This is a great letter to the editor (LTE) on the subject of illegal immigration. It is by Tom Melli (of Haymarket), "a Hispanic U.S. citizen who came to this country legally and believe that illegal immigration is wrong."
My question to them, since they are appealing to me on the basis of faith, is simple:What would Jesus do on this issue?
Would Jesus have instructed his disciples to check for green cards before distributing the bread and fish after multiplication?
Would Jesus have asked for proper documentation from the blind, the crippled, the leper, the mute, the needy before healing or helping them?
How would Jesus interpret the parable of the good Samaritan in the light of the illegal immigrant?
Which examples would Jesus use today about the woes of the Pharisees for obeying the minutiae of the law but forgetting mercy?
Would Jesus have made cutting services to illegal immigrants a campaign issue or would He have been crying with the poor that were about to become further isolated?
Great questions, what's the answer? According to Mr. Melli:
America is at its best when it embraces, reaches out, and shares its blessings - as it did with me a long time ago. The immigration debate should be one of positive ideas that benefit all Virginians and all Americans, rather than turning into a competition that rewards the most vehemently anti-immigrant language.If you are a Christian candidate and are planning to appeal for my vote next Sunday at church, please note that I would like to see a message of love, reconciliation and generosity. I would like to see candidates faithful to the Gospel and to Jesus' teachings, that uphold with humility and love the teachings of the Gospel.
I would like to see candidates who understand that "I was hungry, and you fed me, I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink, a stranger, and you welcomed me, was naked and you clothed me..." are not hollow words or conditioned upon green cards to be true.
I would like to see candidates that appeal to a bright and compassionate America and candidates that hold themselves to the truth that "'whatever you did to the least of mine you have done onto me...." This is the bar that we will all be judged by.
So if your fliers appeal to crackdowns and divisiveness, please spare my car.
Brilliantly stated. Now, if those candidates would also spare us the hot air, the empty promises, the grandstanding and the demagoguery, we'd all be grateful!
As a spritual Jew,My view is thatThe Earth is whats left of the garden of Eden.
Only G-D can kick anyone out of the garden of eden( Defined... The U.S.A.)
To put yourself in the role of G-D is a sin.
Republicans, stop sinning.
And being a Christian is more than attending church every Sunday, and more than writing checks to charities; it's BEING charitable to those who are different, to those in need. Illegal immigrants are this year's fearmongerers' targets. Who will it be next year? Children born here but whose parents came here illegally? Oops...that's already happening. "When we will ever learn; when will be ever learn."
I do believe that racists are quite capable of infanticide.
another thins to worry about with republicans
The truth is this resolution addresses very little. The resolution introduced in Prince William County was not Mr. Stewarts's idea; it came from another Board member. But Mr. Stewart was slick enough to see that if he scared enough people he could make this his issue and buy himself a legitimate four year term. He is concerned for one thing and one thing only: himself, and how to fast track his political career.
We've had this problem for many years; it did not start last week, last month, or last year. Kind of makes you wonder why Mr. Stewart would move to Prince William Country from Fairfax a few years ago. You don't think he thought it might be easier to get in elective office, do you? Maybe one step closer to his dream of replacing Tom Davis or becoming Governor of VA--hahahaha.
If he feels so strongly that this is a failure at the Federal level, why hasn't he called Tom Davis down here to address it? Oh, I almost forgot, he wouldn't want to make Tom mad before the election. A better idea is to have a 13 hour circus sure to be covered by the local media.
Corey Stewart is a calculating, dishonest, arrogant, schoolyard bully. He views his success not on what has or may be accomplished in PWC, but on whether his picture is on the front page and he is interviewed on CNN. I would not vote for him for Dog Catcher.
My answer was, "He certainly would not say stone the masses."
His one answer was "He who is without sin, cast the first stone".
Would he say lock up the male who got this woman pregnant?
The resolution to this issue must be balanced, pragmatic and empirically based. One cannot just deport millions of people.
And as I've said here repeatedly, our school's gifted programs are jammed with kids whose parents are recent arrivals (legal and illegal). Wide-open immigration fueled American expansion and added to its greatness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and will do so now.
Does it even mention the employers of undocumented aliens? punishing them? I doubt it, that would be a Republican no-no.
Where IS the dough coming from to pay for enforcement of the resolution--- out of the school budget(ha)? getting the federal government to foot the bill (haha)? out of new taxes (hahahaha). What part of "illegal" doesn't Prince William understand? The cost of enforcement, for one; the way their attack-a-scapegoat response plays out for another; the unintended consequences for another.
Having engineered another straw man to enrage his base base (like the threat of abortion a few elections ago, or gay marriage last year), Mr. Stewart may find himself at its mercy in the future. Once his bitter constituents realize he really can do not one thing really to solve the problem he has agitated about, they will not be pleased with him. The divisiveness and anger will remain, dividing the community, with no end in sight. Anger, once expressed against a scapegoat, feeds on itself, growing. Where will that anger go next?
Why not follow the effective answer of Arlington, which certainly has an even larger immigrant population crammed into a smaller area? Arlington has resolved any difficulties to the benefit of the entire community, and it's even in their budget, paid for. Poor flat-earth Prince William.