Welcome immigrants - it's our American tradition: a Kalamazoo opinion

It's in our nature to welcome refugees. Kalamazoo Gazette

Peter Vander Meulen, the author of this opinion, is the coordinator of the Office of Social Justice for the Christian Reformed Church, in North America. 

Peter Vander Meulen: When Donald Trump signed his newest executive order, he dealt a devastating blow to the church. 

Peter Vander Meulen ~ opinion: "Donald Trump has threatened the work and witness of the church I serve."

In addition to his previous slashing of the number of overall refugees that the United States will resettle this year (during the largest refugee crisis since World War II), this revamped executive order reissues a 120-day "pause" to the resettlement of all refugees.

This order effectively closed the doors of welcome that the church is called to maintain; it shatters the desperate hopes of people longing for safety, and it cripples the long-term capacity of organizations that resettle refugees -- ministries like Bethany Christian Services and Samaritas, which the greater Grand Rapids, Michigan community has valued and supported for decades.

Donald Trump has threatened the work and witness of the church I serve.

Our West Michigan history tells a story of hospitality. 

Grand Rapids congregations stepped forward to offer welcome -- housing, jobs, support -- to Hungarians fleeing communism in the 1950s. 

Moreover, in the 1960s, the Good Samaritan Center was created in Miami to offer spiritual and material help to refugees fleeing political and religious persecution in Cuba, and it was funded largely through financial support from churches here in Grand Rapids.

There are more stories -- about Indonesians and Vietnamese in the 1970s, Salvadorans in the 1980s, Bosnians in the 1990s, and Sudanese, Burmese, and Nepalis thereafter. So many refugees have fled from all over the world, and so many have found refuge with the help of West Michigan congregations. 

And these congregations who have extended welcome have been changed, strengthened, and blessed. The community of West Michigan welcomes refugees. This is who we are. It has been this way for generations.

As we watched refugee resettlement morph in 2016 from being a safe political priority to being a lightning rod in U.S. politics, we were told it was a matter of national security. Our safety compelled us to question whether refugee resettlement was in our national interests. Such fears, however, have no basis in facts. 

In fact, refugees undergo the most scrutiny of any immigrants coming to the U.S. I have watched the painstaking clearance process in refugee camps from Kenya to Jordan. It is exhaustive. It is a process that works. To claim otherwise may be politically powerful, but it is not humane, not truthful, and not faithful.

It is time for West Michigan, which is known throughout the country for its hospitality toward refugees, to speak out against this misguided and sinful policy change. 

If Christians, in particular, remain silent in the face of this executive order, we are effectively allowing President Trump to prevent us from following the clear call of Christ in Matthew 25:31-40. When we fail to welcome the stranger, we may miss the very presence of Christ himself, who said, "I was a stranger, and you welcomed me."

This is a moment of deep importance for our nation, and it is just as important a moment for the church. I hope West Michigan will lead the way to demand that Congress respond with a resounding no to President Trump's newest executive order on refugee resettlement. We cannot allow the government to stand in the way of the church's ability to exercise its religious convictions, and it is clear that welcoming refugees is fundamental to who we are.