Immigration

Back in our Albany days, the church there went through a great discernment process. One of the steps was to "better up" all the ideas on the table - to work them through in the best way possible to their logical ends. As I look at the immigration question, it feels as if nobody is doing that. Nobody - or very few - seems to be following their proposals through to their ends. Get rid of the undocumented? What would that do to food prices? Follow that out for those on the edge in the colder parts of the country who are already reeling from fuel prices and choose between heating an apartment or buying food. And what does it say about who we are, this nation of immigrants, if we militarize our borders, criminalize those who are here to make a life for their children, etc.? It smacks of "I go mine, screw you!"

Finally, I'm struck that in this era of globalization, borders have disappeared for goods, for capital, for jobs... but not for people. Somehow, we have things wrong there. Either the borders become porous and rights become consistent or the borders should be more solid (I'll write more about this another day).

My hope is that all of the proposed solutions would come with a discussion that bettered them up...

And of course, there is also the scriptural injunctions regarding aliens, ie undocumented immigrants:

Leviticus 19:33-34 (NRSV)
When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. [34] The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.