Immigration: A Dissenting View

I am conservative to the core. I am conservative on the social issues and the economic issues. I want to return to the Limited Government of our Founding Fathers. But I disagree with the rhetoric of most conservatives when it comes to immigration. Why? Because I am a principled man, and my principles are based on the Bible. My views on abortion, gay marriage, the role of government, and everything else are based on Scripture. You could say I’m on the Christian right. Haters, I’m your target.

But how exactly is it a “Christian Right” position to be hateful toward illegal immigrants? “Oh, we aren’t hateful,” might be your response. Really? Because I’ve had emails forwarded to me by Christians that sound pretty hateful (and fearful and selfish and ignorant). Thank God other countries don’t treat Americans the same way or we wouldn’t be able to have missionaries all over the world. And what if they said to our missionaries, “You have to learn our language first before you are welcome here?” Ridiculous, selfish and sad, not to mention a long way from Christ-like. Good grief, they learn English by being here for awhile. They all do.

Let me get a couple of “straw men” out of the way before I go on. 1) Felons who aren’t citizens should be put into prison. 2) Sanctuary cities are a bad idea. 3) I am not for amnesty or open borders. 4) I realize I don’t have all the answers to this extremely complicated problem.

With those caveats stated, let me get back to the reason I am not happy with the way most conservative Christians are coming across on this issue. The Bible is not silent regarding immigration and immigrants. One of the many passages of Scripture that I believe applies very well is Leviticus 19:33-34, which says,

“When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; behold I am Yahweh your God.”

And I can hear someone saying, “Well that’s Leviticus; it doesn’t count now,” or “We aren’t Israel and we weren’t in Egypt.” And you would have a point. The ceremonial/civil law no longer applies to us in a literal sense, and we were never slaves in Egypt. However, anyone who isn’t trying so hard not to listen, can surely see that there is a principle here that is deeper and timeless. This is not even a law, for that matter. This is a “way to be” as a follower and representative of Yahweh. Read it again.

So what am I saying? Stop the hatred. Stop lumping them all together as if they were common criminals here to take something that is yours. Oh how selfish can we be? Part of the problem is that most people talking hatefully don’t know the people they are talking about. They don’t see the beautiful families they casually call “illegals,” with the underlying point being that these people have no rights and should be treated as if they were thugs deserving of prison. Well, I do know some of them and they tend to be wonderful people with a better value system than many Americans. These are real people… good people… trying to provide for their families. They should not be criminalized simply because they don’t have the right papers. This is not a Christian attitude.

Are you aware of the reason most immigrants are technically here illegally? They are here illegally because it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE for them to be here legally. Our system simply does not work. I have first-hand knowledge of this fact. Newsflash: Most didn’t swim across the river. Over half of them came here legally, and have simply overstayed their visas. What happened? Why couldn’t they get their visas renewed? They came to study or to work with our compliments. We gave them a visa that said, “Y’all come.” So they came and they established themselves and their families here and their children learned English and made friends, but then at some point the government said, “Your visa is up. Go back home or we will handcuff you and ship you back like FedEx packages sent to the wrong place.”

See it isn’t that hard to get into our country for a little while, but when it is time to renew that visa or to try for a more permanent status, that’s when you face the impossibility of the tangled up bureaucracy that is our American government. Conservatives love to rail against the broken system, only to expect immigrants to work with it. Well, they can’t. There is virtually no path to a long-term visa, much less citizenship, unless you have years to wait and lots of money to spend on a lawyer to try to get it through. Meanwhile, even if someone is so noble as to try to get through the system legally, during those months or years when the government can’t seem to get it done, they are considered “illegal.” It is true that most eventually give up on the paperwork and buy themselves a fake social security card for about 50 bucks so they can keep on working rather than to live on handouts or pack up their children and head back to third-world poverty. Have you really tried putting yourself in their shoes? Really? REALLY?

So what do I think needs to happen? We absolutely need to secure our borders and know who is entering and leaving our country. We need to keep felons and terrorists out, and if they get in and commit crime, I say we deal with them ourselves and lock them up so they can’t just keep sneaking back across our border. We do need to stop immigrants from coming in illegally as best we can, probably including better fences or walls or whatever it takes to develop a system where we can monitor who is coming, but I also believe we should help those who are already here gain extended visas or citizenship (which currently is virtually impossible). I say that if they are here to work and to contribute, and especially if they came legally in the first place, we should create a reasonable pathway for them to become legal and for them to stay long term and raise their families here. And yet, every time someone tries to suggest a reasonable way for illegals to become legal, the Republican party starts crying “No amnesty for the criminals!” It is ridiculous and heartless. A reasonable path to legal status is not amnesty.

As Christians, our attitude ought to be compassion, not self-righteous exclusionism and even racially-biased hatred. It makes no sense. We are all for giving and helping and going on mission trips to help the poor people in the world, but if any of them dare figure out a way to come live here, we want them all (men, women and children) shipped back and dumped at the border. Can someone tell me how that squares with anything in the Bible, not to mention a Christian Worldview?

For the most part, these are wonderful people who love our country and want to work here and live here. They are good examples for many Americans. They could be a nice addition to our nation. They could be a blessing if we would stop making them out to be criminals because of our own completely broken system that offers them no real shot at legal status. There comes a point when government gets so huge and unmanageable that we all could be called criminals. Christians might want to remember that we could be next in being labeled criminals for failing to meticulously follow the freedom-squelching requirements of our ever-more-controlling government. 

But what about the money!! Oh the tax dollars! The pundits tell us these people are costing us billions. That is mostly ridiculous. Why? Because the problem is with the welfare system, not immigration. Stop giving people free stuff if you want to spend less on welfare. Stop giving it out if that’s what you’re worried about. Personally, I’d end the whole welfare system and put the responsibility back on churches and communities to help the poor. That’s a whole different issue. The point is that we don’t have to deport people to stop giving money to them. Hello? Did you catch that? Most Hispanics don’t need government assistance anyway, because I’ve yet to meet a first generation Hispanic person who doesn’t work. They are here to work! Most of them can’t even attend the church we’ve planted for them, because they work fourteen hour days, often seven days per week. And if you think they are taking jobs away from Americans, think again. How many Americans do you know who are willing to bend their backs to pick berries all day for pennies? Give me a break.

Let me close with this admonition to my fellow Christians: If you are going to base all your other political beliefs on Scripture, maybe you should think a little bit more about what the Bible says in regard to how we treat foreigners living in our land. At the very least, watch your attitude. Do you really think God wants us to reject and criminalize those of other nationalities who wish to live and work among us? I don’t think so. I think God is bringing the mission field to us. Remember the second greatest commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. I think maybe we should start doing that.