Dear ICE Agent, Is It Worth It?

Dear ICE agent, I have some difficult questions for you. Questions you probably don’t want to hear and certainly don’t want to reflect on.

The primary question is this – It is worth it?

I’ve got some tough questions for you because I care about you. You can believe that or not. I don’t have control over that.

But my calling as a pastor compels me to ask you these questions.

My faith compels me to see your humanity, even if you don’t want it to be seen, or you have a difficult time seeing it for yourself.

When we dehumanize others, we are also dehumanizing ourselves. In order to act with cruelty, we have to turn ourselves into something other than human. Hiding your face doesn’t make you invisible. And hiding behind a badge doesn’t give you immunity and a blank check to do whatever you want.

Do you realize that you are participating in a system that doesn’t care about you? Because it doesn’t. It never has. This system is founded on the core belief that you are just as disposable as the people you are hunting. That won’t end well for you or anybody. And you can choose to not participate in it any longer – to walk away from it. You can choose that.

To this system, you are just a hired hand.

To this system, your humanity doesn’t matter.

To this system, you are disposable.

To this system, it is treating you the same way it treats the people you are hunting. The same way it treats everyone.

Is it worth it?

Is the base salary of between $51,000 and $84,000 worth it? Is that enough money to prevent you from looking in the mirror and seeing yourself and what you are becoming? What do you see when you look in the mirror? Is the money worth it?

Is the hiring bonus of $50,000 worth it? Is it enough money to sooth your wounded and hurting soul at what your agency is asking you to do to people?

Is the $60,000 student loan repayment worth it? I’m curious what you learned in school? Did you learn about constitutional rights? Did you learn about the history of xenophobia in this country and how the arguments against the other have not changed since the 1600’s when they were first used against German immigrants? Did you learn about how history judges those who perpetuate cruelty and use violence?

Is the money enough to compensate for your male insecurities?

Is demanding to see paperwork worth the comparison to other tyrannical governments that did this in the past and have been judged evil?

Is hiding your face worth it? Do you feel that hiding your face protects you from the feeling of guilt and shame at what you are doing?

Is it worth it to dull your empathy and care of others so much that it leaves you with a hole inside you? Does the pay fill that hole? Does it?

Do the recruitment videos that twist the Bible and the sayings of Jesus in unrecognizable ways offer you enough excuses to still claim to be Christian? Is it worth having a faith tradition that is nothing more than the worship of power?

Is it worth dehumanizing others so that you can spray chemicals in people’s faces, throw people to the ground, shoot people in the face, and more?

Does doing this make you feel patriotic in some way? What kind of patriotism is it that is so afraid of someone else? What kind of patriotism is it that demands that you act with cruelty and violence? What kind of patriotism requires you to dehumanize others? Is this patriotism even worth it?

Because all of this sounds like it saps life out of anyone engaging in it.

Scripture asks the key question here –  “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”(Matthew 16:26)

I would alter the question a bit – What is it worth to supposedly protect your country, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can anyone be paid in exchange for their soul?

Is it worth it? I mean, really worth it?

Walk away Agent. See your humanity. See the humanity of others. And walk away.