Christian Immigration
May 9th, 2007 | by Jersey McJones |With all the mouth foam that’s being sprayed in our faces these days as pundits and pols bemoan illegal immigration, it’s easy to forget that there are plenty of people who see the issue more clearly and fairly. Some of those people would surprise you.
From About.com and the NYT…
In late March, Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, stood with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in supporting routes to legalization for illegal immigrants.
Yes, that Richard Land. Now, recently Dr. Land has served as a sort of public relations liason for the Southern Baptists in the wake of some high profile scandals. Part of his mission has been to soften the image of the charasmatic evangelical movement, and get priorities off of hot-button, divisive issues, but he’s up against entrenched predjuice and ignorance on this one. I give him credit and kudos.
Again…
This view is not, however, universally accepted in the evangelical community. According to an April 2006 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 64% of white evangelicals believe that immigrants (both legal and illegal) are “a burden because they take our jobs, housing, and health care” and 63% described immigration (again, both legal and illegal) as a threat to “traditional American customs and values.”
Some hard-right groups that claim to represent evangelicals are even more hostile towards immigrants. In a Spring 2006 poll, 90% of Family Research Council members supported the mass deportation of all 12 million undocumented immigrants. Of course, the Family Research Council is out of sync with the values of most evangelical voters in other areas as well–in a 2004 poll conducted by ONE.org, 90% of American evangelicals described global AIDS funding and poverty relief as a priority. The Family Research Council often objects to global AIDS funding programs, referring to them as “an airlift for condoms,” and poverty relief appears nowhere on the FRC’s list of policy areas.
Tom Head, over at About, reminds us that…
The tradition of welcoming the stranger is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible as well. Take Leviticus 19:33-34, for example:
When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
It’s a great point. And the thought that Evangelicals, who by definition live to convert the world, are against immigration is particularly laughable, especially with consideration that most of these immigrants are not “born-again evangelicals” and could probably never be converted where they came from. The Catholics have always been pro-immigration, but that’s because many of the immigrants are Catholic. This is a new gig for evangelicals and protestants in general.
From the World Peace Herald…
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a collection of more than 100 evangelical, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, Hispanic and black religious and social-service groups and activists, began running full-page advertisements yesterday in Roll Call and Congress Daily legislative publications.
The ads ask Congress to “enact policies that guarantee humanitarian border enforcement, family-reunification efforts, opportunities for employment and an earned path to citizenship.”
…”We are coming together today because the Bible tells us again and again about the need to care for the stranger in our midst,” said Jim Wallis, founder and president of Sojourners, an evangelical Christian ministry and key member of the coalition.
The joint statement from Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a telling reassessment of our immigration policies from a truely Christian point of view…
…
We believe that all people, regardless of national origin, are made in the “image of God” and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6).
We believe there is an undeniable biblical responsibility to love and show compassion for the stranger among us (Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 25:31-46).
We believe that immigrants are our neighbors, both literally and figuratively, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and show mercy to neighbors in need (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:25-37).
We believe in the rule of law, but we also believe that we are to oppose unjust laws and systems that harm and oppress people made in God’s image, especially the vulnerable (Isaiah 10:1-4, Jeremiah 7:1-7, Acts 5:29, Romans 13:1-7).
The current U.S. immigration system is broken and now is the time for a fair and compassionate solution. …
· Border enforcement and protection initiatives that are consistent with humanitarian values while allowing the authorities to enforce the law and implement American immigration policy;
· Reforms in our family-based immigration system that reduce the waiting time for separated families to be safely reunited and maintain the constitutionally guaranteed rights of birthright citizenship and the ability of immigrants to earn naturalization;
· An opportunity for all immigrant workers and their families already in the U.S. to come out of the shadows and pursue the option of an earned path towards permanent legal status and citizenship upon satisfaction of specific criteria;
· A viable guest worker program that creates legal avenues for workers and their families to enter our country and work in a safe, legal, and orderly manner with their rights and due process fully protected and provides an option for workers to maintain legal status independent of an employer sponsor; and
· A framework to examine and ascertain solutions to the root causes of migration, such as economic disparities between sending and receiving nations. …
Now, most American evangelicals, conservative as they are, will not jump on board with all this. The Bible Belters will not be swayed until they are instructed to do so from above (and by “above” I don’t mean God). Getting the Hannitys and Tancredos and Robertsons onboard is not going to happen any time soon, but if groups like the CCIR can open up a little wiggle room on the issue for more moderate pols, we may well see some positive and realistic reforms of the immigration system.
Carry on, Christian soldiers.
JMJ
12 Responses to “Christian Immigration”
By SteveIL on May 9, 2007 | Reply
I love hearing the Bible being spewed back by atheists in order to make a point. Classic.
You know those six guys arrested yesterday in New Jersey on terrorism charges? Three were illegal aliens. What part of illegal don’t you get?
See, it’s not that those who are against illegal immigrants are racists, or even want to “round them up” and kick them out. But, it should be clear that the laws in this country need to be enforced in order to keep the flood of illegal immigration from continuing on the pace it has been. That means heavily fining employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. That means heavily fining those who knowingly house illegal aliens. That means local police working with immigration officials when illegal aliens are discovered. This isn’t racist. Neither is it “compassionate”. This is law enforcement. This allows for a more orderly immigration of people who do want to live and work in this country, especially those who aren’t breaking the rules to get in.
Enforce the border. Or there won’t be a country with a border to enforce.
By Lazy Iguana on May 9, 2007 | Reply
The fundies are a fun bunch. All that Old Testament stuff can either be shoved in your face (if they like it) or dismissed as “the Jewish part that the New Testament trumps” if they do not like it.
That is a real handy tool to have. Take the parts you like, ignore the parts you don’t. Not that the fundies are the only ones who do this to their Holy Book.
The solution to this immigration problem is really very easy to solve. Forget about the immigrants, and go after the illegal employers HARD. But the good and holy members of FRC are probably the same people giving the illegals some of those jobs. So they do not like my simple solution.
You know full well if you are hiring an illegal. The fact they do not have a SSN is a pretty good clue, but in case that is not strong enough there are other things to look for
1. poor or no skills with the English language (President Bush is an exception here - he is not an illegal alien).
2. Willingness to work for illegal wages
3. Willingness to work long hours without asking for OT pay
4. Willingness to ignore clear violations of labor law, like unsafe workplace, sexual harassment, and so on.
I can almost 100% guarantee that if the feds started to charge the employers when immigration raids turn up illegals, and the charges required minimum prison stays and big time fines per illegal employee this problem would be a lot less of a problem overnight.
The mega churches that are the political power behind the fundie movement are all about the money. These “churches” resemble a business more than a church. They are all about getting as many people in the door so that they can maximize their weekly donation take. The larger the building, the more they can make. Of course more of that money goes to overhead than to community programs, and the mega churches are built far far away from any smelly homeless people. No homeless people around means no need to have a soup kitchen! That is just a waste of money anyway.
And being more of a business than a church, they have lost focus.
By Lazy Iguana on May 9, 2007 | Reply
SteveIL - what were the other three?
Lock the people who gave those illegals a job up. Simple as that. You hire an illegal alien? Get busted and go to jail for….oh 5 years. That ought to do it.
Oh yea and on top of the jail time, how about a $100,000 fine per illegal employee?
what do you want to bet that every single illegal alien would be out of a job overnight, and forced to go home if laws like this were passed?
But you would not like that. You know just as well as I do that business profits off illegal aliens. You bitch and bitch about those pesky illegals, but you would never support real laws that would end the problem. Why, white people who speak English might have to go to jail! That would be terrible!
By Jersey McJones on May 9, 2007 | Reply
SteveIL,
“I love hearing the Bible being spewed back by atheists in order to make a point. Classic.”
Thanks! I aim to please!
I figure if you’re going to do something, you should do it all the way. These people are doing something good with their religion. I’m not “spewing” it. I’m giving it kudos! Preachin’ the Good Word, brother! (amen)
“You know those six guys arrested yesterday in New Jersey on terrorism charges? Three were illegal aliens. What part of illegal don’t you get?”
Uh, yeah… I agree. Those guys should definately not get citizenship. Did ya’ really think I would think otherwise?
“See, it’s not that those who are against illegal immigrants are racists, or even want to “round them up” and kick them out.”
From above: …63% (of white evangelicals) described immigration (again, both legal and illegal) as a threat to “traditional American customs and values.”
So give that shit a rest, will ya’? I would say that most anti-immigration folks are just that.
“…heavily fining employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.”
Yeah, right. That’s gonna happen.
“That means heavily fining those who knowingly house illegal aliens.”
Yeah, right. That’s gonna happen.
“That means local police working with immigration officials when illegal aliens are discovered.”
Oh yeah, great. Then the neighborhoods will really love the cops! Oh, and the unpaid mandates are always fun for the local taxpayors (you know, the ones that pay for the cops to round up their housekeepers and factory workers…)!
“This isn’t racist.”
You might not be, but your position on the issue is.
“Neither is it “compassionate”. This is law enforcement.”
Read your Bible, SteveIL. Bad laws deserve to be ignored and broken.
“This allows for a more orderly immigration of people who do want to live and work in this country, especially those who aren’t breaking the rules to get in.”
No, SteveIL. What we have now is a complete and utter failure that would require massive, police state, nanny-state government administration to solve your way. We need something else. Your way, the conservative way, is, as usual, wrong.
“Enforce the border. Or there won’t be a country with a border to enforce.”
Oh great. Fuck Posse Comitatus. We’ll just mitarize the border with our number two trading partner! Jesus man. What goes on in your head sometimes?
JMJ
By Jersey McJones on May 9, 2007 | Reply
Lazy, great points! Especially this:
“You know full well if you are hiring an illegal. The fact they do not have a SSN is a pretty good clue, but in case that is not strong enough there are other things to look for
1. poor or no skills with the English language (President Bush is an exception here - he is not an illegal alien).
2. Willingness to work for illegal wages
3. Willingness to work long hours without asking for OT pay
4. Willingness to ignore clear violations of labor law, like unsafe workplace, sexual harassment, and so on.”
I worked in two mid-sized factories. One in the Los Angeles area and one in the NYC area. If someone ran in and shouted “la migra” in either of those shops, there’s have been a stampede. Most of the workers (from Eastern Europe these days too) had all sorts of “identification,” from passports to various visas to ss cards, etc. I would assume that most of the papers are fake, labor turnover was so high that there was no time to keep up with all their paperwork and issues. But they all paid full taxes, got taken advantage of by the shop and the union, suffered indignities, and worked long hours (though both shops paid them above the “illegal” average).
I loved them all though. They’d share their home cuisine with me. I had more paella for lunch and dinner than your average matador. But also Russian food, German, Polish, Latvian, and, of course, my favorites: Mexican, Cuban, real Italian, real Chinese (different job, though). Oh man. I miss that food. And they were fun people too. When we partied, we just had belly-slappin’ good times.
I wish people would see the “immigrant” past the absurd “illegal” (yeah, you, SteveIL).
Great points, LI. I get the feeling you know a little about all this. No?
JMJ
By SteveIL on May 9, 2007 | Reply
Lazy Iguana, the other three were all legal immigrants, and the Jordanian was a naturalized citizen.
By SteveIL on May 9, 2007 | Reply
Jersey, I’m sorry the laws of this country are getting in the way of your so-called compassion.
By Mohan on May 10, 2007 | Reply
with all the debate on immigration, I only hope some Christian values will prevail: Nuclear families, spouses of Legal Permanent Residents need to be united.
By Jersey McJones on May 10, 2007 | Reply
Heck, even the patents, Mohan! They’re seperating parents from their little children! The racism of the right knows no bounds!
SteveIL, it’s not so much compassion as just realism. Did you read what I wroet? These people WORK here. They pay TAXES. They WORK HARD and PLAY NICE. All that’s more than I can say for most fat, lazy, useless, desk jockey Americans.
JMJ
By SteveIL on May 10, 2007 | Reply
Jersey, those so-called “liberal” values are a failure. I’ve seen firsthand how “compassion” for those who don’t follow the law negatively impact those who have to put food on the tables, buy clothes for children, and keep a roof over their heads. The person who was treated with “liberal compassion” was the lazy and useless person, and no desk jockey. This isn’t the exception either, but usually the rule. It defines modern day “liberalism”. It isn’t compassionate; it’s clueless.
By Lazy Iguana on May 10, 2007 | Reply
I know what I know because I live in South Florida. Or as it is better known, North Cuba. I am the illegal alien here!
But it is OK. I mean, I get by. It would be better if my Spanish speaking skills were better - but they are not so there. At least I try.
But the system is what it is. The secret dirty truth is that we NEED illegal workers. At least business does. They keep wages for unskilled jobs low. Why do you think nobody has done anything? Why do you think that Bush has done nothing even when he had a Republican Congress for 6 years? Oh yea they all talked about it, but then when they hit the golf course what do you want to bet the caddy was a Mexican? And the groundskeepers too. What do you want to bet? I got $10 right here. And who washes those fine Country Club dishes? Hummm….
Of all the bullshit issues, this is the most bullshitty. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - will be done. But you will hear a lot of talk! Shit even under one party rule, of the most anti-illegal immigrant party there is, had 6 years to do something, and they did diddly-squat.
I rest my case.
By Jersey McJones on May 10, 2007 | Reply
SteveIL, you wanna talk about who’s “values are a failure?” Read my new post. Conservative values are ALWAYS failures.
And immigrant workers, in my experience, are far harder workers than “native” American workers.
JMJ