The January issue of Cincinnati Magazine has a thought-provoking article by Mary McCarty about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio. The folks that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance accused of “eating the dogs, eating the cats…” back in September of 2024.

You can (and should) read the entire piece via the link above. Here are a few excerpts:

“Whenever I set foot in City Hall, I feel like I’m putting myself at risk,” says Casto, a leader of Indivisible Springfield, the local chapter of the national progressive movement. “I do it because if I don’t stand up and the next person doesn’t stand up, our democracy is gone.”

She views the Haitian immigrant debate as a humanitarian issue, not a political one. “This is a failure of our shared humanity,” she says. “If even one mother is taken from her babies, if even one man is treated like a criminal just for trying to survive, then none of us are truly free. Their humanity doesn’t stop at a border.”

“Our Haitian and immigrant neighbors didn’t come here to take,” she says. “They came here to live. To contribute. To belong. Many of them fled political violence, instability, and natural disasters most of us can’t even imagine living through. They came here with faith in a promise this country was built on.”

Here’s Pastor Carl Ruby of Central Christian Church:

“The Bible is very clear that one cannot honor God and dishonor immigrants and refugees,” he says. “Some claim to be Christians but then espouse immigration policies that dishonor the Christ they claim to follow. Cruelty and dehumanization are always wrong.”

… “Our entire nation will be devastated if Homeland Security deports millions of our most ambitious workers.”

And finally, let’s hear from Magdala, a Haitian immigrant:

“The Haitian people may have a different culture and speak a different language, but we are the same people in God’s eyes.”

Now swap out “Haitian” for “Somalian” and “Springfield” for “Minneapolis” and read it again. Different chapter, same humanity… and sadly, the same insanity of ICE brutality.

Here’s are a couple of photos of some signs I saw outside a church in Cambridge, Massachusetts back in November.

“Where is God in all of this?” It’s a great question for any self-professed Christian. ‘

“What am I going to do about it?” is a great follow-up question too.