why I harbor illegal immigrants

A year ago I began renting part of my house to a family recently immigrated to the U.S. Their English was sparse and my Spanish was limited. I have always loved Latinos and their culture and this was the perfect opportunity to provide housing for a young family, while benefiting from the interaction. I took a Spanish class and began a routine forcing my own immersion into their world. As usually is the case, in any cross-cultural interaction, one finds out quickly the good, the bad and the ugly of the other culture, especially when one has to share a roof. Certainly, they discovered the same in me.

Because of proximity, I was forced to struggled with the issues they face daily as immigrants. It was my intention to in whatever ways possible buffer them from the harsh society and translate some of the things I had learned about dominant culture in the U.S. When it was confirmed what I had suspected—that they were illegal—I continued helping them as before. Some would have a problem doing so, because they were “obviously” breaking the law. I have no idea what personal consequences lie in wait for those who assist illegal immigrants and I mostly don’t care. Some might say that the Bible strictly mandates that Christians obey the rulers and authority figure over them. Yet my own, not so distant history, reminds me of the faithful who paid for their faithfulness with their lives. Christ, Paul and many others have done the same in matters of faith in conflict with the government. This is where I rest my case.

As a Christian I am obligated, especially, to the stranger, the alien, the poor and the oppressed. Even the Old Testament was clear on that point. In general, the land of Israel was judged with respect to how they treated the foreigner and the alien. Read Judges 19 for a specific, vivid story. It seems proper hospitality was a gauge by which one could determine the extent to which Israel was “fallen” in their principles and ideals as a nation.
To me it is interesting today to read a motto connected with a primary symbol of our own great nation, the Statue of Liberty. Her message to the world is:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (Lazarus 1888, 202-3)

Yet, increasingly, for the past numerous years our golden door is persistently locked to special peoples. Our immigration system is broken. Poor and weighted foreign relations compound the problem. And individuals make the decisions they must make. Hence, illegal immigrants exist among us, hiding at the bottom of the social and economic food chain. The government hasn’t figured out how to make them exist on paper yet. So they don’t exist but to those who can use them, temporarily. They hold their existence and non-existence in the same hand. Bureaucracy has always had trouble allocating personhood to the right people. Meanwhile, while they untangle their red tape for the next decade, I think perhaps the right thing to do would be to respond to the living breathing family under my roof?

god is with those who help themselves

The conquest of Mexico occurred from 1519-22. Two lay Franciscans of Belgium accompanied Cortez in 1519. In 1524 twelve more Franciscans, arrived by the orders of the crown, lead by Martin de Valencia.[1] Cortez himself, specifically sent for Mendicants to spread the gospel to the new world. The Mendicants were conservative and pious Franciscans who had taken a strict vow of poverty, renounced proprietorship and were solely dependant on charity (in accordance with Franciscan Rule 1223). These Franciscans were of the province of Extremadura, where the Franciscans of this region had experienced extensive reform under Juan de Guadalupe. Directly influenced by this movement was Martin de Valencia, who was influenced by Fray Juan de Guadalupe, who was the chief reformer of the Franciscan houses in Extremadura. Additionally, the nation as well as the Franciscan order had been influenced by Joachimism mixed with a strong apocalyptic interpretation of their times.[2] Their Joachimism consisted of the belief that they were divinely elected by God to evangelize the world. These “twelve new apostles” to the new world embraced this call with apocalyptic zeal of mission in “the eleventh hour.” They along with Columbus and Cortez believed, the later having convinced the Spanish crown to act on its obligation to carry out this missionary work (in a marriage of the powers of church and state), with elevated urgency, preparing the way for Christ’s second coming.[3] This apocalyptic outlook of the times was folded into Spain’s understanding of its own victories against the Moors, its expulsion of the Jews, and its establishment of the Inquisition.[4] Their success was undeniable proof that God’s favor was upon them for the evangelization of the world. The Franciscans in the new world proclaimed this conquestial evangelical message boldly as evident in the pageant they directed for missional purposes in 1539 at Tlaxcala, New Spain.[5] It was entitled “The Conquest of Jerusalem.”[6] And for all practical purposes, the Amerindians believed and were converted for they too understood from their own native religion, God is with the most powerful.

[1] Catholic Encyclopedia, online edition, 2003 “Martin de Valecia.”
[2] Delno C. West "Medieval Ideas of Apocalyptic Mission and the Early Franciscans in Mexico." The Americas (Vol. XLV, January 1989, No. 3, pp. 293-313)
[3] Ibid, 297.
[4] Ibid, 300.
[5] Ibid, 293.
[6] Ibid.

the practicality of free, individual choice

In the absence of any objectifiable criteria of right and wrong, good or evil, the self and its feelings become our only moral guide….But while everyone may be entitled to his or her own private space, only those who have enough money can, in fact, afford to purchase the private property required to do their own thing.” Robert Bellah et. al. Habits fo the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life.

...so maybe there are stupid questions

Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes. Proverbs 26:4, 5