Immigration By: Frances M. Meservy Feb 2 2008

My reasoning is based on Lev 19: 32-34.  This still fits us because at one time we were strangers on these shores.  America became our home so we would not have to go hungry, go to prison because of what we owed or how we worshiped.  We came for religious freedom and to make a better living for our families.  Freedom!

Many of us came on ships provided by Protestant churches to settle in the new land so we could worship God however we wanted to.   In Europe we were burned at the stake and or our children were not allowed to go to school and we were not allowed to work unless we belonged to the Catholic church or the Church of England.  Religious freedom!

Today in many countries people are killed or put in jail for being a Christian or another religion.  Here we can worship as we choose.  Religious freedom still!

Many of us were released from debtors jail if you would go to the new world and live there.  Freedom!

Debtor's prison or become a slave until the debt is paid in many countries today.  We still have debt forgiveness.  Freedom still!

Many of us were farmers who worked on land owned by others and the new world offered free land to anyone who wanted to farm it.  Freedom to own property!

In Europe today very few people own land.  The government owns the farmland and people work on them.  Here we can own and farm our own land.  Freedom still to own property.

In most countries then and now if you did not agree with the powers to be, you were put in prison or killed.  Freedom to debate (of speech)! 

Today's immigrants come for the same reason.  FREEDOM!

Of course Legal immigrants are not the real problem.  We just have to remember that there are legal immigrants among us.

Illegal immigrants are a real problem in that they broke our laws by coming to the USA without permission. 

They are doing the menial jobs our teens and young adults could be doing make a little money while in school or to get the experience they need to get a leg up in this world. 

They steal Social Security cards and other IDs so they can get a job.  That doesn't sound too bad unless you lose your job and need to draw unemployment or you become disabled and need to draw disability.  Then you find out that you can not draw either because the SS office shows you are working.  Or Heaven forbid - if you are already on SS, and all of a sudden your check drops because someone is working and paying SS on your number. The government thinks you are working and are deducting the overage (allowed $12,000 per year) from your check.  These are all real problems that are happening. 

If you do something harmful to someone you believe is illegal, you are then breaking the law also.  The answer is to turn the person in to the authorities and let them do their jobs.  If your employer hires illegal immigrants, someone needs to turn him/her in.  These people are hiding in plain sight and it is up to the citizens in this country to not hire them and to turn them in if they are hired illegally.  You can do these things without harming the illegal immigrant. 

If you are angry, and a lot of people are, ask God to forgive the illegals through you.  Then call the authorities and get involved with the solution to the problem.  The anger is only hearting you.  There is a gland at the base of your brain that releases poison each time you get angry.  Don't make yourself ill by being angry at someone you don't even know.

There is a righteous way to handle the problem without prejudice and we need to pray for guidance in this matter to know what it is.  It is not an easy fix; but with God it is fixable.