It never ceases to amaze me how much passion there is to do something about the problem of illegal immigration in what has long been called a nation of immigrants. For those who believe (wrongly, but I'll address that later) that we are a Christian Nation, that Christianity arrived via immigration. The Native Americans, who came across the Bering Strait about 10,000 years ago and are thus also immigrants, were not Christians.
Almost from the day after colonists landed in Jamestown in 1607 we have wanted to put a huge Keep Out sign on this country. The idea that immigrants can be illegal is fundamentally un-American. The Lady with the torch in New York harbor encapsulates America. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," she beseeches. That is us to which she refers, and our parents and grandparents. As Bill Murray points out the next line in the movie "Stripes" we are the wretched refuse. We've been kicked out of every country on the planet and we've been kicking ass for 200 years!
On Passover, the Jewish People tell of the departure from Egypt as if it were this generation being freed. We need to think of the current illegal immigrants in much the same way- as though they are our parents and grandparents. These are people fleeing desperate circumstances. They are, as our ancestors were, seeking a better life.
The economy is in bad shape. There is record unemployment. These people are not the cause of it. They are easy targets for our anger. It is misplaced. . . .to be continued
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