The Colorado Senate is debating a bill that would give in-state tuition to children of undocumented immigrants. There has been a lot of smoke and fire around this issue, to be sure. Tom Tancredo, who campaigned for President in the Republican primary last year, has consistently and aggressively championed legislation against illegal immigration in all its forms. He wrote an op-ed piece against this legislation a few weeks ago in the Denver Post. Tancredo notes:
Proponents say "it won't cost taxpayers anything" to "equalize tuition rates." That is clearly not the case.Yet Tancredo goes to no lengths to prove this. Under normal persuasive writing standards, when you say "clearly," you ought to support that claim with evidence. Read the article, Tancredo doesn't do it. Then he says later:
It is indeed a tragedy that thousands of adults chose to come to Colorado unlawfully and bring their children with them. They are to blame for their children's unfortunate circumstance, not the citizens and taxpayers of Colorado.But Tancredo has failed to show why taxpayers will take the brunt of it. The state government barely funds state schools as it is. How are taxpayers more harmed? Tancredo doesn't say, and I'm not sure he has a strong case even if he did. But all this discussion of economics confuses the issue that I want to focus on.
The Bible focuses on immigrants. God's people experienced such movement of place that God cares seems to give a little extra special care to those immigrants.
Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. Exodus 22:21Think about it: Abraham, Jacob, all the Israelites out of Egypt, Ruth, all the Jews following exile, Jesus, and the missionary apostles were all foreigners in strange lands at some point in their lives. It matters to God how we treat foreigners in our land. Does this affect our legislation? I think it does. And as a Christian, this conversation should precede any discussion of economics, feasibility to health care, or legality.
Many appeal to Romans 13 to state that people should obey the government. But this is asinine. We never obey the civil authorities above God's authority. And when the civil authorities contradict God's authority, Christians have an obligation to obey God.
How does that affect the immigration issue? Well, the federal policies on immigration are a mess. They are contradictory, confusing, and ill-kept. It's almost impossible to rely on the federal government for speedy paperwork. Until the federal government gets its act together (which may never happen on this issue), then our legislation at a minimum shouldn't penalize undocumented people that already live in the U.S. One may disagree with the tuition bill because it offers a benefit that shouldn't be given, but I think all Christians should disagree with hateful legislation the rebounds the other way.
For a good primer on this subject from a Christian perspective, read Christians at the Border by Daniel Carroll.
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6 comments:
I agree that Tancredo doesn't support his argument. He does what a lot of politicians do by stating his position as if it should be clearly understood as a matter of fact.
I do think, however, that it's a valid question to ask, "Who's paying for this?" It's a benefit, and so someone is paying for it.
I don't hate illegal immigrants or wish them harm, but I do think the law should be obeyed. There's nothing about God's law that forbids a state from requiring legal documentation on its inhabitants, nor does God's law forbid even as much as an entirely closed border. While I might disagree that such a policy is a good idea (and I do), as Christian citizens, we'd have to uphold that law were it to be in place.
I can appreciate the passage you cited from Exodus, but 'mistreat' is a fairly broad term, and it doesn't convincingly nullify the requirement for illegal immigrants (or anyone else for that matter) to obey the law. And not giving people benefits of citizenship is hardly oppression.
Now, that said, I do agree that the garbled mess we call immigration law is a disgrace. There should definitely be some radical reform in that area. But until then, should we simply ignore the law? Denying justice is the very definition of tyranny. What would you say to the masses of people that have come into our country the legal (and far more expensive) way?
Kev,
Thanks for the thoughts. I suppose I put federal immigration law on par with segregation. While segregation wasn't the law per se, it was the standard practice and it was upheld by the law. To me, we do no better when we uphold an unjust law. Now, I'm not getting into particulars here for a certain reason. I'll just state one example.
Oklahoma passed a law last year that made it illegal to hire AND house/feed illegal immigrants. That law cannot possibly be followed by Christians with integrity (at least the 2nd part).
With that said, my blog really just had 2 main thoughts. 1) We should consult the Bible on immigration (read Carroll book- it doesn't offer any political solutions but it will make you think). 2) Federal policy is so garbled on this subject that it's hard to discern what to follow with integrity.
There's also the human element. I dare say that you would do the same thing in others' shoes. Why should we appeal to legality when people are starving? On a scale of relative law-breaking, undocumented immigrants are doing a relatively harmless thing.
I don't know if you've ever had conversations with undocumented immigrants before. Many are Christians and many have sophisticated Biblical responses to the question of legal residence. I'd just simply say, read that book.
Kaylee, thanks for reading. It's a privilege to have you!
God cares for the stranger/immigrant/foreigner...it is all over the Torah and is referenced in the NT as well (see James). Though it may not be explicit in the Bible about forbidding a state from requiring legal documentation, I also don't think the Bible is super explicit about many other things as well.
The Decalogue and the other statutes and ordinances found in the Law must be interpreted for our current historical moment. Maybe laws regarding the immigrant aren't explicit but it's difficult to ignore God's constant reminder for his people to care for the stranger in this way. God's people were slaves in Egypt...for 400 years God watched the Israelites be mistreated as strangers in a foreign land. This issue is close to his heart...
How can we consider expenses when lives are at stake? Is legal documentation as important as preserving life (a concept that sits as the heart of the Law)? But isn't that one of the problems with our world? Expenses and cost dominate our global ethic...
Those are some of my thoughts...I don't know the answer for this entire issue, especially in regards to our economy and laws regarding taxes and documentation. I need to learn more...
PS: in regards to the word 'mistreat' would we not need to identify the literal meaning and connotation in Hebrew to understand the term in their context?
Ashley,
Great insights. Essentially your I agree with the side of the dilemma you fall on. Veritable human rights vs. cost. I fall on the human rights side as I try to do with all political issues.
As for the word "mistreat," cannot the context determine meaning as well? This isn't that ambiguous is it? Mistreat= oppress, ridicule, ostracize. I'm not saying the refusal of in-state tuition is mistreating, but other state laws around the country do egregiously oppress.
I do want to make clear that just because I am defending the legal side here does not mean that I ignore the human impact. But we must recognize that our county is a respecter of laws for a reason; the passions of men are far too fleeting. I think we should work as hard as possible to change the law in this case, and all the while be caring for our neighbor, legal or illegal, on that personal, one-to-one level.
Some of the behavior of the anti-illegal immigration crowd is despicable. And some of the effrontery and arrogant disregard for our Law coming from the pro-illegal immigration crowd is despicable as well.
We should not treat even criminals in an unjust manner. But condoning the breaking of law isn't the job of a Christian, and I've still not heard a solid argument for why immigration law is unjust. I agree that it's poor policy, but that doesn't make it unjust.
At the same time that we care for our illegal neighbors, we cannot throw a consideration of cost completely out the window. It is a very warm, lets-hug-the-world kind of thing to do these days, but it's simply not practical. The cold truth is that we live in an economy that requires money to buy and sell things, to establish value and meet demand. Ignoring the economic impact of illegal immigration brings us...
- a devaluation of jobs (which impacts the working poor the most)
- a grossly undue burden on hospitals (resulting in many in border states are facing closure)
- a drag on the penal system (there are an inordinate amount of crimes committed by illegal immigrants than legal residents)
- a drag on the education system (we provide free education to K through 12 in America)
- a strain on the welfare system (food stamps, assistance, etc)
FAIR estimates we'll hit a cost of $61.5 billion by next year just for the costs associated with primary and secondary education, medical services in emergency rooms, and incarceration. Wow.
My point here is that all that money is coming from taxpayers, and there absolutely is an opportunity cost. We are doing a disservice to the citizens as well as the immigrants who followed the rules. (My Canadian buddy Chris is spending THOUSANDS just to remain in this country legally, and frequently vents to me his frustration with going through all this mess to respect the law as Christian are to do while there are groups out there loudly advocating for the millions who circumvent the law.)
I disagree that immigration law amounts to segregation. It needs serious reform, but it does not immorally discriminate. There has to be a filter for who can join the citizenry and who cannot, and those that are denied must abide by our laws. Those who never attempt the application for citizenship should certainly not be excused from defrauding the entire system by bypassing it. We all know that our actions have effects not just on ourselves, but on everyone around us. How sad it is that some still choose to put themselves and their families at risk by breaking the law!
Kev,
O so many responses to you! But I do thank you for your thoughtful and engaging dialogue. We should talk about it in person, and you should read that book I was talking about. I don't really disagree with your premises, but I don't have the time to respond thoroughly. So I apologize for that.
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