Separating Families - Immigration Policy or Law?

The big political storm this summer, so far, has been the policy of separating illegal children immigrants from their parents at the Mexican border, and holding the children in massive detention facilities Immigration Impact.  There was a large public outcry, and even some Republican lawmakers came out against this practice. 

I was incensed, but did not call my US Representative and Senators because I was so angry.  After thinking, praying, and talking to others, and hearing what others had to say, I wrote a script that just expressed my concerns, and why, including that this was a human rights abuse, our nation was better than this, and we deserve any censure we receive from Human Rights organizations because of this practice.  I then called my government representatives, read the script and sent a follow up email.  

At first, President Trump said he could do nothing, but he eventually signed an executive order to stop the separation, but allowing for the entire family to be detained.  So now there is problem re-uniting the children with their families. 

Most recently,  a US District Court Judge declared this separation was illegal, and ordered the separated children to be returned to their families within 30 days.  Let us hope that happens. 

The problem needs to be resolved.  It needs to be resolved by a law that addresses illegal immigration, a path to citizenship for children immigrants who grew up in this country (DREAMERS) and want to make it their home, and for asylum seekers, including those seeking to escape domestic abuse as well as gang activity, cartel activity and political threats. 

By ignoring the problem, we just create more chaos and havoc.  US is better than this. We are better than this. 

Immigration and Faith

So, when I went to see Freud's Last Session, the program advertised a talk on Immigration and Faith, presented by Tibor Nagy http://www.secondb.com/calendar-item/immigration-and-faith/, who is currently a Vice Provost for International Affairs at Texas Tech, and was previously in the foreign service, rising to the rank of U. S. Ambassador. 

The program indicated this was open to the public, so I decided to go.  I am glad I did. The audience was small. The congregants were welcoming of non-members, and the pastor indicated this was part of a new effort by the church to be more involved in the community. 

I had heard Ambassador Nagy and his wife speak previously, both talking about their service and the people they served in foreign countries.  As I expected, this was a really good presentation. I learned a lot, and it opened my eyes to think about some things differently, and be more confirmed in my thinking about other things.