Like Marlo, the Northern Virginian mentioned in the last column [Herald, July 26], 12 million undocumented immigrants expect lawmakers to be active and bold.
Nobody should think — and that includes lawmakers — that illegal aliens are in this situation because of their choice. If given the option, I dare to predict all of them would welcome the possibility of becoming law-abiding citizens of this country. Given the opportunity, all illegal immigrants want to establish legal citizenship. The problem is they are not given the opportunity. They are being asked to wash our dishes, to mow our lawns, to care for our children, to clean our houses, but in return they are not given the possibility to become citizens.
Most of the undocumented immigrants are undocumented because of a thousand and one circumstances that have made them be the way they are. Need, hunger, lack of possibilities in their own places, draw people away from their homelands to find “nuevos horizontes” (new horizons). The problem is that now, when they have found a new homeland, that homeland is not opening its doors to them. They are accepted outdoors, they are not welcome indoors.
The trip is not free for any of them. In their way to a new life they find themselves estranged, abused, ill-treated, harassed, annoyed. Many of them die of thirst or just weariness in the Arizona desert. The worst thing for them is not deportation; it is lack of resources, poverty, disease and death. When they come to our lands they have nothing to lose. They have left behind their families and friends, it's true, but they come with the hope of finding a new life, one that will help them personally, and through them, their whole families back home. If believers, they claim on themselves the Abramic promise: “I will bless you … so that you will be a blessing” (Gn 12:2). They come after a hope, and they are not going to abandon that hope just because some laws are written against them.
I am not trying to instruct lawmakers, but the situation has become urgent. The lack of provisions in the laws of the United States of America for a person in this situation to become a citizen is a burden not only to the undocumented, but also to all sorts of citizens who are in one way or another related or dependent on their lives, their labor, their activities, their jobs and their abilities, including “law abiding” employers and customers who enjoy their cheap services.
A further worrisome matter is the long delays in processing applications in cases that are legally provided by the law. Because of long delays, people who are in good standing come to be in bad standing. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are out of status not by their commission, rather due to bureaucratic delays and red tape.
Lawmakers must do something. There are roads, however, the lawmakers do not want to take.
The worst thing a lawmaker can do is to legislate under fear. National security is best served when freedom is allowed, when human rights are respected and when people are promoted to higher levels of personal development. Classifying people by race or national origin does not help either the classified or the one who classifies.
Lawmakers should also avoid falling into the trap of legislating to their own counties. The example of Prince William County, in Virginia, or Hazleton, Pa., should not be followed elsewhere. Addressing illegal immigration in your “corner of America” will not solve the problems of the United States — nor will it solve the problems of your corner of America.
International migration is a social phenomenon that crosses national borders and affects two or more nation-states. To understand the problem and provide veritable solutions, lawmakers need to be capable of transcending the local and national gaze. This is true more than ever in the current epoch of global migratory flows. Yet national and local approaches, deriving from historical projects of nation building, are often dominant. Solutions for a particular country, in this case the United States, should not be divorced from global relations and agreements. National and international problems should be resolved on a national and international scale.
Finally, lawmakers should not legislate as if the only people who are breaking immigration laws are the illegal immigrants. They break the law, conceded. Yet, there are many “law abiding” citizens who find loopholes in the system in order to attract illegal aliens. When so many people are “breaking the law,” isn't it time to change these outdated and inefficient laws? When Jesus said that “the Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27), I presume he was referring to all forms of human legislation. Laws should never defeat humanity, but promote it. Laws need to respond to human needs. When human needs change, laws need to change. The 20th century has been described as the century of migrations. Yet our laws still resemble the old paradigms, and respond to old needs.
Walter Tejada, a member of the Arlington County Board and founding chairman of the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations, asked:
“How do we teach our children about opportunity when lifelong friends are denied the right to go to college even if qualified?
“How do we deny gangs fertile recruiting grounds when youngsters are told that they cannot seek technical training to get a decent job?
“What do we say to friends and family when they are subjected to discriminatory treatment at the Department of Motor Vehicles or when they seek Medicaid for a parent or relative who is entering a nursing home?
“How do we say that we are humane when an immigrant working on a highway or farm is killed on the job but isn't entitled to even the $1,000 workers' compensation transportation benefit that could help send his body home?”
It is due time for lawmakers to resort to information and creativity. The immigration issue is not exclusive to the United States. Other countries are experiencing the same influx. Some of the laws of countries in Europe, Asia and Australia are to be studied carefully. Minds and spirits need to be called to working together to find a true solution to these problems. These are difficult themes but not impossible. If we abandon all sense of prerogative and pride, perhaps we will find an acceptable solution: one that is human, one that understands and not denigrates, one that will open the flame of liberty for all.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Amen.
Daniel Carro is coordinator of the Latino Network of Virginia Baptists and professor of divinity at the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Falls Church. This article appears online at EthicsDaily.com.