Analysis, Commentary, Opinion
10.20.2018
Human Migration
My
heart was breaking at the news yesterday, watching video of Mexican Federal
Police confronting immigrants who were trying to cross their border; families,
women and children, husbands and fathers and sons, all looking for a better
life.
They
want to live in a just society
They
are fleeing crime and violence, the threat of murder. They are heading north
from South and Central America on foot, hoping to find jobs and a secure place
to raise their children.
The
Mexican Federali’s met them in force, in riot gear, used tear gas on them and
pepper spray. They are doing this because Donald Trump threatened to close the border
with Mexico if they did not do something to stop this annual migration of
people.
This
is a crime against humanity, and T-Rump is responsible for it.
People have the right to migrate to
sustain their lives and the lives of their families. This
is the first principle of Catholic Social Teaching.
The
challenges that the United States are facing in regard to immigration are not a
crisis, it is the product of poor policy. We actually need immigrants, we need
their labor, we need their contribution to our shrinking labor force, we need
them to help us secure the future of Social Security and other entitlement programs.
We
are a nation of immigrants and we need continued immigration to keep our
society healthy and whole.
The
challenges we face are nowhere near the scale of the challenges that Europe
faces in the modern day, or the crises Europe faced at the end of world War II
when “Pope Pius XII wrote Exsul Familia (The Emigre Family), placing the Church
squarely on the side of those seeking a better life by fleeing their homes.”
Nevertheless,
“because of the belief that newcomers compete for scarce resources, immigrants
and refugees are at times driven away, resented, or despised.” This is a grievous
moral sin and we are complicit in it when we allow our elected representatives to
advance policies in furtherance of these crimes.
“People
have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their
families….the goods of the earth belong to all people.” This cannot be
overlooked, our own history as the children and grandchildren of immigrants
should never be forgotten. Our country is big enough, and great enough to support
these migrations, and there is no doubt that we will be enriched through them.
Not
all Americans are Christian, and public policy should never be based on the
religious traditions of one religion over another, and though I am citing the
teachings of Christianity in support of my claims, these principles on human
migrations have been upheld by the United Nations and are detailed in the International
Declaration on Human Rights that the United States of America is signatory too.
The
basic tenets of the Christian faith teach us that: “Every person has an equal
right to receive from the earth what is necessary for life—food, clothing,
shelter. Moreover, every person has the right to education, medical care,
religion, and the expression of one's culture.” The United States of America is
strong enough and wealthy enough to defend these principles, to defend these
moral values, and to defend our identity as the leader of the so-called “Free World,”
by furthering this mission, by living up to these aspirations. We cannot allow
ourselves to be demoralized by the lying and corrupt cynicism of a man like
Donald Trump, who seeks to bring suffering on poor people, not to protect America,
but for his own political self interest.
It
is disgusting.
These
poor people who are trying to make it to America “live in fear, danger, and
dehumanizing poverty….it is not God's will that some of his children live in
luxury while others have nothing.” Remember this, all of you who pretend to
promote Christian values, “in Luke's Gospel, the rich man was condemned for
living well while the poor man starved at his doorstep (Lk 16:19-31).”
The
entire Nation of Jewish people were once aliens in a foreign land, forced to
labor without rights or recourse to the law. King David was descended from a
Moabite, and Jesus was born in exile.
The
fundamental truth that underpins the entire experiment in American democracy is
this; our rights do not come from government, they are derived from God, and
they are inalienable. “The native does not have superior rights over the
immigrant. Before God all are equal; the earth was given by God to all. When a
person cannot achieve a meaningful life in his or her own land, that person has
the right to move.”
When
those immigrants show the strength of will to walk thousands of mile, simply
for the hope that they will have a better future for themselves and for their
children, living in a just society, we want them here.
They
make us better as a people, not worse.
