On Immigration

We just had our Theology on Tap. The topic was immigration. There is just so much to digest and so many good insights on this. Will definitely post the link to it, once it's up online. We were presented with some good food for thought. Does immigration impact the US economy? In reality it's a zero sum, even though the pro and anti immigration would say otherwise. Does immigration impact the US culture? Would we primarily be an eating tortilla nation by the next generation? Who are the people coming in? There are two different spectrums: the very highly skilled labors and the hard working, but very unskilled labor. Who are they? Some were surprised by the term "alien" that the US government used for non-immigrant individuals. Where does the church stand on this issue? That immigrants are human beings. Why are they immigrating? The statistics are: that 20% of the world's population lives on less than $1 per day. The economy sometimes is what drives them to move. More often now, it's the political upheaval in the country, where it forces them to leave their own country.

What are my thoughts on this? Being a non-immigrant myself here in the States, it's refreshing to hear the theologians talk about the issue of immigration.

First: The term alien really disturbs me. It's demeaning. We are not really alien, are we? We are a person, a human being, who happens to be studying here in the US. Or working. I think it's a challenge to the linguist, to come up with a better terms than "alien" to describe a non-immigrant person.

Second: We are all pilgrims. Unless we are native americans, none of us are native to the american land. We should treat people who come to the country with dignity and respect. The priest once said somewhere along the line: the journey of salvation is 18 inches wide. It's the journey from the head to the heart. Or to put it in his thought process: from the head, to the heart, back to the head again.

Thirdly: Did Christ cross the Egyptian border illegally? Who knows. But let's step even further, when God cross the border between divinity and humanity. Christ came out from Mary's womb who's betrothed to Joseph. But the child was conceived by the holy spirit, breaking Jewish law. Does that make Christ an illegal immigrant himself? Would you look at the face of those who might be an illegal immigrant the same way after knowing this fact?