ICE agents are descending on American cities with a level of brutality and lawlessness unprecedented in American history. Immigrants and Americans alike are dying at the hands of agents who act more like violent thugs than federal officers.
What is driving this violence against the American public? Many analysts believe it is fear—fueled by the long-debunked Great Replacement theory of the far right.
The “replacement” narrative is a far-right conspiracy theory claiming that elites are orchestrating a plan to replace the demographic majority, often “white” people in Western countries, with immigrants or minority populations. This idea is driven by fearmongering around immigration, birth rates, and cultural change. Though thoroughly debunked and unsupported by facts, it has been embraced by extremist groups and linked to acts of violence.
This fear of the ethnic “other” is intensifying racism in the United States and fostering a climate of fear and distrust. Our neighbors who are from Latin America, Somalia, and other countries have become scapegoats for America’s perceived decline. They are cast as existential threats to white dominance and control within the American imagination.
How should Christians respond to false narratives like the Great Replacement theory? We must tell the truth about immigrants and their essential contributions to American society.
Over the past half-century, immigrants have helped shape the nation’s cultural fabric and driven economic growth. They work across the job market—from agriculture and technology to health care—and have founded companies, advanced scientific research, and led medical innovation.
Immigrants have also enriched American music, food and the arts, adding vitality to communities. In short, they have helped sustain population growth, fuel entrepreneurship and strengthen American innovation.
Scripture repeatedly calls for love and care for immigrants.
Leviticus 19:34 commands, “You shall love the stranger as yourself,” reminding the Israelites they were once strangers in Egypt. Jesus echoes this ethic of hospitality in Matthew 25:35: “I was a stranger and you invited me in.” Hebrews 13:2 urges hospitality to strangers and Deuteronomy 10:19 commands love for the foreigner.
Taken together, these scriptures consistently affirm compassion and solidarity with immigrants.
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Donald E. Williams is a United Methodist pastor and Duke University graduate. He completed his doctorate at Duke University in 2022 and is the author of An Investigation Into the Relationship Between Aristotelian Eudaimonia and Christian Discipleship: A Thomistic Perspective, Wipf and Stock Publishers. His website is https://www.virtuespromise.com/.
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