Gov. Bill Lee bucked many in Tennessee Republican leadership by agreeing to continue accepting refugees.
The United States is witnessing some of the highest levels of refugee displacement on record. It is worth noting that 70.8 million people around the world have been forced from home by conflict and persecution within the last year.
Among them are nearly 30 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. There are also millions of stateless people, who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.
Lee’s announcement that Tennessee will continue to accept refugees has received a cool reception from many Republicans in the state — the same Republicans — many who define themselves as evangelical Christians and are supporters of Donald Trump.
Tennessee is among just a handful of Republican-led states that have offered consent to refugee resettlement following Trump’s Sept. 26 executive order, which gave states and localities the ability to block resettlement of refugees.
The Tennessee Legislature now that it has reconvened for this year’s session is sure to take up the issue. Top Republicans, including the speakers of the House and Senate, have announced their disapproval with the governor’s decision. The disagreement marks the most consequential conflict between the state’s executive and legislative branches since Lee took office in January.
Rep. Bruce Griffey, R-Paris, who is one of the most conservative state lawmakers, has already filed a bill requiring Tennessee to halt any refugee resettlement.
But while Lee’s move could generate some consternation, little could effectively be done to undercut the governor, given that the authority to make such decisions was granted by the president.
The governor is simply living his faith by agreeing to resettle refugees in the state of Tennessee, despite the criticism from his own party.
Leviticus 19:34 says, “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:34 is a command to the Church — to Christians. We must love the stranger or refugee as our neighbor. And this is not a suggestion because to be a Christian is to love refugees.
We cannot be a Christian and just be an advocate for the unborn, we must advocate for the poor, the fatherless, the widows, the homeless, the immigrants, and the vulnerable of society. We cannot pick and choose who we are and must love, Christ has already done that for us.
We cannot pick and choose who we must love and help.
Not all immigrants are bad…not all are good. But, not all Americans who were born and raised in this country are good. Some are bad. Just as some immigrants are looking for a handout, so do a lot of Americans. We cannot judge a person by the color of his skin or where he came from.
Lee is a devout Christian with a robust history of working locally and internationally with refugees. So his decision — a rare public dissent from President Donald Trump’s positions and his most significant disagreement with the Republican speakers of the Tennessee General Assembly — is not a surprise to those familiar with his background.
In his letter to Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, the governor stated his belief the United States and Tennessee were created to be “a shining beacon of hope” for the oppressed is rooted in his Christianity.
“My commitment to these ideals is based on my faith, personally visiting refugee camps on multiple continents, and my years of experience ministering to refugees here in Tennessee,” Lee wrote to the legislative leaders, who immediately issued a joint statement expressing their disapproval with his decision.
But, what Gov. Bill Lee did is exactly what loving your neighbor looks like in real life.