My favorite poltiician - hands down - Joel Tyner sent out an e-mail written by a Vassar College professor reminding us
of Scriptural instructions for treating the "stranger" - in some translations, the "alien."
Leviticus 25:35 reads: "And if your brother becomes poor, and cannont maintain himself with you, you shall maintain him;
as a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you";
Leviticus 23:22, "And when you reap the harvest
of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest; you
shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord yoru God."
Further in Leviticus 19:33,
"When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you
shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt:
I am the Lord your God."
We might also remember the Gospel of Matthew 25:35-40, "for I was hungry, and
you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me......I say unto you, as you
did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me....."
It floors me to hear the
views of many self-identified Christians on illegal immigrants. Here we have dumped on our doorstep - that is coming
across our border - poor fathers, mothers, teen-agers trying to get to a job to support their families. What an enormous
opportunity to "welcome the stranger" and provide what is needed for them to thrive. Instead they are vilified
for all that is difficult with their coming. Here are a few suggestions for both knowing who is in the country,
providing a fair wage for both "aliens" and natives, and thriving as a country:
* all those
coming across the border would come through the main gate, fill out papers, be fingerprinted, and given a photo ID.
They can go back and forth with this ID. Work and then go visit their family, come back and work, go home and visit
their family. If they want to be citizens then they can go through the process;
* a fair wage
would be enforced for all (at least the minimum wage). Employers could not give lower wages to vulnerable "aliens." Everyone
pays their share of taxes.
We would gain hard workers, control of who is in the country, concentrate
our border security on drug smugglers and other criminals, and, humanely, reunite families from long years
of separation. We might even welcome Jesus "as one of the least of these."
