Arizona"s New Immigration Law - Leading the Country in Xenophobia
This past week, the state senate in Arizona passed a bill making it legal for the authorities to detain anyone who they have suspicions of being an illegal immigrant.
I wonder who they are going to suspect and detain? Perhaps, dark skinned people, people who speak English with an accent, or who are from a Spanish speaking background.
Under the new law they could even detain people who are legal, but simply don't have their papers with them.
It would be illegal to transport illegal immigrants or "harbor" them.
This of course will affect many churches and charities that work with these undocumented workers.
You can even be arrested for being with other people who are "undocumented" I remember living in South Carolina, when the state passed something slightly less intrusive, but still very backwards and unproductive.
I was working at a church with immigrants teach ing English, and the church was trying to debate whether to break the law or continue to serve these people who they saw as the children God they were sent to serve.
Fortunately, South Carolina made an exemption for charity organizations at the last minute.
Our current system of immigration is deeply broken when people who came here when they were two years old and who now are 22 and are still considered "illegal immigrants " who need to be deported to a country they do not even know.
It is broken when at the school of my cousin (in South Carolina); the valedictorian of the class can't go to a state college because she is still considered illegal even though she grew up in the United States.
Christians can speak out about the evils of gay marriage and the importance of the national day of Prayer, but the real test of our morality as a people will come down to how we treat "the least of these" and the "foreigners" among us.
Just because someone is undocumented, it does not reduce them to sub-human status.
This new law in Arizona which is currently on the Governor's desk is sad, because it signals a growing trend towards Xenophobia in the nation.
The Xenophobia will not only destroy the lives of immigrants, it ultimately will eat away at our own values and soul.
Xenophobia and racism are like diseases that slowly rob us of love, peace, and humanity.
As a people, let's choose a better, more humanitarian path.
I wonder who they are going to suspect and detain? Perhaps, dark skinned people, people who speak English with an accent, or who are from a Spanish speaking background.
Under the new law they could even detain people who are legal, but simply don't have their papers with them.
It would be illegal to transport illegal immigrants or "harbor" them.
This of course will affect many churches and charities that work with these undocumented workers.
You can even be arrested for being with other people who are "undocumented" I remember living in South Carolina, when the state passed something slightly less intrusive, but still very backwards and unproductive.
I was working at a church with immigrants teach ing English, and the church was trying to debate whether to break the law or continue to serve these people who they saw as the children God they were sent to serve.
Fortunately, South Carolina made an exemption for charity organizations at the last minute.
Our current system of immigration is deeply broken when people who came here when they were two years old and who now are 22 and are still considered "illegal immigrants " who need to be deported to a country they do not even know.
It is broken when at the school of my cousin (in South Carolina); the valedictorian of the class can't go to a state college because she is still considered illegal even though she grew up in the United States.
Christians can speak out about the evils of gay marriage and the importance of the national day of Prayer, but the real test of our morality as a people will come down to how we treat "the least of these" and the "foreigners" among us.
Just because someone is undocumented, it does not reduce them to sub-human status.
This new law in Arizona which is currently on the Governor's desk is sad, because it signals a growing trend towards Xenophobia in the nation.
The Xenophobia will not only destroy the lives of immigrants, it ultimately will eat away at our own values and soul.
Xenophobia and racism are like diseases that slowly rob us of love, peace, and humanity.
As a people, let's choose a better, more humanitarian path.
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