I first heard about the Utah Compact from the students I teach in the Boston area. It was a statement of five principles of immigration reform and a sharp contrast to the radical anti-immigration Arizona law passed earlier last year. Leaders of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the Mormon Church) officially supported the principles outlined in the Utah Compact. Just yesterday, I was happy to see that the Church issued its own official statement on immigration.
Church leaders support legal work opportunities
The Mormon Church’s statement emphasizes the need to treat everyone as children of God. It states the Church will continue it’s tradition of compassion for every individual and reverence for the family. In addition, the Church encourages its members to be law abiding citizens and therefore, “The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship.”
I teach English to many adult immigrants from Central and South America so the immigration issue is close to my heart. I support the principles outlined by the statement, and in my personal life, I wish I could push the line further and show a little contempt for unjust immigration laws. The specifics of that should probably be addressed in another blog post, but let me give you a glimpse of what I see everyday so you can see why I wholeheartedly support immigration.
My adult students work very hard all day and then come study English at night. Many have two or three jobs and families to care for, but they are excited by the opportunity to learn English. They are full of dreams like starting their own businesses or owing a house. My students aren’t looking for handouts; they’re seeking opportunity. One 18-year-old young man from El Salvador (probably undocumented) turned down an offer for a free English class because with hard work and careful spending, he was sure he could find a way to pay for it, even earning minimum wage. Students often tell me they work so hard because they are determined their children will have opportunities they never had. This week a Brazilian couple proudly told me that their daughter just made the honor roll in middle school. Another woman could hardly contain her pride as she told me of her son that just began college. These people contribute to our communities as the Utah Compact says they do.
Overall, I’m delighted that the Mormon Church doesn’t allow immigration status to effect religious opportunities. It explicitly states, “documented status should not by itself prevent an otherwise worthy Church member” from participating in worship or serving in the Church. “Meanwhile, Church members should avoid making judgments about fellow members in their congregations.” How does the Church’s statement strike you? What do you think about the possibility of legalizing undocumented immigrants currently in the United States?
Been thinking about this topic lately. Great to see the church come out in what I would consider a positive stance that treats all people in a positive light. I think this is a great move. Love the personal element in your story. Some of the hardest workers I’ve ever met with huge family devotion are here trying to make immigration work despite challenges…
Supporting illegal imigrants to work in the States is slap in the face for those who work very hard to be able to take the high (and long) road and to be able to work legally there. If you are hungry, does that justify robbing a store?
JustSaying, I think that is exactly the point. The Church does not support illegal immigration or working illegally. Instead, they propose a way to solve the problem associated with all the people currently residing in the US illegally. There are many challenges with deporting all of them (including the large problems for the US economy that in many areas relies on their labor). To maintain the rule of law, the other alternative to mass deportations is a path to legalization. This does not mean continuing to let people arrive to the US illegally. The Church leaders specifically state their support for securing the borders.
I agree that this is a very difficult question but I think that the statement by the Church points to a reasonable solution. If you disagree with that, how would you prefer to deal with all the undocumented immigrants presently in the US?
Church supports illegal immigration & working illegally by supporting path to legal immigration & work via illegal means. While legalizing current illegal aliens may remedy the present situation in a reasonable way, it’s shortsighted and sets forward an alternative to legal immigration which will only add the number of illegal immigrants coming to the country in the future.
How about increasing the annual visa quotas and lowering the qualification levels for immigration to better match the flow of illegal immigrants to the country. Then providing a way for illegal immigrants to apply for proper work visa as everyone else while maintaining the fear of deportation in force.
JustSaying, I agree that if we want more immigrants in the US, the right way to go about it is to increase the visa quotas like you say. And to be honest, part of me also dislikes the idea of somebody coming to the country illegally and then getting the same opportunities and benefits as those who did it the right and hard way.
However, I think that as followers of Jesus we should balance our desire for justice with a tendency towards mercy and compassion. I feel that with proper border enforcement and carefully crafted path to legalization, the US can control the number of immigrants coming in while also trying to minimize the human suffering of all Gods children, including illegal immigrants.
I think we want better control over those who come to the country to protect its citizens, not only from criminals but also from things like unemployment or other financial distress. Even if for sake of discussion we ignore the criminals, which I hope we all agree shouldn’t enter to the country, and would only consider the law obeying illegal immigrant living in the system, they still a) increase unemployment rate amongst legal citizens, b) don’t contribute to supporting the system in form of taxation.
If you take the one-sided view and consider the situation purely from the perspective of a law obeying illegal immigrant who due to financial distress moves to the US to provide living to his/her family, that’s great. However, that doesn’t come without the cost imposed upon the US citizens. How about that family father with a gardening business running out of clients due to illegal immigrants doing the same job for half the price, or a single-mom not being able to get that cleaners job to feed her kid due to illegal immigrant not paying taxes taking the job for half the salary? How just/merciful is that?
It is a tricky question. However, let me first address two common misconceptions. First, the total amount of work available in the US is not fixed (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy) and hence immigration does not necessarily increase unemployment.
Second, majority of illegal immigrants pay taxes, many of them more than the rest of the nation because they don’t claim tax returns (see http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-10-immigrantstaxes_N.htm).
I am not saying that illegal immigration does not affect the labor market. It can have negative consequences for many US citizens. But most questions in life involve compromises. I personally am willing to sacrifice in order that others who have less than me can benefit. The problem of course is that illegal immigration affects the whole society and often those at the bottom income levels. But I still think it’s wrong to frame it as either/or question: either illegal immigrants suffer of the US citizens suffer. There are ways to help both.
I never claimed the amount of work is fixed, but it sure isn’t scaling at the same pace with the number of illegal immigrants either as you seem to suggest.
I stand corrected about the income taxes though, if that’s really the case, and I’m happy to hear many of them are voluntarely paying their dues. Unfortunately though this is only one of the issues amongst illegal immigrants and doesn’t justify taking the law to your own hands.
You are talking about compromises though, but don’t you agree that the right to make compromises is at the end of the giver and not the taker? A compromise made by the taker without the consent of the giver is called stealing.
JustSaying, I agree with you on what you say about compromises. I also realized that I haven’t clearly stated my full position on the matter so let me do so here. I think we will agree on some of them and disagree on others.
1. Illegal immigration is wrong.
2. The federal government should secure the borders.
3. Illegal immigrants do not have the right to demand anything from the US government.
4. Both legal and illegal immigration have a variety on consequences on our society, some of which are positive and others that are negative. Many of the issues are complicated and it is hard to predict all the effects.
5. Jesus taught us to forgive those who trespass against us and to love our neighbor. Even if justice might demand the deportation of all illegal immigrants, I feel that forgiveness, mercy and love may result in something different.
6. I don’t know enough about the details of the question to say what exact policy should be implemented to solve the problems related to illegal immigration. However, I do feel that we would do well to combine the principles of both justice and mercy in our approach.
The subject of immigration is very polarizing in this country, and it’s interesting to see a church take an official stance on such a touchy subject. I’m not a member of the LDS church. Used to be, decided it wasn’t a very healthy church to be part of for my own reasons, but that’s neither here nor there–further I know a lot of members of the LDS church are really happy, or at least appear that way, and I don’t really want to challenge anyone’s faith. People who attack each other’s faiths are really inconsiderate; you’re talking about a subject that a person finds VERY important, even bases their entire life around.
I digress, though. I mostly wanted to discuss immigration as an issue, because there are two sides to it. There are people who say that if you got into this country illegally, you by the nature of the law aren’t supposed to be here. A huge part of their argument involves illegal aliens intruding into our nation in various ways, and not paying taxes like all responsible Americans do. They also mention language, saying if you are going to live in this nation you should speak English. Further, they point to the simple fact that the law states if you don’t go through the proper processes to legally live here, you can’t live here, end of discussion.
I agree with these people, largely. I have worked really hard my whole life, am a U.S. citizen, and have “paid my dues” so to speak. I don’t do illegal things aside from minor traffic violations here and there, and largely consider myself a good citizen. I work hard, pay taxes, pay for all sorts of outrageous things I don’t necessarily agree with, because I respect the laws of the country I’m living in. However, there are a few huge problems with just saying “KILL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RAWR” or even “Deport the crap out of illegal immigrants rawr!” First, people point to them not paying taxes as a huge reason for them not deserving to live here. I haven’t seen any data on it, but I bet if you were to go around to most illegal immigrants and say “Hey, we’ll make it 100% legal for you to live here, all you have to do is just pay taxes,” they’d nod heartily and sign whatever pieces of paper you handed them. Second, the language thing I think borders ignorance. Most of the people who say “If you live in America, you need to learn to speak English,” actually almost fumble and say “you need to learn to speak American,” and then correct themselves, and you know why? Because the basic idea behind that statement is folly. If you want to live in this country that was colonized by a hodge-podge of dozens of different nationalities, well BY GOD YOU BETTER LEARN TO SPEAK THE LANGUAGE THAT ONE OF THOSE ORIGINAL COLONISTS SPOKE!!! Get a grip, seriously. Also, the issue of them terkin our jerbs only exists because law enforcement doesn’t have the right tools to catch them, or gets paid off, which point to the system being broken, not the laws being broken. As far as hard work goes, the reason a lot of lesser companies will hire someone from another country is that those people really appreciate what they have managed to scrape out here, and work harder than most American natives for a fraction of the pay.
Anyone who is taking the time to read this may be curious as to why I said I largely agree with people who don’t feel like illegal immigrants should be here, and then proceeded to provide arguments as to why I thought many of their reasons were incorrect. It’s really just that. I believe that illegal immigrants shouldn’t be in this country too, for the simple reason that the law states otherwise. What would even be the point of having different countries if people were allowed to just come over here and enjoy the benefits of being an American without paying taxes or being part of our legal system? However, most of the reasoning behind this is generally flawed, and further there is a HUGE thing, BIG thing, the biggest thing in my opinion, that I didn’t even mention yet. I’d ask a hypothetical, to the imaginary person who believes immigrants should be shot/deported/whatever: Do you have ANY IDEA why they came here???? Many, many parts of Mexico specifically, not even to mention other nations, are RIDDLED with violence. Drug cartels run the country militantly, doing whatever they want, hurting people, killing people, all completely un-opposed. The issue here isn’t “should that ‘racial slur’ be sent back to Mexico or should we kill him hur hur hur,” it’s “why don’t we address the SERIOUS, VERY INHUMANE AND LIFE THREATENING REASONS THESE PEOPLE EVEN COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?! Talk of deporting, discussing illegal immigrants like they’re sub-human, and ranting about how they are taking all the good jobs is all well and good, but the bottom line is that if I have to pay more than my share of taxes so that someone doesn’t have to see his daughter get raped and murdered by a drug lord I’m probably fine with that. Instead of bickering about stupid things we need to say “Let’s fix this very serious cancer that’s taken a hold of essentially an entire nation.” Yeah, I agree that people shouldn’t be allowed to live here without legal right to do so. That’s a non-issue until the entire civilized world can figure out how to get these drug cartels out of power, though, and it’s a sheer spoiled elitist attitude that would claim otherwise.
If it’s about treating children of God the way they should be treated, and not breaking up families…do you then believe that all criminals should avoid any consequences for ignoring and breaking the laws that might take them away from their families? Being children of God doesn’t make them exempt from justice or make them above the law.
They know that by coming here illegally they will likely face deportation or jail time if caught. Any consequences they face, they knowingly bring on themselves. Their families are more than welcome to join their parents in deportation.
Amnesty of any kind pisses in the face of every real, legal immigrant. Would you like to be the one to tell someone that worked for years to learn our language and went through the arduous process of legal immigration that their efforts and sacrifices mean nothing? That a criminal that walked across the border, bought, stole, or forged SSNs, birth certificates, etc that they need to get a job, and that doesn’t speak English is now a citizen, despite their crimes and ignoring all the rules?
It’s simply insulting, and it’s wrong on every level.
I daily interact with legal immigrants, they are my coworkers, they are my students (sitting side-by-side with illegal immigrants), some live in my building, in fact, I’m even married to one, and yet I’ve never heard this argument come from any of them. But I’m sure you nor I can speak for them so I’ll just leave that there on the table. To me, that is not the issue. The point is for those that are here we have two choices as Teppo said–deportation or legalization. Mass deportation would be painful for thousands of people, citizens of this country and citizens of many other countries, so it just isn’t an option. I agree with the Church’s statement “The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship.”
Although I may even take it a step further than the statement did and say that undocumented immigrants in many (but not all) cases should have the opportunity to take the steps to citizenship. I’ve been able to help immigrants and refugees work towards citizenship and it is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job. Just last month, a man from Argentina could barely contain his excitement when he reported to the class that he passed the citizenship interview. He wanted to relate every detail and he volunteered to tutor anybody that needed help. There was more pride and loyalty for this country in his eyes than I see in many people that were born here (and I bet he can answer questions about USA history that many citizens can’t). He senses the responsibility it is to be a citizen and he is overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunity. And this is just one example of what I daily see.
MJ – Thank you for giving a voice to my feelings exactly and for sharing your views. I try to live my life with compassion for others and an understanding that there is no quick answer to the immigration issues that we face in this country. My husband and I try to instill in our children a sense of embracing the differences around them. We live in an ever changing world and raising our children to judge those who are different from them weither it be race, the way they dress, their social economic status or sexual orientation will only bread hate. My mother is an immigrant from El Salvador. She immigrated here legally in the 50′s through a government program at that time. My husband is a professor at a local university in the education department. A subject that is near and dear to his heart is diversity and how we can become a more christ like people as we embrace the diversity around us. I will continue to teach my children the gospel of Jesus Christ and strive to instill in them their own responsibility to make this world a better more loving place for everyone.
I know personally a family in my ward that is undocumented. I love this family and would like to help them personally. Is there anything you would recommend that I can do to help them become documented? I new to all of this.
Thank you for your comments. I wish I could recommend some ways you could help this family, but unfortunately, the process is quite convoluted. That is another of the big problems I see with the immigration question.