Immigration: Act of Hope in a Broken World

Immigrants who migrate to this country do so in order to participate in their own human development. They are searching for jobs that increase their dignity; they are searching for wages sufficient to support their families. They want to openly participate in the social fabric of the community. Instead, those without documents are forced to live in the shadows, hoping to blend into the silence rather than be leaders of the community.

Fear exists on all sides of the immigration question– fear among undocumented immigrants because they are forced to act outside the law and into a life at the edges of society where they are exploited and abused; fear among immigrants, in general, because they are discriminated against; and fear among non-immigrants who believe that their abundance (jobs, tax money, social services) is threatened by the new immigrants.  In order to realize the potential of our richly diverse community we must overcome this fear.  But current immigration laws keep us divided and keep those who have helped create the nation’s abundance from participating in it. These laws promote exploitation and injustice. They are immoral. 

Historically the United States “has consistently received refugees, exiles, and the persecuted from other lands. Fleeing injustice and oppression and seeking liberty and the opportunity to achieve a full life, many have found work, homes, security, liberty, and growth for themselves and their families.”[2] We also have a history in this country of changing laws that are unjust. Churches have been at the forefront of many of these struggles.  It is time again for people of faith to be at the forefront in calling on our elected leaders to change an unjust, immoral immigration system.

Our immigration laws must be characterized by the principles of justice, fairness, mercy, and respect.  Changing these laws is not just about helping immigrants; it is about respecting human dignity and about creating community for all of us.  We can imagine the society we want to live in:  immigrants and non-immigrants living together in a richly diverse community; we have no fear of those who are different; we are confident that we can all share in the abundance of God; and we live in a world of justice.  We cannot realize this vision without first changing the immigration laws of this country.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

We need a new paradigm. We have jobs on this side of the border and workers clamoring to fill them on the other side.  We need to shift our thinking to bring our immigration laws in line with the needs of our economy—not our underground economy.  Reform should bring a greater share of the immigration flow through legal channels, so that migrants can be screened, we can have greater control over who gets in, and all workers can exercise their labor rights.  These reforms, coupled with fair and consistent enforcement of the new laws, are the solution to unauthorized immigration.

Enforcement alone, without providing more channels for immigrants to come legally has, over the past twenty years, created our broken immigration system—with its criminal smugglers, fake document merchants, unscrupulous employers, exploited workers, divided families, deaths in the desert, millions of immigrants here illegally, and communities divided.  Driving immigration further underground and into the black market is not a solution, but a perpetuation of the problem.

Our broken immigration system is a complex problem that needs a comprehensive overhaul.  We’ve been implementing piecemeal measures for 20 years, which have made the immigration system more complex, but not more controlled.  Only by comprehensively changing our laws will we get them to the point where they can realistically be enforced.