I have a friend who was born in New York City on the 4thof July. His parents were foreign nationals who were visiting at the time his mother went into labor. He spent the next thirty years living in his parents’ country. When his company wanted to send him to America to work in one of their offices he applied and was granted a US passport. He was able to come here, work, travel, and live as a US citizen. He knew next to no English.
I have another friend who was born in Havana, Cuba. At the age of twenty-two he wanted a life he couldn’t have in Cuba. He constructed a makeshift raft out of trash and set out upon the sea. He was one of the lucky ones and made it across ninety miles of ocean to the Florida coast. Once feet dry he was welcomed to the United States, given a green card, and eventual citizenship. He lives in a Cuban part of Miami. Spanish is still his primary language.
I have a third friend who was born in Puebla, Mexico. At the age of two his parents also wanted a better life for themselves and their son so they migrated north. With the help of a coyote, a person who specializes in smuggling people from Mexico to the United States, they came to this country. His parents spent the next twenty years doing demeaning labor for next to nothing while giving their son a life he could not possibly had in their home country. My friend’s first language is English. He has a good job and pays taxes. He has never asked for anything from anybody. He has married and is raising two children who are in the top of their class. America is the only country he knows and the country he would die for if asked to.
Of my three friends, which do you think is the most American? One was born here but never lived here. One came here as an adult and was granted citizenship because he was from a “special” nation. The last was brought here illegally when he was too young to know better but has become an American in every aspect of his life except for having that one paper.
I have been fortunate enough to have spent a part of my life in and around some of the undocumented people in my area. My step-father was here illegally. I never met a single person with malice in their heart or one who was trying to steal your way of life away from you. All they wanted was a chance to share in the richness you have been afforded by being born on this side of an imaginary line. They were some of the hardest working, loving, generous people I know. I cannot say the same for some who have passed down generational welfare as a way of life.
I have seen the tragedy when a provider doesn’t return home one night because they had been detained and sent back to a country they do not know simply because they do not have the correct piece of paper. We are the United States of America and God has blessed us abundantly. We were not given these blessings just to horde them away and keep them for ourselves. If we don’t learn to properly use what we have been given it will be taken away and given to someone else. We can do better. It all starts by being able to see the person instead of hating a faceless group we do not know.
I have a question for all those who wish to see the dreamers, Americans in every sense of the word, rounded up and exiled to a country they have never known. How have you been personally affected by any undocumented person trying for a better life? How has their pursuit of happiness diminished yours?
Imagine where this world would be today if when Joseph and Mary, carrying the baby Jesus, ran into a wall keeping them out of Egypt. Egypt has every right to protect their sovereign borders from people fleeing from their native home.
“What you have done for the least of these you have done for me.”
Few Christians would say that they wouldn’t have accepted Joseph, Mary, and Jesus with open arms, especially knowing today who they are. How many Christians are willing to accept Jose and Maria fleeing from Mexico today?
“What you have done for the least of these you have done for me.” We were not there to give aid and comfort to Joseph and Mary. We are here today. Let us provide aid and comfort to those who need it now.
