A friend sent this to me. It kind of speaks for itself
I went back home last week and had dinner with some old friends. It was fun chitter chatter about all the expected things. Now that we are a bit older, however, we started talking about more parental-type things – like how the schools were doing.
The response, at first, seemed expected. They live in a nice, quiet area in the mountain west, the kids were good, there were quite a few Christian teachers, but unfortunately there were some serious drug problems in the high school now. That, I was soberly told, was because of “the immigrants.”
Really? I asked.
Oh yes, the precious little town had become a “haven” for illegal immigrants and it was “ruining everything.”
My friends were convinced that a local Hispanic “drug ring,” run by folks who worked at the local McDonald’s, was responsible for all the drugs coming into the town.
And, my sweet friend said she had stopped giving money to a local charity who provided food, clothes and Christmas gifts to families in need.
Why?
Because now they were supporting mostly Hispanic immigrants, presumably illegal.
What truly shocked me about the exchange was that this friend, who by all accounts is a gentle, loving, generous Christian, visits the sick and takes food to shut-ins and volunteers at church. Apparently, her charity ends with immigrants? Maybe poor white people are more worthy of her efforts?
I know there are a lot of politics around immigration – problems with schools and health care and taxes. They are big, serious problems.
But, it seems to me, Jesus sought out the poor, the different, the needy, even the “undesirables” of his day. Samaritans anyone? Tax collectors? In his day, children and women, for that matter. Forget government programs, it seems that immigrants – illegal or not – have as much right to eat, and to feed their children, as I do. It’s all about “rights”, isn’t it? My friends thought the illegal immigrants did not have rights even to our charity. The “crumbs from my table” as the Bible calls them and Bono sings about.
The exchange made me feel even less comfortable, but even more blessed, to be sitting at my extravagant table at all, knowing I didn’t earn that right either.
posted September 20, 2007 at 11:37 am
The conversation in this country over immigration has really become idiotic (no offense to your friend but, honestly.) Yesterday on my local radio station there was an interview with Brian Bilbray, a representative from San Diego and hissy moron. When he was challenged about one of many, many non-partisan economic studies that demonstrate that immigration is necessary for the economy and undocumented immigrants contribute far more in taxes than they receive in Government spending he replied that That goes against every concept of fact that we have in Washington! I almost drove into a bridge embankment from laughter. He then went on to quote a study from the Heritage Foundation (which is in the business of making Republican politicians sound less stupid than they would on their own) about the negative impact of people without high school diplomas. From irrelevancy to irrelevancy and canard to canard he made his case. Remember “9/11 changed everything?”
When you hear that kind of stream of rhetorical hogwash you can be pretty sure that they’re lying about their motives. The problem people have with immigrants is something other than protecting the country, the well-being of children, etc. I don’t claim that everyone on the deportation side of the argument is racist, but generally dishonest and probably anxious so clearly not guided by faith.
posted September 20, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Yes, I too have gotten anti-immigrant e-mails from more than one supposed Christian friend. All I can say to them is what Moses told Israel – and remind them that it applies especially well to us since we, too, are a nation of immigrants.
“Do not take advantage of foreigners in yo7r land; do not wrong them. They must be treated like any other citizen; love them as yourself, for remember that you too were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.” (Leviticus 19: 33-34, Living Bible.)
And there are many other pro-immigrant passages in the Bible. NO anti-immigrant ones.
PS, I showed my wife the “thin places” photo of you and Livvy. She says to tell you that Livvy’s a real cutie, and that her own “thin places” usually come when she’s gardening, or in bed, or in the bathtub. I volunteered to take a photo of her in the tub to send you, but she nixed it. (But I do really enjoy that series. It was a great idea – keep it up, we look forward to them.)
posted September 21, 2007 at 1:26 am
I would ask people who think illegal immigrants are evil to come to my hometown of New Brunswick, New Jersey.
I don’t mean to sentimentalize — yes, you see day laborers on the street in certain areas. You also see entire neighborhoods of houses that had been run-down but have now been renovated with sweat equity. You see “mercados” and “bodegas” thriving in what once were empty storefronts. The streets hum with the sound of mariachi echoing out of said stores. The streets hum, period, with foot traffic where they had been bare, during the day because of the vacancies and out of fear at night, just a few years before.
New Brunswick’s Latino population has migrated primarily from southern Mexico — Oaxaca and particularly Chiapas. Which means both that (yes) some of them are likely illegal immigrants but also that they are fleeing war-torn conditions. Under a less onerous political climate, they would be considered genuine refugees (as indeed, many Salvadorans and Nicaraguans are, and therefore are considered to be legal, in one of the maddening inconsistencies in our immigration policies).
The tour guides to New Brunswick would direct you to the almost gleaming, totally rebuilt downtown (where, admittedly, I live) or to the Rutgers University campus. As, for that matter, would our public officials.
They wouldn’t direct you to the gritty, blue-collar but now visibly improving neighborhoods where “espanol” is the lingua franca — and where the people live who actually make our city thrive.
posted September 21, 2007 at 11:33 am
Let us strive to take of these illegal aliens as we drive them back to the legal countries of their origins. There, the Christians in their countries can take care of them there. Or better yet, let’s send our food and clothing to the countries where we took the illegal aliens back to.
There. Honesty and morality in complete harmony with the Gospels.
And please David, dispense with the race bating rhetoric. This is about honest people and law breakers. Ya just get tired of the illegal aliens forcing us to be dishonest with them after awhile. It’s just not Christian.
Why can’t they go back to their countries (you know the flags they fly over their homes and cars) and live as legal residents. Is that so much to ask?