Dear
BrokeLoser and
william the wie
there are several dynamics going on
1. I have spoken with some Christian believers with independent ministries.
they believe they are supposed to serve the meekest, whoever God calls.
And not oppress the widow or the stranger, but to welcome and treat
all people as they would want to be treated. So they don't want to
refuse anyone who asks for help and support. (I explained that is
the role of the church, but the state has rules on immigration.
and all believers are called to obey civil authority and do not
have authority to override laws or excuse violations. We can
forgive trespasses and people for wrongs, but if these break
the laws, then there are consequences and penalties under
the civil laws, even if we forgive and help as volunteers on our level,
we still have to respect civil laws and the resources of other people
who aren't required to give to people except voluntarily by charity)
2. there are those who argue that America helps create this
problem by funding drug wars and problems with Mexico
that spill over where workers flee over here. We'd have to
address the very problems of corruption and govt making
money off policing illegal drugs or it's a vicious cycle.
End the problems first, THEN you can address the symptoms
and stop the oppression of workers that is causing the backlog
and overflow. but don't punish the victims while doing nothing
to stop what is creating the economic oppression. (and the RW
argue similarly, don't reward and encourage more coyote
trafficking by lax enforcement but start cracking down on it)
3. with families that have some members who overstayed visas,
threatening to deport them disrupts their work and budgets
and forces more people to get on govt assistance who
otherwise were independent and working as families to support themselves.
4. and with adopted children and even adults who missed the
previous deadlines to become officially citizens, this adds
legal and time pressures that they didn't have before.
there wasn't adequate notice to correct these omissions
in the process BEFORE changing the policies to enforce deportation.
5. in general, the same way the ACA mandates were supposed to
help people get healthcare insurance, but had unplanned consequences
of punishing the wrong people with penalties and added burdens that
had the opposite effect,
the new push to enforce deportations also affects workers
and residents who have no intent of violating laws but have been trying to comply.
the backlog in the system has prevented even the productive
working families who WANT to follow all procedures to get citizenship.
So ADDING more pressures and speeding up the deadlines to get legalized
has coerced and cost people who aren't the "illegal criminals" that
Trump and supporters are trying to target, deter and deport.
There are too many noncriminals getting caught in the mess,
and there wasn't a system to help process them into citizenship
before coming down with these global enforcements that weren't pushed before.
This isn't the same, but similar in IMPACT
to the push to force all people to buy insurance
without first setting up means for people to meet that requirement.
So it ended up punishing the wrong people,
not the ones abusing the hospitals to get care
but the working people who have every intent
of earning benefits and following laws, and have
no intent of freeloading off others.