Sullivan on Immigration Reform --<i>Christianism vs Christianity</i>

By John Ballard

One of Sullivan's notes yesterday shines a light on immigration reform viewed through a biblical lens. 

Here's something the Christianist right won't bring up in the immigration debate (although they often refer to it when it comes to marriage equality). Leviticus:

Leviticus 19:33-34 (NIV)
When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The
alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love
him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.

A reader adds...
Also see:

• 
  Leviticus 19:33


•  Exodus 22:21


• Exodus 23:9


• Deuteronomy 24:17-18


• Leviticus 19:9-10


• Deuteronomy 24:19-22


• Deuteronomy 10:18-19


• Hebrews 13:2
  

I have to say I am very proud of my church in this instance. Human dignity matters.

As I mentioned Sunday, my estrangement from the church over forty years ago has lately returned for a variety of reasons including, among other matters, a deafening silence from many influential Christian spokespersons on immigration reform. The Newsweek feature I linked tracks half a dozen political movements in American history which reflect the same populist appeal now seen in the Tea Party insurgency: Know-Nothings/American Party, Dixiecrats/States� Rights Democrats, McCarthyists, George Wallace/American Independent, Moral Majority, H.
Ross Perot/Reform Party.

Other parts of the country may be different, but here in the Bible Belt most people conflate politics and religion as naturally as they expect sweet tea with fried chicken. Even when it is never mentioned, Southerners measure anything said by a politician, no matter when or where he says it, against how it might sound from a pulpit. And shrewd political types instinctively (or deliberately) parse their vocabulary accordingly. It is no accident that the president ends so many speeches with "God bless [insert appropriate reference here] and God Bless the United States of America!"

No small part of the Palin phenomenon derives from her Evangelical roots. Ralph Reed, best remembered for his brilliant leadership of the Christian Coalition, is making a comeback with a reincarnation of the same idea, now called the  Faith & Freedom Coalition. Mike Huckabee, former Baptist preacher, staged a presidential run which coasted a long way into the final stretch with virtually no funding, which goes to show how far someone can travel on a wing and a prayer. From the rowdy rhetoric of town hall protests against health care legislation to a current surge of state initiatives seeking to opt out of the results to the recent Pew Center poll documenting how pissed off growing numbers of Americans are with their political leaders and politics in general... a political boil is coming to a head leading up to the November elections. 

One might think that people of faith in times like these would look to scripture for solace, but one would be wrong. As Andrew Sullivan points out the faithful look to scripture to support rather than correct their politics.

As I listened to this morning's news I had a flashback to a post I put together a couple years ago which now seems more timely. I was still attending church at that time and the Old Testament reading that morning was from Exodus.  As the reader spoke a wave of impressions washed over me which I later put into words. Except for one link which has since broken, here is what came out. I'm sure more current illustrations can easily be found, but the message has not changed.

Exodus 1:8 ff...
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. "Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land."

The Bakersfield Californian story gives a litany of criminals who are illegal aliens reason enough to enforce our laws against those who hire illegal aliens. Enough of a story to remind us that criminals action beget criminal action. It is cheaper to STOP hiring illegal aliens, STOP benefits for them and to ENFORCE trespassing laws. LINK

So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

�The chief manager of our store knew what was going on,� said Pavel, a Czech who was deported almost immediately and later talked to the New York Times. "He knew that we were illegal." Pavel's story appears typical for the Eastern Europeans: Recruiters at home promised good jobs in America only to deliver them into the hands of subcontractors, who allegedly violated overtime, Social Security and worker's compensation laws. If nothing else, the Wal-Mart raids let us know that illegal immigration isn't all about Mexican and Central American border jumpers.

Listen to one cleaning subcontractor, Stanislaw Kostek, who admitted to the Times that he had hired illegal immigrants to work at about a dozen Wal-Marts: "It's a degrading job; very few people want to do it even though the salary is at least $2 above the minimum wage. ... But there are (immigrant) workers who want to do the job." LINK

The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

The hand harvesting of fruit and vegetable crops in the United States is a labor-intensive operation that accounts for about 50 percent of total production costs. The number of crops and percentage of crop acreage that are mechanically harvested today have increased somewhat since the late 1970s. Most of these crops are used for processing. However, at least 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. vegetable acreage and 40 to 45 percent of the U.S. fruit acreage is totally dependent on hand harvesting. LINK

As for construction, the report suggests there was about a 13,000 drop in employment in that sector in May, about a 0.2 percent decline. That's about half the drop seen in construction employment in the April reading.

"It would seem that builders are keeping these workers on, even though construction has taken a hit," said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which compiles the ADP report, although he cautioned, "I wouldn't be surprised to see more declines in the coming months."

Still, experts in the field suggest several reasons for the strength in construction employment despite the housing downturn.

Some of it is due to the shift of workers to non-residential construction jobs, some of it is due to employers not wanting to let go of skilled craftsmen in case the homebuilding market picks up.

And part of it may be due to the large use of immigrant labor in the construction industry. If contractors and subcontractors were not reporting off-the-book employees to the government during the housing boom, their absence now won't be missed in the figures. LINK

Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah;and he said, "When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."

Pregnant Third World women have discovered that the only thing they have to do is cross the U.S.--Mexico border. The Fourteenth Amendment is their ticket.... Coyotes dealing in human traffic are paid $1,500.00 to $25,000.00 per person to shuttle pregnant illegal aliens across our southern border. Our politicians and elites wink at this blatant law breaking and do nothing. The colonization of our country continues with the cooperation of our government. That means your senator and representative aid this illegal baby invasion. None dare call it treason. Most Americans mistakenly trust their politicians to do the right thing. Congressional members from every state betray that trust daily. Anchor Babies - Born In The USA

But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them."

Decades of scientific research have posited low income and lack of access to early prenatal care are the biggest predictors of unhealthy births. But when it comes to immigrant Latinas, a surprising and mysterious phenomenon kicks in: Although they get less prenatal care and are more likely to be living in poverty, studies show first-generation Latinas--especially those from Mexico--have healthy babies. Having fewer low birthweight and pre-term babies (those born before 37 weeks) means lower infant mortality. Nationally, the rate of infant deaths per 1,000 live births for Latinas is 5.6, compared to 5.7 for whites and 13.5 for African Americans.
The "Mexican Paradox"

So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive."

The U.S. military has provided legal immigrants a fast track to citizenship, and they are taking advantage of it in record numbers, even if it means facing the risk of death or injury in Iraq or Afghanistan. Interest surged after President Bush signed an executive order in July 2002 allowing immigrants with green cards to become citizens as soon as they are sworn in, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Since then, more than 25,000 immigrant members of the armed services have become U.S. citizens and another 40,000 are eligible to request naturalization, USCIS said in a statement.
Military Shortcut to U.S. Citizenship

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Just a few days ago the president welcomed a small group of naturalized citizens in a Rose Garden ceremony that was not dramatic enough to make more than a footnote in the news, but the event makes my old post seem prophetic.

There are so many dog whistles going off these days that Animal Planet needs a documentary to keep up.
"I favor immigration reform but take care for the borders first..." is a cop-out with no meaning. But that sentiment, with variations, is how cowardly persons in positions of leadership are talking.

I'm sorry, folks. It's time for that kind of fence-sitting to come to an end.
The time has come for leaders to address a serious national issue, take control at the federal level and put an end to injustices to a vast population of decent hard-working, tax-paying members of the American social matrix who also happen to be here without proper documentation.

Many have been here long enough to enter college but are not eligible for post-secondary education because of their immigration status. 

Over three million students graduate from U.S. high schools every year. Most get the opportunity to test their dreams and live their American story. However, a group of approximately 65,000 youth do not get this opportunity; they are smeared with an inherited title, an illegal immigrant. These youth have lived in the United States for most of their lives and want nothing more than to be recognized for what they are, Americans.

I have had long experience with immigrants from my years in the food business. There is no doubt that I employed a good many people who were "illegal." But I always did so legally. The I-9 form  (5 pages pdf) has been around for a long time and my guess is that most people trying to appear knowledgeable haven't a clue what that means.  Theoretically everyone employed in America must fill out that document but my guess would be that very few employers are in compliance. I know that a Google search for "I-9" + "actual compliance" returns fewer than three hundred hits. And yes, I know what an audit by the INS is like. I had one and passed with flying colors.

Joe Wilson's infamous "You lie!" outburst during the SOTU address targeted immigrants and I was amazed during the health care debate to hear arguments that immigrants should not be permitted to purchase private health insurance!
I wondered at the time if the same logic should be applied to other goods and services. Insanity. Unbelievable madness. 

I have ranted long enough. To those still with me, thanks for reading.