President Harris’ Perspective

Earlier this month, our nation celebrated the Fourth of July, and my thoughts turned to my paternal grandmother, Mollie, and my maternal grandfather, Gerald, both of whom were immigrants to this country.

Mollie was a refugee from Eastern Europe. Her father, my great-grandfather Jacob, fled the country with his wife and young family to avoid persecution due to his political beliefs. Gerald was an immigrant from Canada who worked in the United States on a green card.

Both lived the life of a first-generation immigrant. Mollie worked multiple jobs, including at a meat-packing plant, cleaning other people’s homes, and caring for other people’s children, all to help her raise her own family. When her husband, my grandfather James, was killed in an industrial accident at work, there was no health care or workman’s compensation for her as she struggled to raise three boys under the age of six. Gerald worked many different jobs to support his wife, my grandmother Ethel, and four children and while they struggled to make ends meet they always thought that because they lived in the United States the next generation would benefit from their hard work and sacrifice.

Both were people of great faith and resilience who never lost hope and believed deeply in the power of our government to protect the most vulnerable by allowing immigrants a chance to make a life in the United States. For example, Mollie became a citizen as a young adult and never missed the opportunity to vote or fulfill her civic duties. One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother taking me to the voting place in our town and bringing me behind the curtain of the voting booth to engrain in me the importance of fulfilling one’s civic duty. Both my immigrant grandparents taught me to love my country – a country they both saw as truly the land of opportunity.

As I reflected on their lives, my thoughts turned to the current environment for immigrants in our country. Our faith teaches us that as a nation, we should have a preferential option for the poor and the vulnerable, especially those who are fleeing violence in their own country. Of course, we need to secure our borders, and we have the right as a nation to regulate and set immigration policies. However, as the late Pope Francis often reminded us, we must also seek justice and stand up for the rights of migrants and immigrants in our own country and around the world. In his papal encyclical Fratelli Tutti, he called for compassion and love that transcends borders and political divisions.

As a contemporary Catholic university located on the international border with Mexico, we have a moral responsibility to advocate that our nation create policies that treat all those who seek to study, work and live in our country with justice and mercy. If we are to fulfill our mission as an academic community, we need to continue to advocate for the rights of migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers and demand that compassion and love guide our immigration and border policies.

Both my grandparents passed away by the time I was 20, but they did witness part of their dreams come true, which was to have descendants attend college and have a chance to live the American dream. Thanks to their hard work and sacrifice, I have lived a life that my ancestors could only have dreamed of. As we celebrate our nation’s birthday and begin the year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, we must remember that without immigrants, such as Mollie and Gerald, we would not be the nation we are today.

The Bible is filled with references to welcoming the stranger and treating every person – especially those who are poor, marginalized, or foreign-born – with dignity and respect. When you enter our home on campus, the first thing you see when you walk in the door is one of our favorite scripture verses: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).