This Is the Line: Faith in an Age of Camps
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” —Psalm 82:4
On July 4th, as this nation celebrated its founding ideals, a new law was signed into being—a law that fundamentally alters the moral terrain of our country. The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill Act” did not make headlines in every home. But it should have. With the stroke of a pen, we entered a new era.
This law authorizes $170.7 billion for immigration enforcement—more than the military budgets of all but fifteen countries on Earth. It allocates $51.6 billion for a border wall, more than triple what was spent in Trump’s first term. It provides $45 billion to expand ICE detention facilities, increasing the annual detention budget by 265%. It adds nearly $30 billion for enforcement, making ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency in the nation’s history—larger than the FBI, DEA, ATF, Marshals Service, and Bureau of Prisons combined.
Jemar Tisby, PhD, historian, author, and public scholar, pointed out in a recent post that Trump has created a personal army. He writes:
“What will this money buy? Vehicles. Drones. Weapons. Surveillance software. Detention facilities. Tactical gear. More agents. More raids. More power. What concerns me most is that ICE is classified as law enforcement—not military. For all its problems, the military has some limits. It needs Congressional approval for some actions. Soldiers are subject to the U.S. Military Code of Justice. Many of them enlist out of a sense of duty and honor.
Not so with ICE.
Its mandate is vague and constantly shifting. It started with immigrants. But it can easily expand to include “rioters,” “dissenters,” “disloyal citizens.”
ICE is a paramilitary force with ultimate allegiance to the president. They take an oath to the Constitution. But under this regime, they don’t answer to it. Nor to the people.
It responds directly to executive authority.”1
This is the infrastructure of authoritarianism.
Detention camps are already being planned and built in nearly every state. The camps are no longer theoretical. They are real, and they are multiplying. Historian Timothy Snyder has warned us that once camps are built, they will find a broad purpose.2 In the United States, there is already talk of “owner responsibility”—a euphemism for allowing companies to reclaim undocumented workers who are detained, returning them without wages, rights, or protections.3 In another era, we called this slavery.
It’s also important to note: Despite what conservative media says, the growing majority of the ICE arrests are of people without any criminal record.4
As people of conscience and faith, we must ask: What are we called to do?
Christian pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing under the shadow of Nazi Germany and who ultimately was killed by that regime, put it plainly:
“The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community. The church must not simply bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the wheel itself.”5
This is that moment.
We are not being called to charity. We are being called to resistance:
We are being called to build sanctuary—real, grounded, organized networks of protection.
We are being called to speak of moral action clearly—not with euphemism or hesitation, but with prophetic courage.
We are being called to refuse cooperation with unjust laws and to accompany the vulnerable, no matter the cost.
Bonhoeffer goes on to say, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
This is the line. When the state builds camps, people of good faith must build refuge. When the state funds fear, the people must fund courage. When the state demands silence, the Spirit demands witness.
None of us is exempt from this calling.
Let us not say later that we didn’t know. We do.
Let us not say later that we didn’t see it coming. We did.
Let us not say later that we were waiting for a sign. This is the sign.
And even now—especially now—we are not without hope.
Hope is not wishful thinking. It is the discipline of refusing to surrender to despair. It is the practice of solidarity, courage, and sacred imagination. Detention camps may be built in concrete and steel, but the bonds of human dignity run deeper.
Let us not look away. Let us not remain polite when clarity is required. Let us not wait for permission to do what we already know is right.
Oscar Romero once said, “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.”
Our eyes are open. Our tears are flowing. And our calling is clear.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What lines must you draw, personally and collectively, in response to this new law?
Where is your community already showing signs of courage—and how can you deepen that capacity?
What does it look like to “jam the spoke in the wheel” today?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer for Those Who Refuse to Look Away
God of Justice and Mercy, You see what is being done in your name. You hear the cries from behind fences and locked doors. Give us ears to hear what the powerful would have us ignore. Give us eyes to see what propaganda tries to hide. Give us courage—not just to care, but to act. May we be sanctuary in the storm, A light when the shadows fall. And when history looks back, may it say of us: They did not stay silent. They did not stay safe. They stood on the side of the oppressed—because that is where you dwell. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Sanctuary Mapping
Take time this week to identify and map who in your community is most at risk under this new law. Then identify what networks, congregations, homes, or organizations could act as sanctuaries—spiritually, legally, or physically. Reach out. Make a plan. Even a single conversation can help weave the fabric of resistance. Write down one commitment you can make this month toward building refuge—not just in theory, but in practice.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
SOLD OUT!!! July 20-25, 2025 - The Art of Wilding: A 5-Day Expedition in Wyoming for Women Leaders. Click here to learn more in case you want to come next year!
REGISTRATION OPEN! August 11, 2025, 2pm ET - Dr. Andrew Root and I will be hosting a 6 part series on Spirituality in the Secular Age based on his research. The dates are August 11, 18, September 8, 15, and October 6, 13. Register here!
September 4, 4:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/03/politics/trump-migrant-farmworkers-deportations
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/03/nx-s1-5456246/immigrants-no-criminal-convictions-growth-ice-detention-population
Composed in April 1933 in response to a series of laws enacted to exclude nonAryans from working in churches, and titled “The Church and the Jewish Question,” Bonhoeffer posits three reactions the Church must have regarding the State. First, the Church must act as a form of conscience toward the State, asking the State “whether its actions are legitimate and in accordance with its character as state.” Second, the Church, “has an unconditional obligation” toward any victims resulting from any illegitimate State activity. And finally, when the Church, “sees the state fail in its function of creating law and order,” the Church must not only “bandage the victims under the wheel” of the State, but they are, “to jam a spoke in the wheel itself.” - https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/seeking-dietrich-bonhoeffer/
Faith and courage are easiest on Sundays in church, harder on Tuesday when you witness armed people in tactical gear assaulting and abducting your neighbor’s husband as he returns home from work.
Mr. Trump’s private militia (ICE) never phones ahead, never allows us time to steel ourselves and plan our individual or group method of confrontation. Therefore, it’s important that we each have a simple plan, as an individual or a group. (The American Pamphleteer on Substack, and state or national ACLU’s provide information regarding the victim’s rights, your rights, and what information you can legally demand from the perpetrators.) The plan should include calling 911 to report an assault and abduction in progress, recording the perpetrators, their vehicles, and license plates.
How do we find our courage in the midst of this Administration’s violent, dehumanizing, and threatening kabuki dance against our siblings, when our adrenaline is surging? We turn to our faith. Center on the Holy Spirit. When we are confronted with injustice or cruelty, acknowledging the Holy Spirit’s presence can ground and calm us, help us focus on the challenge confronting us. I see faith as a conduit to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit as the source of courage and trust. I believe that, with the Spirit, no one is alone when confronting wrong or evil committed against another human being.
Every evening, I pray that each of us is able to keep our faith (whatever form that faith takes) and the strength of the Holy Spirit present in our hearts and, in our minds, a rough plan to follow should we encounter illegal/immoral ICE activity as we go through our daily routines in this brave new world. God bless us and keep us all safe.
Rev, Trimble is right. Today and going forward we are called to engage in moral action, we are called to provide sanctuary, we are called to defuse cooperation with unjust laws. We are being called to resist.
Such sadness is here, such terrible grief, as well as great fear. Thank you for this post. As I seek balance for response rather than reaction, I'm re-reading "Gandhi on Non-violence, a selection edited and introduced by Thomas Merton". Also Barbara Deming's "prisons that could not hold" and Pam McAllister's "you can't kill the spirit" (part of the Barbara Deming memorial series). They give accounts of people working non-violently, effectively, withstanding and bearing the suffering that often comes with that. And always working to hold to the truth, not falling into hatred but striving to be consistently fair and just: loving. It does call for tremendous fortitude and cannot be done alone. We need one another for this in so many mundane as well as spiritual ways.