Intellectual Defenestration

WORLD going soft?

President Bush has gotten a lot of flak from conservatives for his new immigration act. Consequently, I was surprised today to see WORLD sort of endorsing the plan:

[W]hen President Bush proposes to grant three-year temporary work visas to illegal immigrants already in this country, isn't he merely recognizing an economic reality that many would rather ignore? No, we don't want to encourage more illegal immigration, but we can't realistically expect to deport millions of illegals already here, already contributing to our quality of life.

It seems to me the right response would be to apply Jesus's words to the woman taken in adultery: "Go, and sin no more." Bush's immigration plan would say to illegal aliens, "Go on with the jobs you're doing. But register with us instead of trying to hide. Pay your taxes instead of working for cash. Get your license instead of driving illegally."

Honestly, I don't know what to think of the immigration issue. On the one hand, I'm not wild about allowing millions of people to simply break the law. On the other hand, it's pretty difficult to tell a group of people who are coming over in the hopes of simply not starving to turn around and go back to absolute poverty.

I do think the Christian community needs to stop whining about the death of Greco-Roman civilization due to non-English speaking immigrants, and see the massive influx of immigrants as a great opportunity to apply the words of Jesus by reaching out to the poor.

January 13, 2004 11:54 AM