Shall
we stop all immigration out of fear of what some refugees might bring
with them (terrorism, murders, rapes, etc.)?
I
have been prayerfully considering and researching this topic since the
beginning of this year. Here I will
share with you what I have considered:
What
if we stopped all immigration during the Irish famine of 1846? "The journey to America was a further
trial for these starving families. For with the famine had come disease. As
they moved “out of Ireland, across the ocean . . . fever went with them. They
did not bring war but they brought starvation and disease. Many died on their
journey to the US. Should we have closed our doors to them? There were a lot of
US citizens on the eastern seaboard who resented and argued against these Irish
immigrants. Often businesses posted
signs “No Irish Need Apply”. Yet these
immigrants were tenacious and did find work, becoming solid citizens (many in
law enforcement).
What would have happened if we stopped the
German “Forty-Eighters" who fled Europe two years later? Having come from
a country that banned slavery when they came to the US they found employment
and became instrumental in the anti-slavery movement in the US.
"In
both the Irish and German cases, the United States’ acceptance of people in
need turned out to be immensely valuable to the country’s economic and
political growth...For these cases—and for many others—we might not be far off
the mark to say that America is as much a land of refugees as a land of
immigrants, as much a place of refuge as a place of opportunity.”
Ironically,
after the Civil War the US started regulating immigration and refugee
acceptance based on people groups and race.
“The unwillingness to aid Jewish refugees in the 1930s, even when their
fate under the Nazi’s was well-recognized, remains an especially shocking
episode in a nation built on the notion of providing refuge for religious
liberty.” Yet eventually a number of
Jewish refugees were accepted and this helped our country in the areas of
science and commerce.
I
could go on citing examples but I think you all get the picture. President Trump stated during his campaign
that we need to “review and vet every applicant” to make sure they are not
bringing any baggage (being a member of a terrorist group, violent criminals,
rapists, etc.) with them, and yet now he seems to espouse blocking almost all
immigration. Maybe, instead of such a “knee-jerk”
reaction to the problem we need to review all of our immigration law and
policies and then make changes that will reflect what President Trump
originally said, “review and vet every applicant”. If this means we need to hire more people for
the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the other government agencies
that review and vet applicants then that is what we need to do.
I
for one do not want to close our borders to immigrants, being the granddaughter
of two immigrants from Wales, Great Briton.
If they had not come, I would not be.
Think about it. If you look back
in your family’s history what are the odds you would find an immigrant there?
“The Lord
is your God. He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great God.
He is the amazing and powerful fighter. To him everyone is the same. He does
not accept money to change his mind.
He defends widows and orphans. He loves
even the strangers living among us. He gives them food and clothes.
So you must also love them, because you
yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.” -Deuteronomy 10:17-19 ERV
(Quotes taken
from: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/refugee-experience-united-states)
