And now a brief moment for politics....
There was a bill recently passed by the US House of Representatives, H.R. 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Act of 2005. It is, as one might guess from the name, on the subject of illegal imigration into the U.S. It is seriously, seriously flawed.
We can get into the arguments about whether undocumented aliens should have some possible path to citizenship. I believe that they should. I particularly believe that they should if they were brought here as children by their parents. That said, I understand that it's a complicated issue and there is a lot which can be said on both sides. So I will set that one aside for the moment.
Here's my biggest problem with the bill as written. It makes it a felony to aid or assist undocumented people in anyway. And puts the onus on the people offering the help to make sure that the people they are helping are here legally. Let me put this more clearly: If this bill goes through as currently written, I will be committing a felony every week. If this bill goes through as written, 50-100 people in my church will be committing a felony every week. We feed people. We offer people water and counselling. We have coffee and cookies on the patio after church. We have a food basket program. We have lunches and dinners and we do not ask people for greencards before we invite them in to lunch. We do not ask people to show documentation before we hand them cake or a cookie or a cup or water or coffee. Our pastors do not ask people whether they were born here before offering advice or comfort. Now do I actually think that someone is going to come prosecute me for helping drive around food or handing it out to people? No, probably not. But it's a very real possibility that they would prosecute our pastors who head the program. It's a very real possibility that people I know would go to jail over this. And, technically, I could go to jail over this. Because we give people food. And we do not ask anything of them but whether they are hungry.
Similar legislation is currently under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee and will then, likely, be passed to the Senate. Please, please, please, write to your senators. Ask that the broader, harsher parts of this bill be taken out. Ask that something more humane and reasonable be put in it's place. There are other things that would be good - addressing the root causes of the problem, some path to earning legal status, worker protections built in to the temporary worker program (for both U.S. /and/ foreign workers), reforms in the family-based systems to allow faster reunification. All of these would be good. But, if nothing else, please ask them to exempt humanitarian aid.
If I see you thirsty, and I have water, I will share. If I see you hungry, and I have food, I will share. I am not always, or even often, the best Christian out there. And sometimes I'm too harried to do that. Sometimes it seems like there are too many people out there. Or I don't have the water or the food with me. Sometimes I just can't manage. But I try, when I can, to hold to that. And it seems a bad precedent to start sending people to jail for kindness.
We can get into the arguments about whether undocumented aliens should have some possible path to citizenship. I believe that they should. I particularly believe that they should if they were brought here as children by their parents. That said, I understand that it's a complicated issue and there is a lot which can be said on both sides. So I will set that one aside for the moment.
Here's my biggest problem with the bill as written. It makes it a felony to aid or assist undocumented people in anyway. And puts the onus on the people offering the help to make sure that the people they are helping are here legally. Let me put this more clearly: If this bill goes through as currently written, I will be committing a felony every week. If this bill goes through as written, 50-100 people in my church will be committing a felony every week. We feed people. We offer people water and counselling. We have coffee and cookies on the patio after church. We have a food basket program. We have lunches and dinners and we do not ask people for greencards before we invite them in to lunch. We do not ask people to show documentation before we hand them cake or a cookie or a cup or water or coffee. Our pastors do not ask people whether they were born here before offering advice or comfort. Now do I actually think that someone is going to come prosecute me for helping drive around food or handing it out to people? No, probably not. But it's a very real possibility that they would prosecute our pastors who head the program. It's a very real possibility that people I know would go to jail over this. And, technically, I could go to jail over this. Because we give people food. And we do not ask anything of them but whether they are hungry.
Similar legislation is currently under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee and will then, likely, be passed to the Senate. Please, please, please, write to your senators. Ask that the broader, harsher parts of this bill be taken out. Ask that something more humane and reasonable be put in it's place. There are other things that would be good - addressing the root causes of the problem, some path to earning legal status, worker protections built in to the temporary worker program (for both U.S. /and/ foreign workers), reforms in the family-based systems to allow faster reunification. All of these would be good. But, if nothing else, please ask them to exempt humanitarian aid.
If I see you thirsty, and I have water, I will share. If I see you hungry, and I have food, I will share. I am not always, or even often, the best Christian out there. And sometimes I'm too harried to do that. Sometimes it seems like there are too many people out there. Or I don't have the water or the food with me. Sometimes I just can't manage. But I try, when I can, to hold to that. And it seems a bad precedent to start sending people to jail for kindness.