More thoughts on immigration

Richard Land writes for USA Today and seeks to find a middle ground that is palatable and in his words fair and just immigration reform from a Christian standpoint: God and immigration reform. I think his essay is a somewhat helpful foray into a thorny and emotionally charged topic. I am not sure that his ideas are complete (for example, the number one thing missing was punitive penalties including jail time for those employers who violate the law and hire undocumented workers) but at least it is a fairly calm, rational and helpful essay.

What doesn’t help are analogies like this one:

What if the federal government sent a letter to every American saying, "We have been monitoring your driving on the interstates by satellite and we have noted every time you exceeded the speed limit for the past 24 years, and we are now going to send you a speeding ticket retroactively for every incidence?" Most Americans would reject this as arbitrary and unfair.

Is this not what is being proposed by the hard-liners on immigration reform? "You broke the law, you must now leave."

What a horrible analogy. Actually what “hard-liners” are saying is: you broke the law and are still breaking the law. The lawbreaking of illegal aliens doesn’t end once they cross the border. The law is not broken merely by entering the United States but also by being here illegally.

There is a world of difference between a legal resident, duly licensed by his state to operate a motor vehicle, exceeding the posted speed limit and someone who is not a citizen of America who has entered this country illegally, lives here illegally and is working here illegally. Speeding on my way to work is a minor infraction. Being here illegally means that your very presence in this country is illegal, whether you are driving your car the speed limit or not. That analogy is an utter and embarrassing failure, not quite on par with those who try to link Mary and Joseph with illegal immigrants (since they were going to Bethlehem to be registered in obedience to the law, not sneaking into the country) but ridiculous nevertheless.

The “Christian” position on immigration is this: we should show compassion to all people as God has shown compassion to us. We are also to live under the law of the land. That is it. Any attempt to make a case for public policy that is the “Christian” position, either for amnesty or for deportation or anywhere in-between is to speak presumptuously on a matter that is not addressed in Scripture. Under the despotic rule of Rome, there was nary a public policy statement issued by Jesus other than “render unto Caesar”. There is no talk about immigration reform or defending traditional marriage or income redistribution or just war or the environment or opposing the “Ground Zero Mosque”. It cheapens the Scriptures when people try to use them to defend their public policy positions. Let God speak where He has spoken and do not speak presumptuously where He has not. God is quite capable of staking out His own positions and doesn’t really need our help.