Maryland's Dream Act: Kids get it -- what's our problem?

Friday, July 6, 2012

Kids get it -- what's our problem?

Bishops from all over Latin America met a few weeks ago, to talk about immigration. They said a lot of powerful things, but one odd remark struck me. They said (again) that throwing immigrants out is wrong in a whole list of ways. One item on their list was that it damages Americans who lose a chance to be hospitable. Most of what they said was easy to follow, but that one sounded a little strange. Still, I think they are right.

Right now, we are in a recession, or at least we are near one, so Americans are not feeling as optimistic as usual. But still, compared to most of the world throughout all of history, we are fantastically wealthy. We may not always have jelly, but we always have bread. We don’t always like the people under it, but we can always find a roof. In fact, we have cars to complain about, and computers with sticky keys, and pools that need cleaning. We have a lot of stuff, and we have numerous complaints about every single thing we have -- so we have a lotta lotta complaints.

Jesus said that when he shows up at the door (disguised, usually) he comes to set us free. He comes to give us joy. And it’s pretty simple stuff, often. If I have the pool to myself, I see leaves and smell chlorine. But if I let a kid use it, he screams and splashes until I remember what a cool thing this is.

Just to make that clear, I’ll say it again. If I eat a piece of candy, I enjoy it for 30 seconds or so. If I give it to a kid, I enjoy his smile for a long time.

So here we are in this vastly wealthy country, moaning and groaning. And 12 million people show up at the door, saying they want some of what we’ve got. If we share it, we enjoy it. If we throw them out, we probably get to keep the stuff, but we lose the joy that should go with it.

We are moaning and groaning about tough times. 12 million times, Jesus has knocked on our door and offered to show us how to enjoy what we have.

The bishops are right. If we refuse to be hospitable, the guest is hurt, maybe, but the host is in a helluva mess, a World of Hurt.

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Intro

There are about 12 million immigrants in the United States without legal documentation. Numerous efforts to solve the challenge of illegal immigration have failed. One such effort is the Dream Act. The federal Dream Act addresses the national challenge, but there are other state efforts as well, including the Maryland Dream Act. The Maryland law deals with a very small piece of the overall issue: it would provide in-state tuition rates at community colleges and in-state tuition rates for juniors and seniors at four-year state colleges and universities, to undocumented immigrants who meet a list of conditions. The law passed in April 2011, but opponents of the bill collected signatures to force a referendum on the issue in the 2012 election. Polls in late 2011 indicated that voters were split, but the bill was likely to go down in defeat.

Many of the leaders of the opposition to the Dream Act are conservatives who identify themselves as Christian. My intent to is open and maintain a civil argument among Christians on the issue. It is not my intention to exclude anyone from the debate; I am focusing on a debate among Christians because that’s who I am.

I am convinced that Christians who oppose the Dream Act have overlooked the clear and forceful teaching of Bible and the Church throughout the ages.

The easiest example: nearly everyone makes a mistake in discussions of the Last Judgment as described in Matthew 25. Nearly everyone makes the SAME mistake -- and it’s an interesting one. (See "9 of 10 ...")

So let’s talk.