I quote one response from the former Suffragan Bishop of South Carolina and now Assistant bishop of the Dominican Episcopal Church, William Skilton:
I have found it increasingly difficult to even enter into meaningful conversation regarding immigration issues that we face as a nation.
Where talk used to be of helping, teaching, sharing and even feeding, this has been replaced by a clamor of voices calling for apprehending, jailing and deporting those “strangers and aliens in our midst.” (New York Times colunnist) David Brooks, writing in The Post and Courier late last year, stated that “month by month, the ideas that once prevailed on the angry fringe enter the mainstream and turn into conventional wisdom.”
As the furor goes on and we seem to focus on how to deal with these fellow human beings, stories and statistics are used to brand them as possible terrorists, immorals, criminals and undeserving welfare recipients.
That many are illegally in the U.S. is true, but let us realize that most would not have ever been afforded the opportunity to receive a visa to come.
They are here seeking a better life for themselves and for their families, a life which would not be theirs had they not risked their lives to reach the “land of the free.”
It is interesting to note in the listing of those giving their lives for our country how many names just don’t sound like “us” Americans, but some would say, “Oh, no, that is different. …”
I think back in history and I am constantly reminded that my ancestors came seeking freedom and opportunity. They were welcomed, and we were blessed.
I deeply believe that Holy Scripture is painfully clear, that my call to love is a non-negotiable calling ”” one that I have embraced. I am not permitted the “luxury” of choosing what I like or don’t like; what I will obey and what I will not obey.
As a Christian, I am called to embrace the stranger and render radical hospitality to those who are most vulnerable, for we are fellow “sojourners in this land” (Exodus 23:9; Deuteronomy 24:17, 18).
I believe there is a reasonable solution, which will honor the dignity of the “least of these” while protecting our borders from unwarranted intrusion and the dangers that this might bring.
I believe the “faith community” needs to turn from its deafening silence, and stand and speak with a moral voice of reason, reconciliation and love.
The Rt. Rev. William J. Skilton
RE: “Where talk used to be of helping, teaching, sharing and even feeding, this has been replaced by a clamor of voices calling for apprehending, jailing and deporting those “strangers and aliens in our midst.””
No — “apprehending, jailing and deporting those *illegal and law breaking* “strangers and aliens in our midst.” The rest of the “strangers and alients in our midst” are just fine — and Christians have had no problems loving them. I think of the Vietnamese woman I ran into several months ago who recounted for me the help she received in finding a job, and so many other things necessary for life, through the help of a local Baptist church. It warmed my heart to hear it.
We have plenty of “strangers and aliens in our midst” to love and care for. And while we do that — our country needs to enforce its laws.
RE: “(New York Times colunnist) David Brooks, writing in The Post and Courier late last year, stated that “month by month, the ideas that once prevailed on the angry fringe enter the mainstream and turn into conventional wisdom.”
LOL.
That’s because David Brooks has been calling the mainstream — that’s right, the mainstream, which is not him — the “angry fringe” falsely as a rhetorical device. And he’s still doing it!
The difference between then and now — the old glory days when the David Brooks’s of this world could prattle about the “angry fringe” and deem themselves “the mainstream” — is that the actual mainstream is finding their voice about this issue — and quite rightly so.
Sorry, Mr. Brooks, but your voice, and that of the others at the New York Times just aren’t the “mainstream” that you fancied yourself — although you have certainly worked very hard to make it so.
The proper approach throughout (which has not been followed) is to enforce immigration laws, and to push to change them if the laws seem unjust. If we need to be issuing more work visas, then we should go through the legislative channels to make that happen.
When my ancestors came to America, the population was very small. Europeans flooded in without restrictions, for the most part. By the time my husband’s grandparents and father came in the early twentieth century, restrictions existed and proper paperwork was required, along with a health examination. In today’s context, when our country now provides financial and other assistance to the poor, the question of whether we choose to help the poor by allowing them to come here without restriction or whether we help by providing assistance and training in their home countries is a perfectly valid question, and not hateful at all. These illegals are not political refugees — we handle those separately. I do not have, for instance, and inalienable right to go live in Switzerland. I have to get a visa. In most foreign countries, you can’t even stay in a hotel without a visa, much less get a job. Why must the U.S.A. be different in this respect from every other country on earth?
We need to confront the real problem here–it is the systemic greed of big economic interests that want to hire and discard an endless supply of “cheap labor.” Because it is an endless supply, employers can pay less and less and can lower wages for all workers. It is the same old shell game that was exposed in _Grapes of Wrath_. Of course, it does lead to widespread public needs. Christians are indeed ready to be good samaritans but can not close their eyes to the reasons for continuing illegal immigration. The “comprehensive” plans to “solve” the problem have all allowed for this immoral and short-sighted continuation, envisioning many more future workers for this same model. Yes, perhaps we can absorb many of the illegal whom we have already brought into the county (those who are law-abiding now); but we must stop the flow because it comes to the point where it will sink the ship. Mainstream Americans who live near the border know what I am saying.
Bp. Skilton seems to think that every Latino/Hispanic in the U.S. military is an illegal. Most are United States citizens when they join or became such while serving. There are many non-citizens from all over the world who serve in our military partly because it is a legitimate, honored way to become a citizen more quickly than the regular 5 or 3 year residency as a legal resident of the United States. Serving even one day in the service in time of hostility (now) enables a member of our military to apply for citizenship in the country he or she has sworn to defend. The peacetime rules (not now) have also been significantly relaxed for members of the armed forces.
Bob
I find myself in almost total agreement with Sarah here. I lived for years in Brazil and it never occurred to me that their demand that I present a clean criminal, health and vaccination record prior to being allowed to do so even remotely un-Christian, racist or xenophobic. Further, I felt a moral imperative to learn Portuguese as quickly as possible (I was competent within a few months and eventually fluent within a year and a half).
Frankly, I find our immigration and naturalization process a farce and an international disgrace. Quotas should be increased, and significantly. Appropriate agencies should be funded and staffed to the point that tourist, student, temporary and resident visas are handled in days, not weeks or months. We should welcome immigrants openly. And we should, at the same time, rigorously police our borders to everyone who comes in is vetted.
I have personally been working with two friends who have been going through the process to emigrate to Australia to work. You would not believe the red tape, cost and obstacles they had to endure and overcome. The process takes over a year. Stacks of official, notarized documents including birth certificates, diplomas and degrees, police records (clean), and, get this, certification of speaking English before being allowed to enter to work.