Rescued by a pharaoh’s daughter, “he crossed a river against the law — from poverty and oppression to opportunity,” said the Rev. David Vasquez-Levy, a national advocate on immigration, and president of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif.

 

“Moses was the first wetback,” Vasquez-Levy quipped, referencing a decades-old slur tied to Mexicans swimming or wading across the Rio Grande to gain illegal entry into the U.S. as the means to a better life.

 

Vasquez-Levy will be meeting with clergy on Oahu and Maui next week, and is slated to give an immigration talk titled “A World on the Move” at 5 p.m. Friday at Harris United Methodist Church, 20 S. Vineyard Blvd.

 

On Aug. 23 he will deliver a dialogue sermon with the Rev. Ted Robinson, interim minister at Waiokeola Congregational Church, 9 a.m. at the church, 4705 Kilauea Ave. They will discuss the future of Protestant Christianity and what today’s seminary graduates will bring to local churches.

 

Migration, said Vasquez-Levy, is at the core of many faith traditions — Jesus in hiding from Herod’s persecution; Islam’s prophet Muhammad returning to Mecca in exile; and Buddhism’s Prince Siddhartha Gautama traveling among the poor.

 

The U.S. may be a nation of immigrants, but the country has a “checkered history” of trying to exclude the latest wave of newcomers, Vasquez-Levy said, citing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 as an example. But trying to keep newcomers out has occurred repeatedly since the days of Moses. The Jews were already settled in Egypt through Joseph, but in the book of Exodus “suddenly the pharaoh says, ‘I’m afraid of these people; there are too many of them, and they’re going to take over.’” Vasquez-Levy continued, “They’re not really a threat, but the pharaoh begins to instigate fear.”

 

Some Christians are opposed to helping undocumented immigrants because these people are breaking the law, Vasquez-Levy said. “Many people feel they have to choose between being people of law or being people of faith,” with the latter prioritizing charity for those in need, he said.

 

The Bible’s messages, Vasquez-Levy said, “challenge Christians to understand the problem on a deeper level.” He added, “We as people tend to be boundary-oriented; we draw lines. God doesn’t do this. He has room for both (sides).”

 

The Pacific School of Religion is an interdenominational Christian seminary. Vasquez-Levy has participated in two immigration consultations at the White House and has authored various publications exploring migration stories in sacred texts and in people’s lives.