you know, what the society is giving to their neighbors. But the problem has to be solved. The problem has to be solved, because as we have kind of made illegal some kinds of labor that I’d like to see legal, we are doing two things: we are creating a whole society of really honorable, decent family-loving people that are in violation of the law; and, secondly, we are exacerbating relations with Mexico.
The answer to your question is much more fundamental than whether they attend Houston schools it seems to me. I don’t want to see a whole—if they are living here, I don’t want to see a whole—think of six and eight years old kids, being made, you know, one, totally uneducated and made to feel that they are living with outside the law.
Let’s address ourselves to the fundamentals. These are good people, strong people. Part of my family is a Mexican.
MR. REAGAN: I think the time has come that the United States and our neighbors, particularly our neighbor to the South, should have a better understanding and a better relationship than we have ever had. And I think that we haven’t been sensitive enough to our size and our power. They have a problem with 40 to 50 percent unemployment. Now, this cannot continue without the possibility arising with regard to that other country that we talked about, of Cuba and what it is stirring up, of the possibility of trouble below the border, and we could have a very hostile and strange neighbor on our border. Rather than making them—we are talking about putting up a fence. Why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems, make it possible for them to come here legally with work permit, and then, while they’re working and earning here, they pay taxes here. And when they want to go back, they can go back. And they can cross, and open the border both ways by understanding their problems.
This is the only safety valve right now they have with that unemployment that probably keeps the lid from blowing off down there. And I think we could have a fine relationship, and it would solve the problem you mentioned, also.
Shaw... here's what I wrote...
"The parents of Usha Vance immigrated to the United States under legal pathways expanded after 1965—pathways that the Trump administration and allies like Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly criticized and sought to restrict.
I think the point I was trying to make, and we've seen play out, is the Trump Admin is in fact trying everything possible to limit even legal immigration. Witness them pulling people out of swearing in ceremonies after they've met all requirement for citizenship, including numerous vettings.
That some are unable to grasp that nuance says a lot about their willing ignorance as to the facts of where we find ourselves these days.
Possum... can you believe it? A couple of Republicans waxing intelligently on immigration. No xenophobia, no hyperbole, no lies, no accusations. Just a few statements of reality and desires to actually work on and fix the problem.
Makes you wonder why there are not a lot of responses from our MAGA friends saying "Amen!"
Of course you are correct Ms. Shaw that Dave did not say vance was illegal but why put in The parents of Usha Vance immigrated to the United States under legal pathways.
I think if trumps third wife broke the immigration laws she should be deported.
I do support deporting illegals who broke the law and entering the country illegally is breaking the law. Are some people deported who shouldn't be, probably but when you had an open border with a sign that says free everything and let millions enter there are going to be some mistakes throwing them out.
Grey, Check it, "Feb 2, 2026 — 73% agree that entering the U.S. without permission is breaking the law 61% support deporting illegal aliens to their home countries".
And therein lies the root of the problem. Perceptions and beliefs. The beliefs and practices created during European colonialism and the growth of I, me, and mine capitalism. Beliefs and practices of duality that creates division, othering, and ultimately enemies. People are a strange species of life indeed.
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