Do we really have an illegal immigration problem with the roughly 52,000 children who have crossed into the US without documentation since October? I would suggest that we do not. First of all, these are refugees, not illegals. Refugees often enter a potential sanctuary without authorization and we dont call them problems; we determine their status and typically grant them a welcome status while we do. Calling these children an illegal alien problem is inaccurate and inflammatory. Moreover, we have taken in large populations of ethnic minorities fleeing danger and persecution in the past. In the 1970s, during a time of recession and economic upheaval, conservative Christians advocated for and succeeded in creating a special accommodation of thousands of Hmong immigrants from SE Asia, many of whom settled in the Twin Cities area where I later lived. We Americans decided to take in people who were persecuted by their government, in part because of the actions of our government. It was America at our best making at least some ammends for our past wrongs. We have wronged the people of Honduras and El Salvador, from where most of these children at our border came. I could give you pages of links and references, but perhaps a couple of names will spark memories for those of us over 40: Oliver North; Bishop Oscar Romero. I call upon Christians - both liberal sanctuary movement veterans and the heirs to the conservative evangelical tradition that brought the Hmong to freedom - to stop calling these children a problem, and start looking at them as an opportunity to offer hospitality in the name of God. And then, together, we will call upon our nation to stop the hateful rhetoric and return to its best traditions.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 22:45:53 +0000
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