Blending the Truths of Loving your Neighbor
Here are a few solutions that are equally Biblical in scope by blending the truths of loving your neighbor (and the stranger) and protecting the citizenry, borders and nation. Since many are using Scriptures I thought of another one: Saint Luke 2 tells us that Joseph, Mary and Jesus complied with the principle of registering and being documented and were counted as documented legal residents. So some ideas…
1. We should encourage and pray for the plight of the illegal (who in many cases are desperate)—but defensive posture and demands for reasonable enforcement (i.e. Arizona’s recent bill) cannot be overly criticized given the crime stats and financial burdens perpetrated by illegal’s.
2. We can help illegal’s we might be engaged with to deal with the process openly and care for their families during the process of appeal or departure.
3. To encourage those who are illegal to do the right thing and return home or report themselves to the authorities and practice honesty and not “ditch” in line while others attempt to engage the process legally.
4. Ask your legislator/representatives to support laws which balance security and compassion. An Amnesty policy may be a solution (no one will agree on how to do it), but the trust is rightfully the lowest in history concerning what the government says it will do and what will actually happen. Truths is both the left and right are immobilized in doing anything substantive because they realize that Hispanics are the largest minority voting bloc (recently surpassing the African-American community). It is all about the proper chess board move that will ultimately lead to votes. Whoever appeases the Hispanic voter wins. That’s the bottom line! Neither party wants to be check-mated on this one.
5. We should help and adopt a family or Mexican community depending on the size of your church and the amount of resources to help make it on their side of the border. Potentially sending church groups to help in various ways. (I.e. help build and teach skills to implement in their nation).
6. We might consider a moratorium on all immigration. This was imposed from 1924 to 1965 to give a chance for those in the melting pot to assimilate. Implementing a time out on immigration and enforcing our immigration laws, first securing our borders will lead to more harmony, unity and less chaos. This would be absolutely necessary if any number is determined to receive amnesty.
7. Build the Wall—this will communicate that the government cares about the security of the U.S. What about the accusation that we’re building another type of Berlin Wall? The Berlin Wall was a prison wall to lock a captive nation in. This is not that kind of a wall. Truth is fences (or walls) like the one Nehemiah built that protected the city of Jerusalem are built around schools, homes and even the White House as a visible border to help protect those inside the wall and keep unauthorized people out.
8. Crack down on businesses who violate the law (the greed on the darker side of the moon in capitalism must have its rough edges smoothed out). This is perhaps one of the largest reasons we have this problem in the first place.
9. Carry your identification. Be proud of it—you are American. You get to show your documents to prove that you are part of the greatest country on the planet who contributes in various ways to make the world a better place. The fear mongers incite unrealistic ideas in citizen’s minds like the KGB, SS or the Gestapo is going to get you. Shame on them!
10. Get a flag, learn the etiquette and fly it high! As some use the Bible to try and make points, it should be noted that if strangers (sojourners or aliens) who entered in Israel’s territory were to be treated well (this is true), yet they were to assimilate. No alien in the lands of ancient Israel would ever be allowed to raise the flag of Edom, Babylon or Egypt, let alone be on a menstrual period and expect to stay in the camp, wear a tattoo or practice homosexuality. In fact, if you served any other God but Yahweh, you could be put to death. Yet, it again was a theocracy. We are a Republic with a democratic form of representative government which has strong Christian roots. The principles of the Mosaic Law are engrained into our foundation. Morality is legislated; it is the foundation of our laws. The question is whose morality will be legislated. Back to the flag. Certainly one can fly a flag of their homeland whether Irish, Australian, Asian Indian or Mexican with freedom and pride, but if American, one ought to become loyal and appreciative of the land that has given them greater opportunity. Else why are they here? So go ahead…fly the American flag with pride.
11. Celebrate the 4th of July. I was born on this day and consider myself a proud citizen and entirely appreciative of our constitution. Read the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and of course the Holy Scriptures. Pat Buchanan, says, “Patriotism is the soul of a nation. It is what keeps a nation alive. When patriotism dies, when a nation loses its love and loyalty of its people, the nation dies and begins to decompose. Patriotism is not nation-worship such as we saw in Europe in the 1930’s. It is not that spirit of obsessed nationalism that must denigrate or dominate other nations. It is a passionate attachment of one’s own country, its land, its people, its past, its heroes, literature, language, traditions, culture and customs.”
We do this for …
1. National Security—given the landscape and evil in our day a nation with enemies has a need to know that those enemies are not dwelling within their land. In Deuteronomy 31:12-13, the foreigners dwelling among the people of Israel were required to enter into the covenant to obey God. Those that did not support God’s leadership were not allowed to enter the land. The U.S. like never before must stay concerned about the border. The government has a constitutional obligation to protect its citizenry. The illegal immigration situation is a threat to our national security. It must be addressed.
2. Economic Security—we can’t take on the world with unfettered open border policy. This will not only destroy national security, but our economic security. Some may say we have the sturdiest and the most generously stocked lifeboat in the world. Yet, if everyone abandons their inferior lifeboats and flocks to this one, we will go from being relatively secure, prosperous and able to give so much compassion away to a sunken vessel.
3. Cultural Security—The U.S. has historically thrived with cultural and religious diversity, all the while enforcing a uniform acceptance of the Constitution and the principles of democracy, freedom and equality.
May peace be with you. May God give wisdom as our leaders (who hopefully will listen to the will of the people) make good securing and compassionate decisions regarding the issue of immigration and those categorized as illegal aliens.
The myths
Some in this group also contend that it is a “myth” concerning the costs of illegal immigration. Some have wrongly argued that all the facts and figures we’ve heard on the subject are mythical. These groups, like sharks with chum in the water, interestingly, will use the more conservative US Chamber of Commerce to try and make their point by citing that illegal immigrants actually pay billions of dollars in taxes each year (as if that just makes everything a-okay). In fact, they contend that these poor guys don’t get any end of the year tax return money rightfully owed them. They contend illegal’s don’t really get all those benefits we’ve been told they get. All we’ve heard is wrong. They say illegals don’t really get public assistance, or welfare benefits, or school paid for or food stamps. They also don’t get the section 8 housing. They don’t get E.R. care. Are these claims true? Have conservatives been duped? According to numerous sources here are the facts. No one doubts that we pay. To say otherwise is disingenuous to the point of being incredulous. The question is not if, but how much? It varies depending on who you talk to or who you read. The truth is the amount varies to the tune of a range of $338.9 billion (on the high end) to virtually $0 championed by a certain laughable few. A total myth huh? Wow! Some statistics unfortunately and wrongly lump legal and illegal immigrants together. This inaccuracy only inflates the numbers and the truth gets unnecessarily lost. The fact is that we do pay over $2 billion for food stamps and WIC toward illegal immigrants. We do pay $2 billion for Medicaid. 27% of illegal immigrant’s families have one person on Medicaid (600,000 to 900,000 people). We do spend several billion dollars for “Anchor babies” (Illegal’s crossing the border to have their babies) which equals instant citizenship for the children thus the parents benefit by this loophole status of the newborn. Many illegals will receive free healthcare, pre-natal visits, emergency C-sections and one too many free normal deliveries. 10 % of all U.S. births are from illegals. Not so shocking, given California’s financial woes, is that 22% of the births there are from illegals. We do pay nearly $4.3 billion for emergency room care for illegals. We do pay over $10 billion for welfare. According to the Center for Immigration Studies we pay $11-22 billion each year for welfare. We do pay nearly $2 billion for incarcerating illegals in US prisons. We do pay over $10 billion educating illegals. Oh yeah…whoop-dee-do (to use a technical term), illegal’s end up contributing into the tax base, YET we miss out and lose 2/3 or 66% of the possible revenue because of reception of “under the table” pay. Even if they paid 100% (as if that would justify the whole argument) it would still not justify non-enforcment. Next week I’ll have numerous suggestions for solutions that can help us with this dividing dilemma.
Some people have attacked the Arizona immigration law as “one of the harshest laws regarding immigration in generations.”
Some people have attacked the Arizona immigration law as “one of the harshest laws regarding immigration in generations.” Have people actually read the 16 page law? I did, and it has nothing harsh or abusive in the piece of legislation at all. A parallel concerning the importance of reading for verification came to mind. I was told by some religious colleague’s months after 9-11 that Islam is essentially a religion of peace. I thought I knew otherwise, but wanted to verify my concerns. So I read the Koran. Every time I read a passage that promoted violence toward the infidels (Jews and Christians), I was diligent to mark those passages and placed nearly 330 Post-it notes on the pages of the book for myself. My point is, don’t always trust what you hear in the news, the pulpit, a newsletter or even a blog. Let me encourage you to read the Koran for yourself and see if you will conclude that it teaches a religion of peace. Likewise, I encourage you to go on line and read Arizona Senate Bill 1070 to determine whether the Arizona law is one of the “harshest in generations”.
Many have written and reported about the issues of immigration. Yet, inaccurate claims go unchallenged. For example, some cite the US Chamber of Commerce who reportedly asserted that “it would cost nearly $206 billion dollars over five years to implement enforcement policy.” According to FactCheck.org this figure also came from the National Policy Institute via the liberal Center for American Progress and was found untrue. The Center for Immigration Studies, a non-partisan think tank shows how approximately $2 billion (nearly 10X’s less) could be spent on tougher enforcement that would encourage half the aliens to return home voluntarily within five years (see ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT—A COST EFFECTIVE STRATEGY TO SHRINK ILLEGAL POPULATION (www.cis.org/articles/2006/back406.html ).
Democrats and Republicans, for political reasons, vie for the Hispanic vote. So, let’s be honest. Much of the debate isn’t about being compassionate; it is purely political. It is about advancing a political agenda (sometimes containing a cloak of religiosity over it). Plans involving deportation, enforcement or reform sit on a shelf gathering dust. No one wants to do a thing. “Ostrich head in the sand” comes to mind. The status quo must be repaired. The options are clear. Either enforce and begin some level of deportation and firm yet compassionate thinning out strategy and/or implement a conservative and thoughtful form of a selective pathway to citizenship. But please realize this fact. When you hear the term “comprehensive immigration reform” what that simply means is amnesty. Amnesty, in short, is a free pass (with a monetary fine and a few minor hoops to jump through). When I write of “immigration reform” it isn’t the same as what the “progressives” advocate.
To press forward implementing a path to citizenship seems reasonable on the surface, but will the vast majority become assimilated into American culture? If implemented will we demand reasonable assimilation bench marks? Will it come back to haunt us by having a policy of non-enforcement? To do nothing assures that the national fabric will continue to deteriorate. If we do not have bench marks and measurable standards for assimilating, it will be to our peril. Do most Hispanics really want to assimilate? I’d hope so. A nation functions well when a people believe they share a common ancestry, history, religious faith, language and destiny. Yet a significant number have what Patrick J. Buchanan calls in his excellent book entitled State of Emergency, a “grudge with the gringo”. Many Mexicans (not all) believe that California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas actually belong to Mexico and were taken illegally from Mexico after the Mexican-American War. Could this thinking cause an air of negativity toward Americans to be instilled within those from Mexico? Some of the Hispanic religious leadership have voiced their beliefs. For example, Father Forencio M. Rigoni, from the Mexican Bishop’s Conference said in 1986 that, “the march of Latin America to the U.S. shouldn’t be understood as a wave of anger or revolutionary passion, but more of a peaceful conquest.” Does the vast amount of Hispanics (specifically Mexicans) want to learn English? Will they be patriotic? Will they swear their allegiance to the US? Will they wave the US flag? Will they assimilate? Amnesty has been made to be quite a dirty word. Why? Primarily, because it isn’t fair to those who are doing it honestly and because people don’t trust the government to honor the will of the people. Here’s what I hope for: That Arizona’s law will be upheld by the Supreme Court. Two, that the membership in both Houses of Congress will change drastically and there will be overwhelming national pressure to secure the borders and demand true protective and compassionate reform. Certainly blame should be given toward Mexicans coming over illegally. However, I place much of the blame on the US government for not enforcing laws. Our government has performed like a parent who says, “don’t” or “no”, yet never follows through. They wink and award bad behavior by non-enforcement. In a parent-child relationship this causes the child to believe that the parent will say “no” but never care enough to enforce the “no”. As a result, the child’s behavior never changes. Government policy has aided and abetted illegal migration and we wonder why we encounter all this divisiveness, desperation, crime and lack of patriotism. Let’s advocate that the government get serious about this and not be found twiddling its thumbs.
Pastor John Moriarty Addresses Illegal Immigration Issues
My first blogging topic has to do with illegal immigration. It is a tough issue in which I’ll write several “bite sized” pieces to digest. My hope is that they will provide you with thought-provoking information and encourage helpful dialog.
In 2006 Gallup polls indicated that “immigration reform” ranked at the bottom of seven other national issues (behind the war in Iraq, healthcare, and the economy). Currently, immigration is up on the radar screen as one of the top issues of our time. 75% of Americans consider a comprehensive strategy as either “extremely” or “very” important. Because of this, more people are writing about it; radio talk shows locally and nationally are covering the issue along, of course, with the 24 hour cable news networks. It’s big and for good reason. On one hand you have pundits making secular, economic and sociological points. Others, leaning religiously, bring up Biblical arguments. Interestingly, the Biblical references to “aliens” urge Israel to treat them well but mandate that they assimilate totally into their theocratic system. We must read these Bible passages in their historical context. We do not live in a theocracy, but a republic. The U.S. has required immigrants to go through a process (like we would with membership in a church, agreeing to do certain things). The Bible doesn’t require church membership, but most agree that the good book doesn’t forbid such a practice either. In the same way, while this nation, historically considered a Christian nation (until our recent President claimed otherwise), ought to be compassionate, there is certainly room to require certain hoops to jump through to become a member (citizen). There is nothing abusive about current immigration policy. The travesty is the lack of enforcement of those policies.
Allow me to share a personal anecdote: Last August I was at the supermarket in line paying for groceries. Behind me was John Kasich, the 2010 gubernatorial candidate for the state of Ohio. My items were being scanned and accumulating at the end to be sacked. As I glanced at the register, I noticed that Mr. Kasich’s items were also being scanned on my bill. He didn’t place the barrier stick on the belt to differentiate the two purchases. I said to the cashier that those were not my items as she continued to scan. She stopped the transaction and subsequently made the adjustments. Kasich smiled and without losing a beat said, “This is a perfect illustration as to why we should not have open borders!” We all laughed and observed the underlying lesson for us that losing control of the borders leads to chaos, financial confusion (“who’s going to pay?”) and potential hard feelings. There are legitimate Biblical arguments of national sovereignty, the legitimacy of obeying governing authorities and a nation’s right to internal and external defense of its interests. Yes, we are all created in God’s image. So we treat everyone with respect, dignity and care. But this does not mean that we throw out qualifiers of citizenship; swearing an oath to country, to assimilate, to pledge their allegiance to the country, to learn English, to control and set an annual migration number for a reasonable assimilation rate. In a nut shell it was the relaxed political stands ancient Rome took concerning their borders that historians agree, contributed to the fall of Rome. Germanic peoples invaded and took Roman lands because of their border relaxation and the fact they were being stretched so thinly due to foreign wars on multiple fronts in Italy. In 476 A.D. the Germanic General Odoacer overthrew the last of the Roman Emperors, Augustulus Romulus. Rome was no more! Does this sound familiar?