It is no secret that I love Alabama. It was the place I began my post-graduate ministry career, the place where my girls were reared and where my closest and dearest friends reside. I love the people. I love the football (Roll Tide Roll!!). I love the food, culture and landscape of the state. But recently, my heart has ached and been saddened by the events, statements and lack of action among its faith communities regarding HB 56 that focuses on immigration policies.
HB 56 is getting the rap of being the toughest immigration policy to be enacted and recently upheld within the borders of the United States. Just last week, I received a press release from the Immigration Policy Center that I thought summed up HB 56 well:
Local police, for example, are required to act as federal immigration enforcement agents by demanding proof of legal status from anyone who appears to be foreign. Other provisions--that go further than Arizona's law--insist public school administrators check the legal status of students and their parents and create confusing and burdensome new restrictions on contracts between the state government and immigrants and between private citizens and immigrants. It's unclear how far the restrictions on contracts will go, but an a minimum they will limit access to housing and utilities for anyone who cannot produce the proper documentation.
Although supporters claim the law will solve the state's economic problems and reduce crime, HB 56 will inflict greater economic damage to Alabama, costing the state millions to implement and defend. And the crime argument simply doesn't hold water. Since 1990, Alabama's unauthorized population has risen from five thousand to 120 thousand. Yet the violent crime rate in the state has fallen by more than a third. Restrictive immigration laws have proven to reduce, no maximize, law enforcement effectiveness.
These kinds of laws also tend to have a chilling effect on state businesses that depend heavily on foreign talent and investments, such as Alabama's automotive and emerging biotechnology and aerospace industries. The Korean automaker, Hyundai, for example, has brought thousands of jobs to Montgomery. The German company, ThyssenKrupp, has build a $3.7 billion steel mill north of Mobile, that will employ 2,700 workers when it is running at full capacity. HB 56 sends a clear and decidedly un-American message that many of these foreign workers who live and work in Alabama are illegal until proven legal; guilty until proven innocent.
Meanwhile, Alabama's law enforcement agencies are struggling to fulfill current mandates in tough fiscal times. The additional burdens imposed by this law will hurt, not help, in fighting crime. Reports show the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department has already cut 20% or more of its budget this year, eliminating 145 deputy positions in order to make up the $3 million mission in this quarter's budget. According to Tuscaloosa's Police Chief, Steve Anderson, the new law will require officer's to spend more time on basic traffic stops, not to mention potential court appearances, taking time away from solving crimes and protecting communities.
Local schools and administrators will also have to bear the burden of enforcing Alabama's draconian immigration law. The Principal of Crossville Elementary School in northeastern Alabama reportedly said, "We don't have the personnel to do all the work that is needed to find out which parents are legal. That's my biggest concern--putting it off on the schools to police illegal immigration. I don't think school is the place to do that; we don't have the resources."
Alabama has just entered dangerous new territory and, in the process, dragged the rest of the country along for the ride. Those out-of-state politicians and organizations behind these state-level experiments with immigration laws will not lose anything more than a court battle. Sadly, it's the people of Alabama--being used by anti-immigration crusaders--who have the most to lose.
Immigration reform is a tough issue and must be put in proper perspective. At one time or another, we all immigrated to this country; some by choice, some by force and some because of life circumstances. Regardless of the mitigating circumstance, we all fought for and sought the same thing...freedom.
Those who came by choice sought freedom of religion, thought, and governance. Those who came by the forced act of slavery eventually amassed enough support and leverage to lead their journey toward freedom. Those who came because of life circumstances sought freedom from oppression or economic hardship/exploitation and believed that their solutions lay in the land of the United States.
Let us remember that the ONLY natives of this land are those indigenous to the continent of North America. In the European's search for a free land, once found ultimately resulted in the oppression, slaughter of a people and seizing by force the desired property. So, why today are we so intimidated by folks who want to come to this nation seeking the same freedoms and opportunities our ancestor's sought and that we love so dearly? Could it be that our love for what we have is self-centered that we don't want to share or have anyone else experience for fear of losing it? Why are the people of God so silent on issues like this that concern freedom, dignity and respect for all of His creation? Baptists in Alabama, I can't hear you?
Some Baptist groups have stated that immigration reform is needed, but their interpretation of reform is very restrictive, supported by immigration myths and elitist thoughts. What makes those who want to live amongst us less deserving? Some say it is because "it is the law and we as a people of faith must abide by the law." Point well-taken, but could it be an unjust law?
People of faith have made their voices known when it came to laws on gambling, alcohol, abortion, slavery, and other issues of ethics and/or morality. Is the search for freedom, the search for opportunity, the search for a better life any less valuable today than when those on the Mayflower landed without an invitation? We love to cite the laws of the land when they promote our personal, biased/prejudiced or religious agenda but we become fierce advocates when they don't. I wonder what the Church silence in Alabama says to the rest of the world? I know what it says to me and I am saddened.
Just last month, Baptist Ethics Daily, released a DVD documentary entitled "Gospel Without Borders." It is a well-produced work that debunks myths and gives a wake-up call to the Church. I viewed it. I viewed it again. It made me confront my own prejudices. It reminded me that sometimes I have to paddle upstream against the current as a servant of the Kingdom. It is neither a popular nor a comfortable journey, but is demanded at times. Church leaders and teachers should purchase a copy of this DVD, begin dialogue around the issue and seek to discern how God can use you in welcoming the stranger.
The Church needs an awakening. Awakened to realize that the Church has always been given the mandate to be a freedom-fighter and and advocate for justice among the least, lost, lonely and left out. We are willing to send our military to other countries to fight for the freedom of strangers, but her on the home front we want to deny anyone who knocks on our door. If by chance they sneak through a cracked window along the border, we desire prosecution. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me..." (Revelation 3:20). May the Lord have mercy upon our souls.
