Illegal immigration thoughts

Posted on January 21, 2021 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

I’m in an odd position about immigration / citizenship. So many people are illegally here already. And because they are illegally here, they are the new slave class. They work for very little money and have no protection against workplace dangers. And yet they stay – because it is better than where they came from. And if they speak up, they risk being sent back. So that tells me a lot about what they are trying to flee.

I do not ascribe to the NewSpeak of “undocumented people” or “refugee”. I call a spade a spade. If you are illegally in this country, you are an illegal immigrant. Changing the terms does not change the facts.

I’m opposed to anyone illegally here getting free anything – education, healthcare, etc. However – if they do, it is the fault of the government for giving it. It isn’t meaningful to demonize illegal immigrants for getting anything for free. The system needs to be fixed on the government side.

Also, the American government needs to stop:

giving money to other countries

going to war with other countries

We have enough problems here that need to be fixed.

Americans need to get over the idea that this is “our” country. We stole it from the people who were already here, and then committed genocide. That must be addressed and healed. We will not move forward until that wrong is corrected.

Our immigration laws are racist – Europeans invade an already-occupied land and colonize it. Then they make rules about who can and can’t come here – that are often skewed towards other Europeans and away from anyone who is not white.

It is as if someone invaded your home, kicked you out, and then changed the locks and only let their friends in.

On the recent immigrant crisis and the Christ-like response

Posted on September 6, 2015 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

There are a lot of very unsettling things about the immigrant crisis in Europe. It isn’t just the sheer numbers all at once that is the problem for many of the governments. For many of the governments, it is the fact that the vast majority of the immigrants are Muslim. They are concerned because of previous acts of violence that have been perpetrated by other Muslims. They are concerned, and playing it safe.

If you want to break into someone’s house, the easiest way to do it is not to break in. Instead of trying to break down the door and threatening someone with a gun, try simply knocking on the door. Say you’re a traveling salesman. Or better than that-look injured. They’ll open their door and maybe even take you into their home without a fight.

Here’s a terrible thought, what if the immigrant crisis that is going on in Europe is exactly this going on? What if these aren’t refugees from a war but they are invaders? What if this is an invasion using no weapons and relying on our compassion to destroy us?

Without a fight, without a lot of lives lost, and for very little money an immense amount of people can invade a land and take up residence in it. It’s genius.

Consider the 9/11 bombers. They didn’t fly over in their own planes. They came over quietly, legally, and learned how to fly a plane here. They then hijacked our planes and flew them into the trade towers. This is using our technology against us. This is using our compassion against us. It required very little outlay of their own resources.

However, Jesus says “Turn the other cheek”.
Jesus says “Pray for your enemies”.
Jesus hung out with people who everyone else thought were sinners.
We are reminded over and over again to be kind to the stranger because we were once strangers.
Jesus says “He who would save his life must lose it”.
Jesus tells us that we can’t be harmed by anything – not snakes, not poison, if we are acting in His behalf.

If Europe, a majority Christian area, attempts to keep out Muslims out of fear that they are being invaded by Muslims, then they are going directly against the commands of Jesus. Even if Europe is taking over, even if these refugees turn out to not be refugees at all but are invaders, we are commanded to be kind to them.

For Europe to close its borders and close its heart is not Christ-like at all. They would not be preserving Christianity but making a mockery of it. Who knows, perhaps the Muslims might notice our compassion and not see us as chumps but as Christians, as worthy of joining. Perhaps instead of taking over us we will overcome them. Perhaps they will notice our love and through us see the love of Jesus.

Refugee crisis

Posted on August 27, 2015 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

There’s this huge refugee crisis going on in Europe. People from Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (among other countries) are escaping war and crushing poverty any way they can – often by foot or by overcrowded boat. Some are landing in Greece, up to 30 boats a day, having walked through Turkey. The countries they are coming to aren’t prepared and are reacting by putting up borders or posting guards. If there are refugee camps, they are sad states, with tents and no running water and one toilet for every 100 people.

The refugees are complaining, saying that they thought things would be better in Europe. They are saying that dogs live better than this. They are saying it is inhumane. They are complaining to any country that will listen.

Yet what can be done? The people have no money and no jobs. They aren’t legally immigrating. They have no passports or visas. Then they are expecting to be fed and housed for free, indefinitely. Countries such as Greece already have austerity measures for their own citizens – they don’t have extra for these people they didn’t expect.

Let’s think of it this way – If a hundred people show up at your doorstep and insist on coming in your house, but don’t have any money to buy their own food or any extra clothes, do you take them in? How long do they get to stay? If your house is big and you have a lot of extra money, this won’t hurt you much. But what if you are just making it as is? You don’t suddenly have more money because you have more people staying at your house. There will be less to go around. You didn’t invite these people, yet they are ungrateful that they are getting gruel to eat and have to share beds or sleep on the floor. They are complaining to the mayor and the governor.

Jesus says that we are to welcome the stranger. Jesus says that we are to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and clothe the naked. Jesus tells us that he is not of the world, and that we, as his followers will have otherworldly abilities through him. We are to do these things not out of our excess, but out of God’s excess.

Yet this all sounds like a fairy tale.

Jesus made food appear out of thin air. He fed 5000 people at one occasion, and 4000 people at another, with just a few loaves of bread and some fish. He wasn’t prepared – he didn’t even provide the fish or the bread. He used what was there and it became enough. We are supposed to follow his example, but it seems something has gotten lost in the translation. Over these 2000 years, we’ve not learned the trick of how to do this. We don’t know how to make food stretch and expand. We can’t heal by a touch or a word like he could either.

But maybe that is the problem. Maybe we can if we stop saying we can’t. Maybe we can if we stop getting upset that the church leaders didn’t teach us anything useful and kept it to themselves, and then forgot it because they kept the secret so well. They were so concerned about the secret getting out that they hid it even from themselves. Maybe there isn’t a secret. Maybe it is all about trusting.

Meanwhile, people are showing up. Last report I read said that 340,000 refugees had escaped their countries just this year. This is similar to the great exodus that happened in WW2. And Europe is finally coming to understand what America has been dealing with (or not dealing with) for years.