Immigration Issues and the Christian Response
Luke 13:1-17
August 26, 2007: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Rev. Kathleen Crockford
United Congregational Church of Westerly
United Church of Christ
Today is our last Sunday of the “Hot Topics for Hot Weather” summer sermon series. The topic is “Immigration Issues and the Christian Response.” When I made up the schedule at the end of May, the U.S. Senate was gearing up for the debate over the proposed immigration Bill that President Bush was hoping would pass at the end of June, before the summer recess in Congress. This bill was a cornerstone of President Bush’s domestic agenda and was an attempt to overhaul our nation’s immigration policy. It called for some of the biggest changes to immigration law we’ve seen in the last 20 years. It would have offered legal status to millions of illegal immigrants while at the same time trying to secure the borders.
Notice I said, “would have.” The bill didn’t make it to a final vote. In late June, the bill died on the Senate floor and it’s unlikely that it can revived before President Bush leaves office in December 2008. The debate was bitter at times, and reflects the degree to which our nation is polarized over immigration. Many of the Senate Republicans broke ranks with the President and opposed the bill. When the President spoke at the Naval War College in Newport after hearing the news from the Senate floor, he said, “Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people, and Congress’ failure to act on it is a disappointment. A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn’t find common ground. It didn’t work” (New York Times, June 29, 2007).
When the immigration bill was defeated, many employers across the country who depend on immigrant workers began to worry. I know that many of us have mixed feelings about the number of immigrant workers in today’s workforce, but it is a reality that we cannot ignore. Who picks the tomatoes for our salads and spaghetti sauce? Who works in the meat-packing plants preparing our pork chops or chicken or hot dogs? Who harvests the cherries or peaches or apples that we so enjoy? One myth is that we don’t need immigrant workers. The fact is, according to a report in the American Immigration Law Foundation journal, the United States has relied on Mexican migrant workers to fill domestic labor shortages in nearly every area of our commerce for the past 100 years. And certain segments of the workforce are especially dependent. About one-fourth of the positions in roofing, meat-processing, cleaning and maintenance, and farming are held by undocumented workers. About one-fifth of food-prep positions are held by undocumented workers. New York mayor Michael Bloomburg has stated that the New York City economy would collapse if undocumented workers were deported en masse (New York Times, July 6, 2006). Others agree that mass deportation would have a devastating impact, creating the worst economic disaster in the history of the United States.
But many believe that undocumented workers bring down the wages of native-born workers and take away their jobs. That is myth number two. The reality is that the presence of undocumented workers allows businesses to make more investments that create jobs and frees up time for higher-skilled workers to earn more (New York Times, April 16, 2006). And for the most part, native-born workers with a high-school diploma or higher aren’t competing with foreign-born workers for positions. Not many native-born workers are willing or able to fill the less-skilled and oftentimes extremely strenuous jobs that don’t require a high school diploma. But many immigrants are (Immigration Policy Brief, August 15, 2006).
And myth number three: Undocumented workers don’t pay taxes. They do. They pay a variety of taxes. Employers make deductions just like they do for native-born workers. A report by a group called Policy Matters, called “Undocumented Immigrants and the Economy” (April 11, 2006) shows that undocumented workers contribute about as much to the public coffers in taxes as they receive in benefits. They also put about $7 billion per year into our Social Security system even though they aren’t able to benefit from the system when they retire. And many pay taxes without a social security card using an Individual Taxpayer ID number issued by the IRS.
Well, I’ve thrown a lot of facts and figures out there for us to chew on, but I believe that the bottom line for us as people of faith is this: We are talking about people and their lives. We are talking about mothers and fathers trying to make a life for their children. We are talking about children of God, precious children of God, whom God cares about just as much as God cares for you and me.
A prominent American once said about immigrants, “Few of their children in the country learn English….The signs in our streets have inscriptions in both languages….Unless the stream of their importation could be turned they will soon so outnumber us that all the advantages we have will not be able to preserve our language, and even our government will become precarious.” (Kenneth C. Davis, “The Founding Immigrants,” NY Times, July 3, 2007) Any guesses who said that? Maybe some pundit on the Fox Network or some Republican candidate looking for conservative votes? Guess again. This was the voice of Benjamin Franklin expressing his feelings about the German immigrants arriving in Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. His contempt for this wave of immigrants showed when he called them the “most stupid of their nation.”
When we look at the history of immigration in the United States and realize that all along it hasn’t been pretty, is it no wonder we are in the mess we are in today? It seems that each wave of immigration—the Irish, the French, the Spanish, the Italians, the Portuguese, the Chinese, and even the “involuntary” immigration of Africans as slaves—tapped our fears and bred intolerance. Not the things that make for faithfulness to God and God’s loving ways. And weren’t our forebears newcomers, maybe even struggling with the language at one time or another?
Do you recognize these words? “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Your wrenched refuse from your teeming shore. Send these, the tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” They are engraved on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty. But how well are we really living up to those words? And what about these words from Exodus 23:9? “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
So what are we to do as people of faith? Of course we all long for comprehensive solutions to our immigration issues but the way ahead will be long and hard. Perhaps it would be good for us to be reminded of why people want to be here in the first place. What motivates them to risk their lives to cross the desert in deadly heat, or take some other precarious journey to migrate to the United States? In almost every case, people come for reasons of family, work, or freedom. They want to be reunited with loved ones, they seek a better life through employment, the so-called “American dream,” or they are seeking refuge from persecution. Couldn’t we look back in our own family histories and find stories that parallel these? We all long for a way to those who are driven by these very understandable human needs to do so legally, but “the immigration system is so broken,” says human rights lawyer Ralston Deffenbaugh, of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, “that there is often no viable way to migrate legally.” (“System Failure: The ethics of immigration reform,” interview with Ralston Deffenbaugh, The Christian Century, August 8, 2006).
Deffenbaugh continues: “Some 11 million people live in the margins of society, in the shadows. They are frequently exploited in the workplace, paid substandard wages and forced to live and work in subhuman conditions. Among them are children who are often victims of trafficking and forced labor.” What can we do as people of faith? I don’t have any quick-fix answers. But we can support our legislators in advocating for a more just and humane immigration policy. We can thank our Senators from Connecticut and Rhode Island for their supportive votes in June. We seek out opportunities for face-to-face dialogue with the immigrant community. We can study the immigration issue with films like “El Norte” and “Babel.” And we can keep on supporting the services in our community and beyond, through our giving that shows the loving face of God to those most in need. In response to Christ’s love for us, we are called to show that love to others, even the stranger, to bring hope and new life. For once you were a stranger, too. Amen.
Copyright © 2007 Kathleen Crockford.