ICE Raids and Christian Witness, with Robert Chao Romero

“Migration is grace,” says UCLA professor Robert Chao Romero, author of Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity. In this episode, he joins Mark Labberton to discuss the immigration crisis through stories from Southern California, theology of migration, and the challenge of Christian nationalism for the American response to the immigration crisis we face.

Romero narrates heartbreaking accounts of ICE raids, racial profiling, and dehumanization, while also offering hope rooted in scripture and the early church. He points out the “Xenodochias” of the ancient and medieval church that cared for migrants. And he shows how biblical narratives—from Abraham to Jesus—reveal God’s mercy in migration. Romero calls Christians to see the image of God in migrants, resist the “Latino threat narrative,” and reclaim the church’s historic role in welcoming the stranger.

Episode Highlights

1. “Migration is grace. … You wouldn’t have a Bible without migration.”
2. “Jesus lived and died as an outsider in solidarity with all outsiders, and he rose to new life among outsiders.”
3. “The gospel is an outward pushing invitation… it is the pushing out actually into the far and remote places of suffering in need.”
4. “This level of targeting of the Latino community has not happened since 1954 and Operation Wetback.”
5. “We think that crossing the US border is like crossing the Jordan into the promised land, and we’re baptized into the Yankee Doodle song.”

Helpful Links and Resources

• Brown Church by Robert Chao Romero
• UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
• Fuller Seminary’s Centro Latino
• CLUE: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
• World Relief

About Robert Chao Romero

Robert Chao Romero is an associate professor in the UCLA César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and in the Asian American Studies Department. With a background in law and history, his research and teaching explore the intersections of race, immigration, faith, and justice. He is the author of Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity (IVP Academic), which chronicles the long history of Latino Christian social justice movements. Romero is also an ordained pastor, active in local church ministry and theological reflection on immigration, Christian nationalism, and the global church.

Show Notes

Immigration Crisis and ICE Raids

• Student testimonies of fear and trauma at UCLA during immigration crackdowns
• Stories of ICE targeting bus stops, car washes, and Home Depots in Southern California
• Latino citizens, veterans, and even high school students detained despite legal status
• A man fleeing ICE was killed in traffic, sparking vigils and protests

Historical Parallels and Christian Nationalism

• Comparison to Operation Wetback of 1954, when over one million were deported
• Escalating racial profiling, reinforced by Supreme Court decisions
• “Latino Threat Narrative” portrays Latinos as criminals and unwilling to assimilate
• Christian nationalism merges citizenship and faith, echoing “manifest destiny”

Theology of Migration and Outsiders

• Migration as grace: God intervenes with compassion in nearly every biblical migration story
• “We live alongside the world. We don't belong to the world.”
• “ Jesus lived and died as an outsider in solidarity with all outsiders, and he rose to new life among outsiders.” (Jorge Lara-Braud)
• Jesus as an asylum seeker in Egypt; Ruth and Joseph as biblical migrants
• Early church created “xenodochias”—ancient and medieval social service centers for immigrants and the poor
• Outsider theology: Christians as strangers and aliens, called to care for outsiders
• “Jesus lived and died as an outsider in solidarity with all outsiders.”

Policy Challenges and Misconceptions

• Millions of mixed-status households trapped by the “10-year bar” in immigration law
• Asylum seekers legally present cases at the border under U.S. law
• Refugees undergo extensive vetting, often over decades
• Common myths about immigrants as “illegal” are contradicted by law and history

Faith, Empathy, and the Church

• Empathy as central to Christian response, counter to narratives of fear and scarcity
• Latino pastors passing on both the gospel and nationalism from missionary influence
• The church historically provided refugee care before the UN Refugee Agency existed
• Worship with immigrant congregations as a source of hope and resilience
• Orthodox theology: worship joins heaven and earth, every tribe and nation before the Lamb

Production Credits

Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.