Strangers at Our Door

Policy Misses the Point

Politicians in this country like to blame each other for the increase in the movement of people in the world. Worldwide, migration and immigration continue to rise. Instead of looking for the root causes for immigration, the policies proposed are all about keeping people out, fueled by a heightened fear of people of color.

Donald Trump and his imitators are stoking the flames of hatred and fear with incendiary language. They call those wanting to come here; Invasion. Aliens. Killers. Criminals.

Our solutions are draconian. We put them in camps. We send them back to Mexico where gangs prey on them. We build walls. We tell them they are not welcome. The worst of it is targeting children by separating families. The new plan is to expel children of immigrants born here. 

I think that's unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, based on jus soli. But Trump bought three justices to go with three other conservatives. Nothing in the constitution or settled law through precedent is safe anymore.

Why Migrate Here?

According to the UN, Some people move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family, or to study. Others move to escape conflict, persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations. Still others move in response to the adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters, or other environmental factors.
https://www.un.org › global-issues

The root causes of immigration have not changed, and the policies we employ do not address these issues. The solutions we employ are all about punishment based on demonizing  people in search of a better life. 

The demonization of "The Other" is something we have struggled with since our colonial days. It was also baked into our constitution. The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. Something learned from the compromise is that the Constitution could be changed for the better. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the compromise. Is that safe anymore?

For one nation under God, immigration should be a moral issue. Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

Israelites were to call on their empathy for refugees because they had been treated cruelly as refugees when they were made into slaves in Egypt. They were instructed not to cheat foreigners or take advantage of them in any way. Most Christians know Jesus’ instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself” but may not be aware that Mosaic Law has the same instruction for how to treat foreigners. The command to treat them as “native-born” would have been shocking to people in Moses’ day. World Vision 

And what did Jesus think about all this? I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Matthew 25:35

The question becomes, do policies of oppression and denial make us a nation of hypocrites? 

What I've written seems a little dark. Let me offer the following as an offering of hope. The City of Immigrants by Steve Earle. 

(Photo by Katie Moum)