City officials in Texas' state capital are using public funds to screen a documentary later this month that links Jesus with illegal immigration and includes a panel discussion that features speakers from an Islamic organization deemed a terrorist group by the state. The Sept. 10 event at the Asian American Resource Center will feature a screening of the documentary "Jesus Was a Migrant," followed by an interfaith and civil-rights panel, immigration-law resources and audience discussion.
The panel is slated to include representatives of CAIR-Austin (Council on American-Islamic Relations), Asian Texans for Justice and American Gateways, as well as Stephen Reeves, who appears in the film. Produced by Tisby Studios in collaboration with FaithWorks, "Jesus Was a Migrant" follows historian and New York Times bestselling author Jemar Tisby as he travels to the U.S.-Mexico border to examine the relationship between Christianity and immigration.
The film, which alleges that the Church "has been avoiding the question" of immigration, follows Tisby through on-camera conversations to tackle what a press release described as "a question that cuts to the core of American Christianity: how did a religion born among the poor, the foreign-born, and the displaced become the spiritual backbone of a movement that closes its doors to them?" A press kit for "Jesus Was a Migrant" claims a January 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump that shut down the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "asylum app" left approximately 270,000 migrants "actively seeking asylum appointments with no pathway forward." The kit adds: "Many were Christians. So were the people who cheered." Sponsored through the "We All Belong: Austin Against Hate" initiative, the screening has been promoted as an opportunity to discuss immigration and the experiences of immigrant communities across religious backgrounds. Organizers say the documentary itself focuses primarily on Christian immigrants encountered