A moral (?) look at illegal immigration

I receive a lot of emails from a variety of sources regarding immigration, legal and otherwise. From time to time there is stuff I agree with and much of the time there is stuff I disagree with on varying levels from mild disapproval all the way to essentially outright anger. Certainly it is a situation I am aware of and have written about previously.

For example, a couple things that I strongly disagree with have to do with certain actions of immigrants, whether legal or not. 1, symbols; if you love another country so much that you feel compelled to display its flag...or multiple versions of same...then please, do us all a favor and move to that country. Whatever nation you reside in deserves your loyalty and devotion. If you lack that then please find a place that does deserve your loyalty and devotion and move there. No, that is not an attack on your heritage, it is an attack on actions that inspire dissension. 2, customs; when you move into a new country you are moving there to improve your life. Why then would you insist on bringing with you the things you are leaving because they are not good enough?

A caveat...a very strong caveat here. The above 2 things are, first and foremost, PERSONAL OPINION. They are the results of my own study of people, of history, and not a little flavored by interactions with people of greater experience and intellect than myself.

Then again, a lot of people who are reputedly smarter than me also despise the "illegal immigrants' for the harm they allegedly do to our economy. Nonsense about them "taking our jobs" and so forth are daily episodes. Of course, the very root complaint is non-sensical. Economies are not zero sum games. Just because somebody new comes along and takes a 5 or 10 dollar an hour job does not mean I cannot get one. There is hardly a shortage of minimum wage jobs, for example...you can walk into any grease spattered fast-anti nutritional establishment and find "Yes, we are hiring" sign, usually for multiple positions. And nobody I have heard is accusing the immigrants of taking all the high paying jobs...

No, more populace means more requirements for food stores, service industries, transportation, people to sell the preceding, and so forth. So jobs are created, and often better paying jobs than the ones supposedly being vacuumed up by the illegal immigrants. Saying they are devastating the economy is a nonsensical, counter-intuitive, and counterproductive approach rife with inaccuracies.No, I am not arguing that as many jobs are created to take care of the immigrants as there are immigrants...but I am arguing there is a ripple effect that makes it far from a zero sum game.

So I don't really think my thoughts and beliefs on immigration are of any different value than those of the so-called experts; they are neither more nor less valuable than anyone else's. But there is a place where my thoughts and opinions...and those of anyone else living today...certainly must take a backseat. That is where they interact with Biblical morality for those who claim to follow the teachings of God.

What would the teachings of the Bible lead us to do in regard to immigration, legal or otherwise? There are a couple of ways to look at it.

Biblical discussion on interaction with civil authorities is clear. Pray for your leaders. Obey the laws of the land for God put the leaders in authority over you. The only exceptions to obeying the laws of the land are when they conflict with what God has commanded us to do. That is important enough to repeat and expand on; the ONLY exception granted by Scripture to the responsibility to obey the laws of the land is when they conflict with God's commands. There is no wiggle room for "I don't like the law" or "I disagree with the law" or "I think the law is inequitable" or any other excuse. If it does not violate the commands of God then the Christian has the responsibility before God to obey those laws.

So the legal ramifications are clear. If it is illegal for people to enter the country they are breaking the law and should suffer the consequences of doing so.

But there is more to it than that. There is also the moral question. How should the Christian feel/act towards the illegal immigrant?

I would start with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Recall how to the Jews the Samaritans were the lowest of the low, people whom they hated passionately and would have nothing to do with. Yet when a Jew was in trouble it was not the religious, civil or moral leaders who tended to him...it was this Samaritan. And that was the "good neighbor", a man who looks upon the troubles of others and, instead of ignoring them, acts to rectify those problems even at considerable sacrifice of his own time and resources. Who is the neighbor? The Scripture is quite clear. Every person is your neighbor.

Blindly attacking someone verbally because they might be an illegal immigrant is a dangerous precedent that certainly owes much more to the evil actions of those who passed by the wounded Jew in that parable than it does the Samaritan.

Yet many otherwise wonderful people do that exact thing. They talk about the jobs/resources/etc. the "illegal immigrants" are taking without knowing if the person is an illegal or not. I will start with the most obvious example, the Mexicans.

Too many people look, see a Mexican and automatically assume "illegal". Along with that thought comes a whole slew of assumptions and attitudes...most of them negative. But here is the point; to the Christian, it doesn't matter if they are illegal! Every man is your neighbor, you have the responsibility before God to treat him so.

Think of the attitudes prevalent in Scripture; when dealing with those who mistreat you the response is gentleness, kindness, and going above and beyond; "If he forces you to walk with him one mile, go two; if he asks you for your cloak, give him your shirt also". Or the well known "Golden Rule"; Treat others as you would have them treat you (yes, I realize not the common wording but accurate nonetheless). Or how about yet another obvious thought; how would you apply the Fruit of the Spirit to dealing with people?

"The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control..." now apply those things to illegal immigrants:

How would you show love? With vituperation, recriminations, resentment? I don't think I need go any further than that.

A Christian, it seems clear to me, has no business in being a political activist trying to separate themselves from immigrants, in making laws more punitive towards those who broke the law. Let the other people deal with punishing evil-doers, if that term applies, and just concentrate on being an example of a loving, happy, peaceful, good person who loves their fellow man and seeks the good of all people instead of selectively deciding who they will be a good neighbor to.

This is only the tip of the iceberg but is meant to get some thinking going on. Instead of looking at the issue of illegal immigration as a national issue or as competition for wages, welfare, etc., look at it as a Christian issue; these people are your neighbor and we should seek to act in a Godly neighborly fashion towards them.