My Thoughts on the Immigration Invasion

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that most of the time you’ll receive teaching blogs as encouragement and sometimes humor.  But once in a while I tend to jump into the puddles of current events and issues in America.  I feel that people need to be outspoken in their faith and beliefs as to how they relate to this nation.  Unfortunately is the failure to speak up is what has wounded the foundation of what I believe has made this country great.  So in saying all of that I am going to dance in the rain of a current hot topic for today’s blog.  While I respect both sides of this issue, I do have a strong opinion regarding it.

Growing up in a small Mid-West American town, I had no idea what it took to come to this country as an immigrant.  I had no idea of the hurdles people had to jump through in order to become a citizen.  That was until I met and married my husband.  My husband’s family emigrated from Italy to Canada in the 50’s.  Dan was born in Canada, and came to America on a school visa.  Then about 18 months later he met me.  Most people in America have a misguided notion because of films like “Green Card” that just because you marry an American you become a citizen.  Right after during WW2 that was the case, but today that’s an antiquated notion.  We had hoops we had to jump through.  He had to essentially ‘start over’ in the process when he married me.  It’s a long story but we had to bump up our wedding 3 months because we wanted to have a large Italian reception in Canada for his side and we couldn’t get married in the US and leave the country until some paperwork was filed.  So I had one wedding with a small reception, and a larger reception three months later in Canada.  Three days after my wedding I was sitting in an office having paperwork filed out.  When we moved across the country we had to refile paperwork again.  We used to joke that it was kind of like parole.  I once sat in an immigration office 4 months pregnant for a whole day with one working bathroom, waiting in line to ask a question only to be mocked by an immigration officer for not marrying an American.  For several years when the immigration office called we jumped, filed and paid money for new paperwork, got sets of fingerprints, went to interviews, studied and took a test, and waited in more lines.  After September 11, it did become a tad easier because at least then we could call on the phone, wait about an hour on hold and talk to a person to ask a question.  While I never wanted to push Dan to get his citizenship he gladly did.  He became a citizen in June of 2006.  It was a long ordeal, and we’re both very glad that all is now well. 

Since my own personal experience, I did think often in the process that gratefully Dan and I were educated people, who were able to jump through government hoops.   We had access to computers and phones to make appointments, and often miraculously the money appeared from some source or another when we needed it to file more forms.  I understand we had a lot of favor in this area where I’ve heard various horror stories.

What is happening at the border right now is not immigration.  It’s an invasion of the nation.  I 100% support immigration in our country.  I get there are hoops that one needs to jump through.  But in my mind don’t we want people who come to our nation be respectful of our laws?  Don’t we want to open our borders to people who understand they need to obey the laws of the land? Do we want to give free passes to people who can’t obey our laws?  Jesus instructed people to obey the laws of the land (Romans 13:1-7)  Just giving people a free pass just encourages people they never have to obey our laws.  I believe it’ll create a legacy of people who think living off the government and handouts is the answer in life.  It creates dependent people, and most likely generations of people who believe that the government is their sugar daddy.

So the argument here is the issue about the children.  It is horrible that these kids are coming alone and unattended.  There are no easy answers here.  I can understand parents wanting to send these children for a better life but what is the solution?  Matt 7:12 is the Golden rule.  Where we are told to ‘Do unto others as we would have done to us’.  I believe in giving these kids humanitarian aid.  We can sit troops on the border and offer a hot meal, offer a blanket and a change of clothing, but just giving them some obscure court date so they come in illegally in the country and melt into society isn’t the answer.  We can’t open our borders up to illegal activity. These children are being exploited, and it’s a travesty that many are most likely becoming part of the sex trafficking industry.  Many of these kids aren’t sweet and innocent, but part of violent gangs.  While I want to reach the child and give them the love of Jesus, we don’t need to invite more violence and crimes on our streets to do so.  There has to be a better answer.  I don’t believe spending billions of dollars in housing is the answer.  It’s no secret I’m not a fan of the current administration, but no matter how you slice this issue it is a sticky difficult one. 

While I may not have all the answers I bring all this up to encourage you all to pray for these kids, pray for America, and pray for the leaders of this country.  I may not always like/agree/want to be civil towards certain leaders but I do believe anyone in authority needs wisdom from God.  We do need to pray for them. (1 Tim 2:2)  We do need to cry out that God would heal America, and get us back to where the forefathers intended.  Don’t just see tragedy on the news and do nothing.  There is a world around us who need a touch from Jesus.  Let us open our eyes to see it.

Remember God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited!