ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE PEOPLE TOO


By Akin Ojumu

When tyrants want to desensitize society to the sufferings of the victims of their cruelty and barbarity, they dehumanize them by stripping them of our shared humanity and branding them as criminals, animals, cockroaches, rats, and all sorts of vile and despicable things.

This is exactly what is playing out right before our eyes as undocumented immigrants across the United States face the wrath of a vengeful, cold-hearted, wannabe autocrat. The flame of empathy for these hapless immigrants are being extinguished by the planned, coordinated, and deliberate attack that depicts them as criminals and lawbreakers who are up to no good. In neighborhoods across the country, these immigrants are being profiled and stereotyped as savages who “eat the dogs, cats, and pets of the people that live there.”

This malicious and malevolent strategy is so effective that even Believers all over the world, people who claim to be followers of Christ, have bought into the propaganda. Instead of being compassionate and kind as the Bible commands, supposed Christians dismiss the plight of the undocumented immigrants. 

In the name of the importance of abiding by the law, the misery and agony of the immigrants being raided, hounded, rounded up, shackled, and mass deported fall on hearts of stone. Christians simply shrug it off as the “government doing its job of protecting the people.”

So, to my Christians friends who sheepishly and ignorantly parrot the myths about illegal immigrants being disseminated by soulless and unscrupulous elements in American society, here are some basic facts you should know about what the law actually says about illegal immigration. These facts should help you to stop being a ChatGPT for hateful rhetoric.

MYTH #1: Anyone Who Enters the Country Illegally Is a Criminal

FACTS #1: Being an undocumented (or “illegal”) immigrant has been, until now, only a civil, not a criminal violation. Under federal immigration law, unlawful presence in this country is a civil offense. The civil penalty for being in this country unlawfully is deportation, or removal, which the U.S. Supreme Court has held is not “criminal punishment.” 

MYTH #2: Undocumented Immigrants Do Not Have Any Rights In the U.S

FACTS #2: Undocumented immigrants have the right to access the courts. They have rights in their homes, and those who have been arrested or who are in custody have certain constitutional rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. 

Undocumented immigrants have rights in the workplace, including the right to minimum wage and overtime pay. Undocumented immigrant children have the right to a public-school education. Undocumented immigrants can own property and get mortgages.

MYTH #3: Immigrants Don't Want to Become Citizens

FACTS #3: Immigrants come to the U.S. for a variety of reasons – to reunite with family or to find better employment opportunities – and would prefer to do so through legal channels.  However, avenues to legalize under the U.S. immigration system are extremely limited, and most undocumented immigrants in the U.S. cannot simply apply for a visa and obtain legal status. 

It is untrue that most undocumented immigrants can simply fall in love and get married to a U.S. citizen in order to legalize. In most cases, even those who are married to U.S. citizens and who have U.S. citizen children are not eligible to legalize under current immigration laws. Those immigrants who are eligible and seek citizenship do so despite difficult requirements and huge backlogs that can delay the process for years. 

MYTH #4: Undocumented and Documented Immigrants Represent Distinct Populations

FACTS #4: Most immigrant families are of “mixed” immigration status. Two-thirds of all children with undocumented parents (about 3 million) are US-born citizens and thus live in mixed-status families. 

Of the nearly 12 million undocumented aliens estimated to be living in the U.S., about two million are children who entered the country at a young age with their parents and who did not independently decide to break U.S. immigration laws: they speak English and have grown up in this country and yet they face limited educational and employment opportunities given their immigrant status. 

MYTH #5: Undocumented Immigrants Don’t Pay Taxes But Still Get Benefits

FACTS #5: All immigrants (legal and undocumented) pay sales, property, and consumption taxes; many undocumented immigrants also pay income taxes, even though they can’t benefit from most federal and state local assistance programs. 

Contrary to popular belief, undocumented workers are not (and have never been) eligible to claim social security benefits. In fact, most undocumented workers will use a false social security number to prove work authorization, therefore paying money into a benefit system that they may never be eligible to use.  

According to the Social Security Administration, undocumented immigrants account for a “major portion” of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system – an estimated $520 billion as of October 2005. Immigrants’ tax payments support both local and state services in addition to the federal government. One study shows that immigrants, regardless of status, will pay on average $80,000 per capita more in taxes than they use in government services over their lifetime. 

Undocumented immigrants can receive schooling and emergency medical care, but not welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and most other public benefits. Undocumented immigrant parents cannot receive government benefits in their own right but may be the payees for benefits received on behalf of eligible family members, such as U.S. citizen spouses or children.

In Matthew 25:31-46, we read about the scene in Heaven where the glorified Christ takes His seat on the glorious throne for the final judgment. It’s instructive to note the kinds of people whom the LORD invited to sit on His right side. 

Matthew 25:34-36
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”

Among those invited to sit on the LORD’S right side are those who welcome strangers. And one of the reasons the people on the left are cursed and banished to eternal fire reserved for the Devil and his angels is because they did not welcome strangers. 

That should tell you something about what in the eyes of God are deeds of righteousness worthy of eternal reward.

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The myths about undocumented immigrants were courtesy of the Connecticut State Government.

Comments

  1. I thought the GOP are supposedly Christians? Are these scriptures not in their Bibles? Because they are the ones pushing these narratives. Real Pharisees

    ReplyDelete

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