Mixed-Status Families and U.S. Immigration Law
By Tiffany Butler
Bethlehem – the City of David, the birthplace of Jesus. Generations before Jesus or David were born in this town, famine came to Bethlehem. Due to the famine, a man named Elimelech emigrated with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons to Moab in search of food and opportunity. Instead of a land of prosperity, the land of Moab for them is a land of bitterness and loss. While Naomi gains two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, she suffers the death of her husband and eventually her two sons. When she hears that abundance has returned to Bethlehem, she sets her face to return to the eventual City of David. Orpah returns to Moab, but Naomi’s other immigrant daughter-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her to Bethlehem. What results from this story is what we refer to today as a “mixed-status family.” Mixed-status families often consist of family members who are legal citizens, immigrants, naturalized citizens, and/or illegal immigrants.www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/hope-is-waiting-for-the-us_b_9810252.html and www.ugm.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_legal
Gomez, Alan. USA Today. Trump immigration raids show greater focus on non-criminals. February 16, 2017. Accessed on February 17, 2017. Web: www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/02/16/president-trump-immigration-raids-target-fewer-criminals/97988770/
Gushee, David P, Glen H. Stassen, and Glen H. Stassen. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. 2016. Print.
Hoffmeier, James K. The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate. Center for Immigration Studies. December, 2011. Accessed on February 14, 2017. Web: cis.org/bible-use-and-abuse-immigration
Lind, Dara. Vox. The disastrous, forgotten 1996 law that created today's immigration problem. April 28, 2016. Accessed February 17, 2017. Web: www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11515132/iirira-clinton-immigration
Schueths, April M, and Jodie M. Lawston. Living Together, Living Apart: Mixed-status Families and Us Immigration Policy. 2015. eBook. Chapter 14.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version Containing the Old and New Testaments. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2003. Print.
Williams, Reggie L. "A Thicker Jesus as a Contextual and Embodied Christian Ethics." Perspectives in Religious Studies, vol. 40, no. 2, 2013, pp. 155-166.
