In the last couple days, an apparently Mormon Twitter user claimed to have reported someone in his ward to ICE, which started deportation proceedings against the family. I’m dubious of the claim, frankly: this person has a history of acting as trollishly as possible to get reactions. (And, for that reason, I’m not going to name him or link to his tweets—if you really want to see it, it’s not hard to find.)
However, in the last couple of days, we at BCC have verified instances where Mormons have called ICE on their ward members. I assume they claim they’re doing it because of the Twelfth Article of Faith, and especially that part that says that we believe in “obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”
Upfront: those people are lying. They’re calling ICE because they’re racists, xenophobes, or otherwise un-Christian-like.[fn1]
And why do I say that?
The Twelfth AoF Is Personal
The Twelfth Article of Faith requires us to obey, honor, and sustain the law. But it’s one of those commandments that is to each of us, personally. What it doesn’t do is tell us how to treat those who don’t obey, honor, and sustain the law. It certainly doesn’t require us to report those who break the law to authorities.
In fact, the church does not see reporting—or even censuring—members who are in a country illegally as a duty. In fact, the church has explicitly told members that we’re not in a position to make judgments about others’ immigration standards:
The First Presidency has for many years taught that undocumented status should not by itself prevent an otherwise worthy Church member from entering the temple or being ordained to the priesthood.
Bishops are in the best position to make appropriate judgments as to Church privileges. Meanwhile, Church members should avoid making judgments about fellow members in their congregations.
Let me emphasize that: even if undocumented immigration status violates the Twelfth AoF, the church does not see it as disqualifying for priesthood or temple attendance. The values described by the Article of Faith is subordinate to other important values.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that the church itself has been casual over the years about immigration status. I mean, I served my mission in Brazil, far from any national borders, so our immigration status was always fine. But I’ve known plenty of European missionaries who used a visa from one European country to overstay their permission to be in another European country.[fn2]
Selective Reporting
The Twelfth AoF argument isn’t, in itself, evidence of racism, etc., of course. But the selective application of the argument is. (Note that we shouldn’t even get to this point, given that there’s no Twelfth AoF reason to report undocumented ward members, and there’s strong church-inflected reasons not to. But let’s ignore those for now.)
Being in the country without permission is a civil offense.[fn3] You know what else is a civil offense?
- Speeding.
- Jaywalking.
- Not coming to a complete stop at the stop sign.
- Not paying use tax on out-of-state and internet purchases where the seller doesn’t collect sales tax.
- Copying sheet music for the choir, without buying individual music for each person.
- Downloading copyrighted material from the internet without paying.
- Missing a child support payment.
- Paying employees under the table to avoid payroll taxes.
Are you reporting your ward members when they do those things? In fact, are you reporting yourself when you do? If not—if you only chose to report undocumented individuals—you’re not doing it because of the Articles of Faith.
Neighbors
The weight of scripture deeply condemns reporting an undocumented ward member. It very clearly goes against Jesus’ command to love our neighbors. It actively disrupts the web of interconnectedness that Joseph Smith worked toward. And it’s 100% antithetical to Zion. We don’t live in a Zion community yet, but we’re trying to build one. And a Zion people would not try to alienate its members, much less rip a family apart.
My copy of Zion in the Courts is at work, and I haven’t read it in a number of years. But it points out that, in the nineteenth century, Mormons could be excommunicated for suing other Mormons in secular courts. We’ve moved away from that, but actively attempting to tear families apart, and to punish our coreligionists, strikes me as worse, even, than suing our neighbors.
[fn1] I’m going to keep a measured tone in this post. In part, it’s because I’m pretty sure some of my co-bloggers are going to bring the thunder. And partly it’s because I can’t express how despicable a Mormon who would call ICE on a fellow-Saint is in a way that’s appropriate for this blog.
[fn2] I wouldn’t be surprised if some members of the church have jobs that would require them to report undocumented individuals to ICE if they were aware of the individual’s immigration status. I would both hope and assume that their leaders would not call them to positions where they would find out immigration status. And I would equally hope that if an individual were under that legal obligation and got a calling that would make them privy to that information, that the person would decline the calling.
[fn3] There are, unsurprisingly, criminal violations of immigration law, too, that mostly deal with the manner of entry. The criminal violations are generally misdemeanors, though, and require the government to prove illegal entry. Basically, unless our reporting ward members actually saw their co-congregants enter the country, they’re reporting a civil violation.