No issue divides the political landscape in our country
today as much as the issues at the US-Mexican border, where thousands upon
thousands of people have crossed the US Border from Mexico. President Obama has initiated the creation of
‘camps’ to house the people and has asked the US Congress for billions of
dollars to deal with this issue. The opposition
by Congressional Republicans has stressed that these people have broken US law
and are here illegally and pose a threat to national security. Recently, the Governor of Texas Rick Perry
has raised the National Guard with the idea of taking them to the border in
order to ‘secure the border.’
Much like the Border itself, this issue brings to the forefront
the issues that divide this country. Our
choice of words has become politicized and your allegiance is based on what
descriptors are used. Are the people “illegal
aliens,” “undocumented workers,” “migrants,” “family,” or “law breakers.” The questions people are asking are as
divisive as any in recent past. Should these
people be given amnesty and be allowed to stay here? Should they be returned to
their country of origin…or is this even possible? Should they be arrested?
Shot? The identity of these people is up for debate as well. Are they children streaming in from South
America? Are they convicts?
How do we respond to an issue like this?
Pope Francis identified one possible response earlier when
he pleaded that the people be treated with respect and be given the basics for
survival. He has a point that should not
be lost especially on the Churches of this nation. Jesus stressed the need to take care of the
poor and the outcast and the hungry and the thirsty.
Michael Savage of the radio show The Savage Nation decried these statements and represents the other
side of this spectrum. He argued that we
should be concerned first and foremost for our “culture, language and borders,”
and he views these recent incursions as a threat to our country. In response to
this crisis, many people on this side of the spectrum want to build walls and
fences and guards and defend the country at all costs.
Perhaps most people are somewhere in the middle of these
positions, wanting to help the immigrants, but at the same time wanting to
secure the borders and to send the people home.
For me, this issue is personal because I have spent some
time at the border trying to understand.
One of the most bizarre moments I’ve had in life was standing in a colonia outside Juarez, Mexico. This neighborhood was made up of houses that
were constructed with old pallets, cardboard, scrap metal and whatever else
could be used to give shelter. Extension
cords ran across the dusty and unpaved ground as people tapped into whatever
power source they could to have power.
Children were sometimes left locked in these houses while their parents
walked miles to get into the city to work.
The amazing part was that just a few miles away, within sight was the luxurious American side. Houses with swimming pools and air
conditioning and abundant food and two cars in the driveway. Their kids went to day care or school and
didn’t have to wonder what was going to happen day after day. Having seen that and experienced this, I
understand everybody’s desire to escape and to get into our country.
I remember one night in Neuvo Laredo, seeing the people
gather at the town square, wanting to make their move and take their chance to
get to our side of the border. If they
could just get there, they would reason, they could have enough to eat. They tasted opportunity and they wanted it. Most would be caught and sent across the
border where they would wait for their second chance. Others would risk a more dangerous border
crossing, relying on coyotes to get
them across. Some would face death to
get across…and I understand that.
The United States has always been about immigration. The border with Mexico was not closed until
the 20th century. Most of our
ancestors came here one way or another…most ‘legally’ but many ‘illegally.’ We came for the same reasons these people
want to come, they want freedom and opportunity and chances to provide for
their families. Or others want to come
to escape poverty. Others want to come
to practice criminality, just as it has always been.
But one of the people I know at the border has been waiting
for his chance to become an American citizen. His daughters are American
citizens and he has been training to be an ophthalmologist for several years. As he explained the process to become an
American citizen, I thought he was joking.
No matter where you live in Mexico, you have to make it Juarez to apply
for citizenship. Some people use all
their money just to make it to Juarez.
Then they attempt the crossing and if caught, they are forever banned
from the legal process. This process to become a legal resident of the United
States can average between 7 to 10 years.
When I met this individual, he had just had his first interview, which took
him two years to wait for (and if you miss the meeting, that’s it). But this individual
and many like him are committed to the process.
They want to do things write and they strive to keep things above board.
Is giving people who crossed legally amnesty fair to
individuals like my friend? What about the millions of legal residents who have
gone through the process to become a citizen and have spent years of their
lives waiting for this moment? Where they come into play when it comes to these
questions?
I admit that I, like our country, am very torn on this
issue.
As a Christian, I am told to welcome the sojourner and to
give aid and comfort to those in need. I
stress the need to do that here in this case.
We have to provide food, water, shelter.
I am told by my religion that this should be done with hospitality and
not with grumbling. We should not just
be giving the ‘bear minimum’ but welcoming them with true hospitality. My religion tells me not to worry so much
about my country because I belong to a bigger kingdom, the kingdom of God and that
maybe moments like this are just moments in which God is at work,
redistributing the world.
As an American, I have deep concerns. First and foremost is security. Can we keep our country safe from the threat
of terrorism if we do not ‘secure the border’? How can we keep tabs of all the
people coming into the country? What about our economy? In an already sluggish
and slow performing economy, can we afford to take in more people who need
jobs?
Are their good answers to these questions? I’m sure there
are. But in order for us to reach them,
both sides have to acknowledge the concerns of the other. We have to realize that we are in a new
world, a different world, a new epoch where answers don’t get divided neatly
into one party or the other. We have to
realize that we are the aliens in this new world and ask ourselves how we want
to be treated.
