I've been reading a few blogs and some news stories about immigration lately. I had some thoughts come into my mind while I was cleaning today and had to put it down. First of all, I believe as Christians, we have a responsibility to love and serve anyone we come in contact with, especially the poor and downtrodden. Most illegal immigrants would fall into this category. However, I am not going to tackle the "Christian" views in this post, I'm going to address it from a "political" viewpoint.
First of all, open your mind with me for just a second and imagine you are in the immigrants shoes... You live in a country where, despite all your best efforts, you have been unable to make a living for your family. Your children are always hungry and you can't stand seeing them get sick from malnutrition that never gets resolved. A man comes and promises a job in the US that will make all your dreams come true. So you make a gut-wrenching decision to leave them behind, not knowing when you will see them again, if ever, for the decision to sneak across the border is fraught with danger. So you kiss them goodbye and promise to send home all the money you can, as soon as you can.
Once you get into America, your "contact" brings you to an "employer" who gives you a "job". You work all day, into the night and barely have enough left after paying for your own scanty meals, to send anything home. But you keep at it because at least this work is better than no work back home.
You soon realize no one could legally make someone work in these conditions. No American citizen could be forced to work like this. A few months in, you'd love to speak out against this employer that abuses you for little pay, while his bank account gets more and more bloated to satisfy his appetite for pleasures your family has no hope of ever seeing. Resentment builds but you have no way to bring justice to this person. If you show the slightest hint of rebellion, he'll have you deported and it's back to your children starving. So you keep at it.
Imagine all this, and then imagine the country you're in calls you a criminal. They ignore the fact you had no way to get in legally (95% of people that come in illegally would never get approved in our current system), and your children were starving. They ignore the fact that you took no job they would have worked themselves. They ignore the "Employer" that made it possible to get the job in the first place and then took advantage of your illegal status to exploit and control you in order to pad his own pockets.
Who is the REAL criminal in this scenario? Why are the men/women that "employ" these illegal immigrants never talked about in all the immigration policies debates? If they are, I've not heard it. This seems like such a simple solution in my eyes. Shut down the slave labor that promises hope of work not available to them in Mexico and for what would they continue to sneak in? I know, I know, it's not "simple" but neither is fencing and patrolling the whole border! I'm thinking focusing on the employers would still be easier than that!
Shut down the greed and we'd shut down the illegal border crossings. And then once that happens, we Christians better be ALL OVER the fact we need to be helping those that still have no work in Mexico. We can't forget the poor just because we no longer deal with them as illegal immigrants.
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3 comments:
I do sympathize with this viewpoint. I am so thankful God placed me in America. I don't claim to understand the entire immigration issue, but I also don't believe that the situation you described here is the majority "norm". It seems to me that often these illegal immigrants have more rights than I do as an American. I completely agree that we as Christians need to love and care for the poor and downtrodden, but what about our own poor and downtrodden? America is teeming with citizens who are very much in need. What about them? I have the sweetest friend, who is a believer in Christ, but is in a situation right now where they just spent their last $15, do not know where the next paycheck is going to come from and have 5 kids. Have you ever been so poor as to not be able to put a diaper on your daughter? This is what my friend is facing and honestly I am frustrated with people sneaking into our country illegally, taking jobs that some of our own citizens could have, receiving health insurance and other benefits while our own citizens are struggling. I am not trying to argue with you but to give you a slightly different perspective:)
Although I disagree with the statement saying often illegal immigrants have more rights than us, I agree 100% we should care about the poor and downtrodden amoung us. I just don't draw any nationalist boundaries as to whom I'll serve first. You're right to say we need to care for those around us who need it. I believe this is vital to our Christian faith! I wish more people who call themselves Christians would stop worshiping at the altar of materialism and worship the REAL Jesus. The one who called us to sacrifical giving and service to those around us. He prayed for God's kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, and then proceeded to show how that can happen by showing us a different way to live. The kingdom of the "world" ignores and/or exploits the very ones we are called to serve. We are to come along side them and love them.
I appeciate your heart for your friend. It's people with your heart that make a difference in other's lives.
There are so many different aspects of the immigration issue. I know it's not cut and dry one way or the other, however, I believe most people come here in desperation. Why would they leave their families or risk their wives and childrens lives to sneak them into a country that typically hates and exploits them? I believe dealing with the employers is vital to "solving" the problem of illegal immigration.
Amen.
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