Welcoming the Stranger -- Reposting

The following essay appeared as a column in the Lompoc Record -- June of 2007.  It speaks of efforts at getting immigration reform.  There appeared hope then that something could be done, but we still remain unable to move forward.  And yet, despite an unwillingness to address the issue, the issue isn't going away.  In fact, the Arizona law that has drawn such oprobrium calls forth from the nation a commitment to move forward quickly on achieving true reform that is just and fair and realistic.   I invite your thoughts.
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Faith in the Public Square
Lompoc Record
June 17, 2007

Immigration reform is again the subject of debate in the nation's barber shops, pubs, grocery aisles, and break rooms. It's being discussed in blogs, opinion pages, chat rooms, and by e-mail. It's one of those issues that simply won't go away, even though no one seems to agree on a solution.

A bipartisan Senate immigration bill was recently pulled off the table because it became bogged down by amendments and because senators were lobbied hard by opponents on the left and the right. Although there's common agreement that something must be done, and that the proposed bill was less than perfect, the question is, can anything get passed in the present environment.

Politics always makes dealing with contentious issues difficult, and with an unpopular president and a fairly evenly split Congress, compromise is difficult, especially with a presidential election cycle heating up. The debate will continue, even if reform waits to be enacted.

The facts in this debate are quite simple: Twelve million people are living in this country illegally, and every day that number increases. Most are here in search of the “American Dream” of a better life and a hopeful future. This is why immigrants have always come here. Of course there are those who come with malicious intent, but they're the minority. As it always has been, immigrant life is difficult - usually families are separated, immigrants live in cramped quarters, and most try to live under the radar lest they be sent home.

Although this is a political issue, it's also a moral one. It is, in fact, a debate over how we treat the stranger living in our midst. As the politicians debate, they hear a multitude of voices, all with different interests - the business community, agricultural interests, schools, health-care providers, labor unions, and law enforcement. The proposed answers to the current dilemma range from the draconian to the lenient, from immediate deportation to providing a path to citizenship. When we listen to the myriad voices that are seeking our attention, we discover that there's really no consensus, no common will. But, doing nothing won't make the problem go away.

There's another voice - it's actually many different voices - that seeks our attention. That voice is the religious community, and like every segment of the population, it is not of one mind.

I can only speak for myself, but what I say reflects the teachings of my tradition. When I read the Hebrew Bible I find a stream of statements talking about how we should treat the alien. Most of these voices call on us to treat the stranger with respect and dignity. Don't oppress the alien in your midst, Jeremiah says on behalf of God, and I will be with you (Jeremiah 7:5-7). The law encourages equal treatment of the stranger, and encourages farmers to leave out gleanings from the harvest for the poor and the alien dwelling in the country (Leviticus 23:22). Why should they do this? The answer given is simple: “Love the stranger because once you were the stranger in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19).

What then should I do as an American who is also a person of faith? The answer I seem to hear is this: You were once a stranger, so welcome the stranger who lives in your midst. Baptist theologian David Gushee writes:

“Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. He then makes clear that our ‘neighbors' include not just family, friends and folk like us, but also strangers and enemies. Every person is my neighbor, whom I am called to love. The ‘undocumented worker' or ‘illegal alien' is my neighbor.”

Now border security is necessary, but that's not the real issue. The real issue relates to those already here - and their families who haven't yet joined them. For now they live in the shadows and are easily used and abused.

If I listen to my faith, I hear a call to invite the stranger into the light of day so that they might live with dignity. They are, after all, my neighbor and are loved by God. If, as the polls suggest, we‘re a nation of the faithful, then surely we must consider carefully this voice and seek a way forward that's humane and compassionate. These are our brothers and our sisters and members of a common human family, created in the image of God.

Dr. Bob Cornwall [was] pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Lompoc (www.lompocdisciples.org). He blogs at http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/. 

Down on the Border -- Wrestling with Arizona's Inhumane Anti-Immigrant Law

I was hoping to get Robin Hoover to write something up for the blog about the situation in Arizona.  Robin is a Disciples pastor in Tuscon, AZ and a tireless worker on behalf of migrants who founded a ministry more than a decade ago called Humane Borders.  I said, I hoped to get a piece from him.  But all he had time for was this brief statement sent via his Blackberry:

No time to write. Get goups down here. Protest where you are. Send resources for migrants, dollars for advocacy.

Maybe that's all that needs to be said, but of course more needs to be said.

It is interesting that right now, as Arizona seeks to clamp down on migration from the south by requiring the police to stop and question anyone who seems suspicious -- a law that, despite the promises by the governor that such a thing won't happen, is bound to lead to racial profiling and infringement on civil rights, efforts are underway to delay discussion on immigration reform.   It is our unwillingness to deal with immigration reform, including making provisions for guest workers, family unity, and paths to citizenship, that has led us to this point. 

In an earlier post I quoted scripture, but today I quote the words found on the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"   (Emma Lazarus)

Of course, we've never truly embraced this motto, and our immigration laws have rarely reflected the realities that confront us.  The reason why migration is happening, is the same reason that it's always occurred.  Changes in global economic, social, cultural, and religious conditions.  Workers come north in search of jobs and the opportunity for a new life.  The trek is dangerous and often ends in tragedy.  Migration makes major impacts on communities, and they are often unable to handle the realities.  It is time for Congress to act, but already we're seeing efforts to delay and bury such things.  But if we do this, then Arizona will be just the first of many.

Robin Hoover is working on a plan that would, if enacted, bring fairness and justice to the conversation.  It's extensive and deals with economic and social issues.  It involves with providing migrants with legal ways of coming into the country, that would end the chaos at the border and make the nation safer.  I think it has promise -- but it will take political will not yet shown by our government.  Let us use this new law to stir the conversation in Washington, demanding that they deal with the issue now.