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As the National Guard is deployed in Los Angeles, tear gas flows, rubber bullets punish bystanders, and cars burn, I cannot help but think about how undocumented immigration and mass deportations have become racially charged. I hear some people ask, “Who are these people?” Part of the issue is that the words used to describe Latin@s, such as “Hispanic” or even “Latino,” are not racial markers. They are used to describe a vast conglomeration of people who are diverse in and of themselves. The term is as broad as “American” or “European.”For example, I am Honduran-American. My ethnic heritage is Honduran, but even then, two of my four grandparents were from El Salvador. These are two countries that went to war in the “Football [Soccer] War” of 1969. Honduras has enjoyed relative peace, but El Salvador was embroiled in a prolonged Civil War from 1980 until 1992. Even now, there are sharp differences: El Salvador has elected Nayib Bukele, an authoritarian right-wing politician, while Honduras elected Xiomara Castro, a left-wing socialist. I know I may be teasing out fine details, but these countries are different. Yet they are all lumped together under one category that erases nuance: Hispanic.The differences extend further. Honduras and Mexico are distinct in many ways, and Honduras and Argentina even more so. Within Honduras itself, regions differ significantly, and the country is also home to non-Hispanic peoples such as the Garinagu, descendants of escaped African slaves and Carib peoples from Saint Vincent. El Salvador is similar but not the same. Traveling across Central and South America, I have often felt as though I had arrived at “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).Hispanic is a term that primarily refers to someone who speaks Spanish. In Europe, it specifically refers to people from Spain. In Spain, there is the concept of hispanoamérica, which points back to the colonial period. Certainly, we share much common history. Spain influenced our languages, religions, and customs. Yet there are places where this dominance barely penetrated. Even in religion, syncretism with African and Amerindian traditions remains strong. Moreover, many other languages are spoken in Latin America. The term Hispanic does not capture this diversity, nor does it account for the racial intermixing—or mestizaje—that has defined Latin America.This racial intermixing is key to understanding Latin America. Through it, Latin Americans have built their societies and cultures. For example, the DNA test I took displays my own racial ambiguity. Being Hispanic is not a race. As my results show, my genetic makeup is one of miscegenation. In terms of traditional U.S. laws, I am an aberration. Consider Loving v. Virginia, when Richard and Mildred Loving could not legally marry across racial lines. For much of U.S. history, interracial marriage was prohibited. By those outdated laws, many Latin Americans—racially ambiguous by nature—would already have been considered “illegal.”I cannot underscore the importance of this enough. I am simultaneously African, Amerindian, European, Jewish, and Palestinian. When people ask what race I am, I tell them there is only one race—the human race. The differences between human beings are minimal. Some have more pigmentation than others, but we all share similar needs.Culture and ethnicity, which are learned and ingrained, account for much of what differentiates us. This is where living together becomes difficult. For example, in Latin America there are constant jokes about cultural differences. Puerto Rican culture is direct and upfront, and people will tell you plainly what they think. To other cultures, this can seem aggressive. By contrast, Guatemalan culture often avoids eye contact. To outsiders, this can be misread as dishonesty or passivity.Even the way we speak Spanish can offend across cultures. In Honduras, we use a form of Spanish called voseo. Our word for “you” is vos. In Spain, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, however, people use tuteo, where “you” is tú. To someone unfamiliar with vos, it can sound aggressive or belittling. But vos is in fact an ancient and reverential form of Spanish, once used to address people of high status. In Honduras, it has become the informal and intimate way to address someone, carrying a sense of closeness that tú or usted do not.This is the reality of Latin America. Perhaps Latin@s anticipate a future in the United States where miscegenationbecomes the norm. In many ways, this holds promise. We can become a family. We can live and work together to forge a shared future. We are stronger united than divided. Our obsession with Black and White categories could be made more nuanced. At the same time, tensions persist. Yet there is beauty in our African and Amerindian roots. The potential for racial harmony is present. But we must recognize it, claim it, and live into that promise. As one song says, “there is no future in [racial] purity.” Notes & BibliographyJarabe de Palo. “En lo puro no hay futuro.” YouTube, uploaded by Jarabe de Palo, 23 Sept. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GoNN7Mxu_U. Accessed 20 June 2025.

Does anyone know the origin of the current sentiment of xenophobia prevalent in this day and age? As I have conversations with pastors, church members, and other people, national security is their main issue. Perhaps the aftermath of 9/11 elevated this issue to the forefront. September 11 reminded us of the delicate nature of democracy and the equally delicate peace enjoyed in the United States.[i] I traveled internationally during that time and I remember soldiers standing guard at several airports. However, xenophobia has risen since those days. Nativist sentiments post-9/11 turned against immigrants. I remember being home and receiving angry anonymous phone calls; “Get out of my country!” they shouted, as if I was to blame for the terrorist attacks. The perception was that the terrorists were immigrants, and that all immigrants were suspect. Somehow all immigrants, even those with proper documentation, were less than true Americans and posed a security threat no matter where they came from or how long they had lived in the United States. The issue was that the 9/11 hijackers had visas, entered, and remained legally in the United States. But the anti-immigrant sentiment became so strong that somehow we thought we could be all-powerful and secure the enormous porous borders of the United States – the southern border and then the northern border. Furthermore, everybody had to be screened and they somehow discovered the eleven million undocumented workers present in the Unites States. They were all a threat and had to be removed. I remember the strong anti-immigration proponents on television. And I remember how they pointed out that many Latinos were undocumented. People would come up to me and my Latino friends and ask point blank if we were legally present in the United States. It is like they assume that every Latino they see is undocumented.I am a Pentecostal and I attend church regularly. When these anti-immigrant sentiments peaked, I was deeply immersed in my Pentecostal Latino community of faith. In contrast to the society around us, my community of faith was not scared of the immigrants who happened to attend the church. We did not ask about people’s immigration status. The church regularly reached out to all people, and as far as I can remember no one asked about other people’s immigration status. We also had people who were Caucasian Americans who loved us and wanted to learn Spanish and immerse themselves in our cultures. Our community did not understand the fear and anger at the perception that some in our community may have been undocumented. When I became a pastor in New York, I had some members who confided in me that they entered the United States without documentation many years ago. However, they were given amnesty during Ronald Reagan’s presidency through the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Reagan was arguably the best friend to immigrant Latinos because of this opportunity. Politically, my experience is that there is no such thing as a “Latino vote.” Our communities come from diverse backgrounds: some lean left and others lean right but our values as a whole tend to be on the conservative side even among those who left oppressive countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. When President Trump said he was going to deport many people, the community still decided to vote for him.Immigration is not easy to control. People come to the Unites States on visas, and some choose to overstay their visas. The US typically sees 75 to 77 million visitors per year. In 2024 the grand total was 72,390,321 visitors.[ii] These are the legally permitted visitors with visas. One wonders how the US can control the mass movement of millions of people. Furthermore, visitors can stay for 180 days on a tourist visa and then apply to prolong their stay. The US also resettles refugees. The restrictions on refugee resettlement fluctuate according to the current presidency and its immigration policies. Since 1980, the US has resettled three million refugees.[iii]Undocumented immigration is less easy to control. According to estimates by the CBS network, the cost to deport one person is $19,599.[iv] More conservative costs place it at $14,614 per person. If in the year 2025, the government wishes to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented persons, this means it will spend between $215 to $160 billion US dollars to do so. Perhaps this exorbitant cost is the reason many are being deported without due process. The government is trying to save fiscally. However, it is trampling due process and habeas corpus. People who are in court proceedings over immigration are being arrested at their hearings and deported. But there is something darker at work for the government to use the military, federal law enforcement, and local police departments to enforce deportation, even though it is fiscally unsustainable. It is a matter of human affections and how one perceives and thinks of the “other.” Relating to the immigrant has to do with deep human dispositions. In Pentecostal spirituality we discuss orthodoxy, orthopraxy, and orthopathy. This last term deals with the dispositions and the orientation of the heart. Many Americans think, “These people broke the law so deport them,” but theology is not merely a rational exercise. It is asking, Why did they transgress the border? Are they fleeing violence, poverty, and/or crime? Are they genuinely scared for their lives? Let us have the courage to understand before we make a judgment. In other words, let’s not be prejudiced or bigoted.  Notes & Bibliography[i] Department of Homeland Security, “September 11 Chronology,” https://www.dhs.gov/september-11-chronology (last accessed June 9, 2025).[ii] International Trade Administration, “International Visitors,” https://www.trade.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/Annual-Arrivals-2000-to-Present%E2%80%93Country-of-Residence.xlsx (last accessed June 9, 2025). [iii] Migration Policy Institute, “U.S. Annual Refugee Resettlement Ceilings and Number of Refugees Admitted, 1980-Present,” https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-refugee-resettlement (Last accessed June 9, 2025).          [iv] Julia Ingram, “Trump’s plan to deport millions of immigrants would cost hundreds of billions, CBS News analysis shows,” October 17, 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-plan-deport-immigrants-cost/ (last accessed June 9, 2025).

Watching news of ICE arrests and protests in Los Angeles, I cannot help but think how we have got here. The perception of many people who voted for President Trump is that there are too many “illegals” in this country. The reason for this impression, perhaps, is that the Latino presence in some states has increased exponentially in the last few decades. Towns with minimal or no Latino presence now have significant immigrants. The image below demonstrates this change in non-traditional Latino states, where the unprecedented growth has taken place.[i] According to the U.S. census bureau, between 2022 and 2023, the Hispanic population accounted for just under 71% of the overall growth of the United States population.[ii] Hispanics of any race grew to just over 65 million, an increase of 1.16 million (1.8%) from the prior year.[iii] This growth significantly contributed to the nation's total population gain of 1.64 million in 2023.[iv]I live in the small town of Cleveland, TN. I remember first arriving in Cleveland when I was in the first grade. I have been in and out of Cleveland since I was six years old. Back in those days—and aside from my sister—I was the only “Hispanic” kid in the school. No one knew much about me except that I spoke Spanish and that I was learning English. I may not have been fluent in English, but I was good at learning things and came to the classroom with strong abilities. Though I did not have the language skills to keep up with my peers at the beginning, a particular instance let me know that I could do what my peers could do. I remember the teacher gave out a math worksheet on my first day of class that I finished before all my peers. I also got all my answers correct. Later, I steadily learned English and spoke it fluently within a year. In fact, I spoke English with a southern accent. One time, my parents recorded a greeting to send to my grandmother on a cassette tape. When I visited my native Honduras in the late 1990s, my sister and I found the exact cassette tape with the recording on it. When we listened to it after all those years, we laughed because we had a thick southern accent.            I am now in my 40s, and the school system has changed. There are many more children of Latin American descent, as well as other heritages. My son’s middle school has a lot of Hispanic students. He played soccer on his team with children whose parents were 1st generation immigrants of Argentine, Chilean, Dominican, Honduran, Guatemalan, and Mexican heritage (among many non-Latin American backgrounds, of course). He would sometimes come up to me and ask me questions about what certain Spanish words meant. Here I am, nearly forty years after I first arrived in Cleveland and things have changed in this small town. But even though all the children I have met here have arrived through the proper channels or are born U.S.-citizens, there is a strong anti-immigrant sentiment in my community.            This is xenophobia: the dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries. Just because a person is brown, it does not mean that they were or have been “illegal.” Seeing ICE arrest U.S. citizens even after providing proper ID is a clear sign of racial profiling by those who are supposed to keep us safe. Seeing the military deployed at protests is a politicization of the military. The way that these politics are working out makes me wonder if brown people will ever be perceived as true U.S. citizens and equal. The Latino community has increased exponentially. It is nothing to fear. And even if one day they were to become a majority in the U.S., like the case of Blacks in South Africa, it appears they would still be a minority in terms of economics and/or power. I am a Christian and there are two important elements of faith that are important for us. The first is hospitality as a qualifier for leadership in the local church (1 Peter 4:9; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8). I would also argue that it is a mark of a true Christian and a Spirit-filled life (Hebrews 13:2). The other element is compassion. If we remember the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), good will and compassion extend beyond cultural, ethnic, racial, socio-economic, and nationalistic barriers. The radical nature of the Samaritan’s aid to the Hebrew man cannot be understated. The immigrant—whether legal or “illegal,” documented or undocumented—is our neighbor. We must now consider what it means for them to be our neighbor and what hospitality requires of us. Notes & Bibliography[i] US Census Bureau, “Percentage Change in the Hispanic or Latino Population by Country: July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023,” https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2024/comm/hispanic-population-change.html, last accessed June 19, 2023.[ii] US Census Bureau, “New Estimates Highlight Differences in Growth Between the U.S. Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Populations,“ June 27, 2024, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/population-estimates-characteristics.html (last accessed June 5, 2025).[iii] Ibid.[iv] Ibid.

I was the only Hispanic student in my elementary school. In high school I was always in some kind of conflict because I was still the only Hispanic. My whole life I have had to learn to navigate a culture in which I stood out for various reasons. This in-betweenness has characterized my life since then. It is like living in the hyphen between Hispanic-American.[i] I have studied and gained my education where I was a minority. I have dealt with microaggressions and full-out aggressions of various sorts since I was a child. So now that I have a PhD and am a Director at the institution where I am employed, have things changed?No. I am now the “Hispanic Professor.” Some students come to my class guarded and assume that I am “liberal” just because I am Hispanic. Some people have the audacity to think that I am a “token” professor and am here although I really did not earn my place. As Hispanic/Latin@ my point of view is not the same as theirs and naturally, since Hispanics do not have education and are not educated, my viewpoint carries less weight than that of other professors. As a corollary, my judgment as a program director is faulty since Hispanics don’t think. People come to my office and are surprised that I am “tall for a Latino.” I have been asked “Are you really Hispanic?” simply because I speak English relatively well. However, the question I am most often asked is, “Where are you from?” Like, “Where are you ‘really’ from?” It is as if people just want to pigeonhole me, label me, and keep me in their neat little place in their social constructs, especially that social construct that sees Hispanics as wetbacks, illegals, foreigners, and not truly American.I read The Merchant of Venice in High School. The lines I remember most in this play are when Shylock the Jew states,Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?[ii]Shylock was making an important self-discovery. Was he a villain just because of his Jewish heritage? Did he not also have feelings, passions, and senses and live like everyone else? These lines help us understand Shylock’s posture throughout the play. But for me, they point to something that I have longed for since childhood. At some point, I want to be known by everyone as a fellow human being. I do not wish to be limited by my bronze skin, ethnicity, or the nationality of my parents and grandparents.I am always mindful of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, “I Have a Dream.”[iii] Please do not misread me, I have not faced any of the cruelties that he or those in the Civil Rights struggle did. Nevertheless, his speech is a constant reminder that our mental schemes need transformation. What hits home with me are these lines: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”This is the cruelty of our own society. We assume all kinds of mental and social constructs based upon the mere outward appearance of a person. The outward appearance is but one of the many dimensions of a human being. It does not account for the mind, the psyche, the spirit, or the soul of a person. It does not take into account the personal story of that individual and the experiences that have shaped him or her. It does not take into account the spirituality and faith of these people and the beauty and creativity of the Black Church, or the Latina Church.[iv] While a person’s phenotype may reveal some things, a common history, a common ancestry, it does not in and of itself define the totality of that human being. And as those who study humans know, humanity has a powerful soul that dares to dream, that challenges the status quo, that questions the way things are, that invites the divine to enter their lives to rearrange our brokenness into the image, likeness, and goodness of God.So, I am one of the most educated Hispanics/Latinos in my community. I still am reminded on a daily basis of the need for humility and patience with my fellow human beings, who, having much less formal education than me, have pigeon-holed me into the mold of “the Hispanic professor.” Notes & Bibliography[i] Sarah Menkedick, “Living on the Hyphen,” October 14, 2014,https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-86-fall-2014/living-on-the-hyphen. See also Justo González, Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 79.[ii] William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice,” 3.1.57-66. References are to act, scene, and line. https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merchant-of-venice/read/3/1/#line-3.1.57.[iii] National Public Radio, “Read Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech in its Entirety,” https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety.[iv] Church in Spanish is iglesia, a female term, hence “Latina.”