This was the third and final session of the Spring 2026 season for the Institute for Signifying Scriptures' podcast, Scriptures Everywhere. We concluded our conversation about Cruelty as Citizenship by Cristina Beltrán. The participants reflected on why Latina/o/e/x people both complicate and reinforce whiteness in U.S. democracy and considered the historical context of racial categorization in both Latin America and the United States. The participants concluded by discussing how scriptural politics and interpretation are used to maintain power structures, by turning to arguments around birthright citizenship where the Trump administration demonstrates an approach to scriptural authority that is not strictly textual.