Immigration Issues

One of my favorite parts of working at the Capitol is the number of young people who come through my office seeking counsel on career choices and job opportunities. Recent college grads can get all the way through a degree program without having someone ask them the most basic of questions that I pop in the first fifteen minutes of a meeting.

Are you a Republican, Democrat, conservative or liberal?

Why?

What is your passion?

What do you do better than anything else?

What do you see yourself doing in this environment?

It is interesting to me how many people (not just young people) identify with a political party or philosophy with no understanding of the principles underlying their decision. This morning my meeting was with a young, Hispanic - a first generation citizen, a mother, the first in her family to graduate from college. She is bright, articulate and identified herself as leaning more Democrat than Republican.

Wanting to explore that identification, I asked for clarification on issues about which we might differ. Her dad is originally from Mexico, a hard-working man who worked tirelessly to provide for his wife and six children. She has inherited her dad's work ethic. We seemed to agree on many social issues, so I asked about the big white elephant in the room. How do you feel about the Arizona immigration law?

The question was both to explore her thoughts and to help to clarify my own. The hoopla over the issue never ceases to amaze me. The fact that other states should choose to boycott Arizona because they have chosen to allow law enforcement officers to enforce laws already in place leaves me totally perplexed. There does not appear to be objection to the laws, just the enforcement of them. In a nation whose strength is its rule of law, that is a dangerous precedent.

Emotions are driving the immigration on all sides. Those in favor of stronger enforcement of immigration laws see illegal immigration as a threat to our nation because of low wage workers who are benefiting from our social services and taking jobs from American citizens.

Illegal immigrants are often here for the very things that have made our nation great - the opportunity to work hard and prosper. They are fleeing their native country because they cannot afford to support their families. Many people have or know people who have come into the country illegally and can easily identify and empathize with those who are here.

Both sides are correct to some degree. But, the bigger issue is that the very thing that makes it possible for a poor farm worker from Mexico to cross the border also makes it possible for a foreign terrorist to enter the country. Illegal immigration is a national security issue. The border must be secured. Illegal immigrants should be swiftly deported.

At the same time, both the United States and Mexico benefit from the self-sustaining workers who come to the United States as productive workers. Federal immigration laws should be changed to enable those who come for economic purposes to do so legally and easily.

Such a two-prong approach embraces both the rule of law and the biblical concept of welcoming the alien. (And, no, I don't care if Speaker Pelosi tells the Catholic Church they should instruct from the pulpit that immigration reform is necessary as long as she doesn't mind them also mentioning that the sanctity of life should be protected by government. But, I digress.).

The argument over who gets what benefits and social services should be re-examined and removed from the immigration debate. The same thing that makes illegal immigrants seek government benefits makes citizens seek them. It is not an immigration issue, it is a "nanny state" issue. The government should not be paying for the medical costs of illegal immigrants. But, then again, the government shouldn't be paying for the medical costs of its citizens, either. Solve that problem and, to the degree that it may be enticing illegal immigration, the problem will go away.

The protests and boycotts going on throughout our nation indicate a lack of understanding of the boycotters on the motivation of the real issues facing the Arizona lawmakers. Their citizens are being attacked, kidnapped and killed. It is the first role of government to offer protection to its citizens. In the nation's failure to do so, Arizona has stepped up to the plate. On the other hand, a failure to understand the boycotters indicates a lack of understanding of the fear of minorities that the power of government will be used to intimidate and punish even those who are here legally.

Each side is partially right and partially wrong and they must come together. Both sides of this issue could profit from the advice in Proverbs 4:7. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

It may actually cost you your opinion to gain wisdom in the area of immigration. But, failure to do so may cost you the very principles that have made our nation the success it is.