Friday, December 02, 2005
One Theologian’s Take on Immigration
Immigration of people, primarily from Latin America, is a growing issue for American society. Should be throw open the doors? Should we build a fence?
I write as a theologian, and it is always dangerous when we make policy suggestions based on our faith. I am not God and don’t calim to have all the answers. At the same time, while I am an American, I think that there are some insights into the calling of societies to love their neighbour that can give us some insight into what to do about the immigration mess that is the current American reality. So here goes one theologian’s take…
On Tuesday, November 29th (2005) President Bush gave a serious policy speech on the issue of immigration. This marked the movement of this issue back into the spotlight of major policy issues facing the government (in interest of transparency, I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 and for President Bush in 2004). Immigration is one of the major challenges facing our nation, and in particular, the Republican Party. The question that must be answered is, what is the best solution to the issue of people wanting to come to this country, be it for opportunity or, as some have pointed out, to do evil (terrorist, gangs, drug smuggling and the like). What follows is one theologians discussion of the issue in an attempt to give a serious Christian response to the problem.
Right now the current immigration situation is being embraced by two groups. The first are people of the political left, who seem any attempt to change the current situation as anti-immigrant, and more specifically anti-Hispanic, as well as mean-spirited. The second group, less public but just as much in favour of the current situation, is business. Lets take a look at the advantages to this second group first.
For business, facing a growing challenge from globalization, see the influx of illegal immigrants as a benefit, as it reduces the cost of labour by proving a source of cheap labour within our borders, keeping overall U.S. wages down (because of the laws of supply and demand) as well as helping them avoid the costs associated with legal workers – i.e. workers compensation, unemployment insurance, health care and the like. This second group is one of the major reasons that the Republican Party, at least the non-nativist portion, from tampering with the current situation. Business likes the current realities (and here I am not saying that all businesses and business owners approve, only a significant portion), and have been pressuring the Republicans to avoid any changes.
Here though are the realities of illegal immigration. Illegal workers face major challenges. Since they are not here legally, they are at the mercy and whim of employers in the working environments. The 2001 book Fast Food Nation, while hardly an unbiased point of view, does provide powerful evidence of the injury rates for illegal aliens at meat processing plants. These illegal aliens cannot go to law enforcement personnel or any of the myriad of governmental watchdogs (OCEA, EPA, etc.) to complain about such working issues. Likewise, illegal aliens face unscrupulous landlords, merchants and others who all know that the business transactions they engage in are unbalanced in their favour. The plain reality is that, because human beings are sinful, when we have an advantage over another human being, we will, in general, use that to our advantage.
This is why the liberal position is about making liberals feel good rather than actually doing something positive for illegal aliens themselves. Illegal aliens do not benefit from coming to this country illegally (except for the additional money and opportunity to better their lives), and in fact place themselves in a dangerous situation. As usual the liberal position ends up causing more harm to those who think they are doing something virtuous.
But not only are the illegals hurt by the current situation, but so is society at large. It has been documented by numerous studies, both governmental and non-governmental, that illegal aliens bring a large social cost to society – they enroll their children in schools, use hospitals and other medical services at the expense of tax payers, commit crimes, populate prisons, are involved in automobile accidents without insurance and numerous other costly interactions with the tax-paying public. Business owners who enjoy illegal alien labour are in fact having their labour costs subsidies by ever American taxpayer, without our having agreed to do such. This is a classic case of taxation without representation. Additionally, American workers have their overall pay rate held slowed because of the supply of below-marker labour. This creates another form of “taxation” on American workers.
I will not touch on the subject of dangerous illegal immigration (especially possible terrorist incursions and gang and drug trafficking) because these people are not really immigrants, but rather simply enemies of all law-abiding societies around the world. We need to police our borders better just for the sake of rounding up all criminal elements who make our whole world less safe.
In addition to these realities is the fact that an illegal alien has broken the law. From a human psychology point of view, this is extremely degrading to people, many of whom simply are seeking to make a better life for themselves and their families. I would probably be tempted to do likewise were I to live in Honduras or some other developing world nation and saw no hope for me or my family. But once you take the first step of illegality, you are now a criminal. The first step is taking towards acting out of the stream of healthy human society. You are a criminal, and having taken the first step (always the most difficult), the next steps towards other crimes, towards acting out of my emotionally damaged perspective and stealing, beating my spouse, lying or any other anti-social behaviour is much easier. Clearly we do not want to continue an situation with such obvious negative outcomes.
What is needed is a three-tiered plan. First, we must develop new immigration rules. It is true that many of the illegal aliens do work that American simply refuse (in our arrogance often) to do. There is plenty of work in this country for those willing to work hard and do what is right. Therefore we should create (as President Bush has already suggested) new categories of immigration. For those who want to come into this country with just themselves or their families, as many open slots as is possible. This country has always operated best when it has not had tight quotas on the number of immigrants allowed in each year. We should increase dramatically the number of slots open, especially to those in Latin America. But this should not be a blank check. Those who wish to fully immigrate to this (or for that matter any) nation should be understand that:
1) They must be enrolled in English language courses immediately and achieve proficiency within a timeframe (like two years). Failure to do so will result in the cancellation of the entry visa and return to their nation.
2) Limited in the number of years of welfare available to them. Giving a helping hand during the early stages is only fair and smart. These people are going to be a great benefit to our nation, so helping out at the front end is only smart. But we cannot provide a blank check which can be abused and result in people immigrating to this nation in order to enjoy our welfare system.
3) Avoid all criminal activity. Should an immigrant commit a crime and be convicted, they will be deported. Period. We are not going to make people criminals because they want to come here, as we do now, but they must not become criminals while they live here.
4) Change the law so that in becoming a citizen to this nation you renounce all allegiance to any other political nation. As a Christian, I have my own loyalty to the kingdom of God, but I also understand that my responsibility as a citizen of the United States means that in benefiting from this system, I can have claim to no other. Dual citizenship needs to be a thing of the past.
5) Require mandatory classes in citizenship, government, basic economics and the like. If you want to be an American, you need to understand what this means.
These are strict rules, but they only apply to those who wish to become Americans. But for those willing to go through the process, I would open the doors to as many as desire to come to our nation (although I could see some high upper limit being made). As the same time, there needs to be a real second option (not just for high tech workers). This is the idea of guest worker visas. In many countries around the world individuals work in another nation, sending their money back to their home nation for their families, but they have no desire to stop being a Pilipino, El Salvadorian, etc. They usually return home for extended periods with their families (which is something that we should encourage). They just want to help make ends meet. So we too need a healthy guest worker program, which is the second tier of the answer. This program would operate by:
1) Developing a database of all job opening that employers, no matter how big or small, can list their jobs, from janitor and produce picker to computer engineer.
2) Guest workers would then by matched by submitting their request and being processed.
3) Employers would pay full taxes on these employees (thus helping our budget issues, covering their costs, and helping to fund both Social Security and Medicare without picking up additional long-term costs), and a nominal fee to move workers to assigned locales.
4) Workers would be required to return home for at least one month every two years.
5) Guest workers would not be eligible for citizenship unless they exit the guest worker program while in their home country and seek to enter the citizenship immigration category. Time spent as a guest worker would not count towards citizenship.
6) As with tier one, any criminal activity will result in immediate deportation upon conviction and the blocking of a return for five years. We must show that being in this country is a great opportunity, and criminal activity is to spit in the face of that opportunity.
In both categories, a research must be done into the criminal activity and possible terrorist connections of any applicant. This is part of the third-tier of the solution:
1) Rigorously enforce the border. As we open up the borders to greater and greater legal immigration, we must crack down on illegal crossings. Right now this is not happening because of a lack of will on both sides of the political spectrum, because of the lack of funding, and because we don’t want to look unwelcoming to immigrants. The two-tiers above address anti-immigrant feelings – we don’t and never should have any such feelings (and if there is any Republican Party member who has them, the party should disavow them immediately). Whether it’s a wall, a moat, large number of Coast Guard or some other new Border Army, we need to protect our borders to stop illegal aliens who disregard the new options made available (and thus seek to place themselves above those who are going to play by the rules) as well as any who wish to do us harm.
2) We must work with other nations so that in returning illegal entrants they are subject to fines and penalties by their home nations. We are opening our door wide to immigrants legally under tiers one and two, and in return other nations must cooperate with us.
3) Work diligently to develop economic opportunities in the home nations were immigrants come from. The fact is that in too many of these nations developing healthy economies has not been as serious an issue as it should be. In the short-term we are going to create a brain-drain in these nations because their best and brightest and hardest working people will probably come to the United States. We should work hard though to create opportunity in their home nations and for those who still love their birth nations, encourage them to return home and start businesses.
The sad part of this solution is that it is going to cost a lot of money, especially in the early start-up stages. Everything from background checks on would-be immigrants and guest workers, to the providing of entry education, training and welfare, to the creation of the force necessary to secure our borders will be costly. But right now the situation is incredibly costly, but hidden. It is time to bring those costs into the open and create a healthier and better immigration reality. In the long-term the costs will be less than staying our current course, and it will create a better and more integrated American population.
One final question that I and the President struggle with is what to do with the estimate 10 or 11 million illegal immigrants in country right now? This is a very hard question. The obvious answer is to give them first crack at the slots for guest workers and full-immigration. Will this reward those who have broken the law? Yes, but we are already rewarding them by the current system. The fact is that for the health of the American society, we have to move these people from illegal to legal status. They must agree to adhere to all U.S. laws from here out, and they need to know that their current time in the U.S. will not count towards possible citizenship. No one here illegally should benefit from their time here other than being able to enter into either tier one or tier two status.
Is this a Christian response to immigration? I say yes because:
1) It requires that immigrants submit to the governing authorities as St. Paul tells us in Romans.
2) It protects the least of these by bringing workers who are currently subject to the abuse of unscrupulous Americans under the protection of the U.S. legal system.
3) It avoids the embracing of “criminal” as part of the individual’s identity by the mere fact that they have come to America.
4) It makes those benefiting from the body of workers (employers) pay for the benefit rather than reaping a reward that comes from everyone else.
5) It brings transparency to a situation that is currently clouded by lies and falseness.
6) By opening our borders to those who wish to come here it makes America a just nation rather than ones hoarding God-given prosperity.
7) It allows the opportunity for everyone who wants to work to work, as human beings were meant to as creation (Genesis 1 and 2).
8) It creates a society where all respect laws and can enter the social system freely.
Is this unworkable? I don’t know, but as a theologian I believe that we must genuinely try and do what is best, rather than just throw up our hands and say it is impossible. America is a wonderful place, but if we hoard our wealth and opportunity for ourselves, we are no better than the powerful and rich in Israel that the prophet Amos called Cows of Bashon. God desires us to serve and help the widow, the orphan and the alien. At the same time by making such people integrate into society, they are able to add their distinctives to our “Melting Pot” while truly becoming part of the stew.
