I was running late to church, which isn’t a new thing. It seems that no matter how early I start, I seem to go into some time warp between the house and the garage that puts me exactly 10 minutes further into the future. Nevertheless, I arrived at the church and pulled on the doors to make a quiet entry. Locked. Puzzled, I pulled again. No movement. I looked through the glass to see that the service had started. An usher came up and opened the door. He was apologetic, “we have to keep this locked now,” he said. “In case of Immigration.”
I was stunned. Apparently, it is OK now for churches, temples and mosques to be visited during their respective services by ICE. The idea of any armed body of authority walking into a sacred place is odious and truthfully, surreal.
Apparently, the rule is that ICE can enter public areas of a church, but cannot enter “private” areas, such as the office of a pastor, for example. They will have to have a judicial warrant to give them permission to search in such private areas. A very thorough listing of what these new policies mean, and how to handle such policies has been outlined by the National Immigration Law Center.
What it does is instill fear of government in ordinary citizens.
That we have a lot of illegal immigration is true. That we have a problem with people who are living under the radar in our country is also true. I have seen first-hand areas in the southwest that were used by people heading north. Roadside rest-stops strewn with clothes, trash, water bottles and whatever needed to be discarded to go a bit further into the States. And 60 Minutes just had a special on the Sinaloa Cartel’s business of smuggling from Canada into the US. The scale is not as bad as what is going on in the southern US, but it is happening.
What to do?
I think the solution to all the illegal immigrants is to undercut the cost people are willing to pay the cartels. A person living illegally in the US will be forever looking over their shoulder. Illegal immigrants are not only paying $3,000 or more to some "coyote", but they are also risking their lives in the process of doing so. And it’s not only good people, but criminals as well who want to live in the United States. There is also a very real threat of an adversary using illegal immigration to send in agents. Creating a system for such a deluge of humanity is what is needed.
I am amazed that no one--Republican or Democrat has thought of offering a $2500 charge per person for a work visa, with safe transportation to the US and back to their country. Having a visa center opened in a South American or Central American nation would end northern migration. Tax identification, background checks, fingerprints, making sure they know how to drive a car and possible citizenship if certain requirements are met--all of that would wipe out the cartels who are profiting from this business. It would be a classic, “if you can’t beat them, join them” solution. By undercutting the criminals at their own game our government would deal a blow to crime while finally getting a handle on illegal immigration.
Creating a system that would channel people from parts of the world and back would also allow ICE and other agencies to go after any bad apples. A hypothetical situation could be a six-month work visa, to bring a person in to work at a chicken processing plant. If the company wanted to keep that person working, they would assume the next $2500 payment to the government. That would be true dignified treatment for those escaping horrible situations not only in their country of origin, but the sheer horror dispensed by the very cartels that they pay to be smuggled into the United States.
It would also create accountability for those who profit from their misery on this side of the border. Those businesses that hire for cash such workers to do a myriad of menial jobs, from gardening to animal processing to God-knows what. Such businesses exist and know that they are as exploitative as the cartels.
Churches, schools and places where illegals may be harboring are only trying to do what the government has failed to do: create a system that monitors, manages and assists those who are seeking a better life. They are answering to the higher law, the law of "love thy neighbor."
We can have a system that brings people into this country and back. During World War II we had an expansive guest worker program that did just that. But greed, in the form of cartels as well as businesses in the US hiring such illegal immigrants has ruled the day.
Ordinary citizens are trying to do what Jesus would do. But now live in fear of their own government interrupting a church service to apprehend a person. The mere idea that ICE can enter any religious sanctuary to apprehend someone, especially during a worship service, is repugnant.
Our whack-a-mole approach to immigration only rewards the very cartels and businesses that are profiting from human misery, while punishing ordinary citizens for trying to help their fellow human beings. And fear will only last so long before it is replaced with anger.
READ MARTIN'S OTHER BLOG HERE.