The Walls We Build...

Much campaigning in the last presidential cycle had to do with the U.S. and its policy toward illegal immigration. Mexico is one of two countries that “bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse,” according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats. The government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault by criminal gangs and drug cartels.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently instructed his embassy and consular officials to promote a positive image of Mexico. Kind of hard to do when kidnappings of American tourists are increasing at an alarming rate. Like the pirates off the coast of Somalia, these shadowy characters lurk in the tourist towns of our neighbor. Not only American tourists, but the relatives of Mexicans in the United States have become a new profit center for Mexico’s crime industry. Hundreds of families are emigrating out of fear of kidnap or extortion, and Mexicans in the U.S. are doing everything they can to avoid returning. Instead, they’re getting their relatives out.

Now, with pressure on the new administration to help U.S. citizens keep or find new jobs, the pressure cooker that is Mexico is about to explode into chaos. Where was Congress’ head when Bush proposed an immigration policy to allow Mexicans in legally to earn money for their families and begin enterprises in Mexico that would benefit everyone? Most leaders of the Republican Party waxed eloquent about the need to keep Mexicans out in order to protect our border from terrorists. I think it was more that a lot of people don’t want to be very compassionate with their tax dollars in providing social services for illegals…Democrats, too, were afraid their union supporters would lose too many jobs to Mexican green card holders. So, nothing was done, except build a wall.

Well, there are always more clever (and dumber) minds than those who designed the 700 mile long fence to keep illegal Mexicans out of this country. Mexican drug dealers have tried doing Evel Kneivel car jumps over the fence with specially-built launching ramps. The latest fad is the use of ultralight aircraft, loaded with 100 lbs. or more of marijuana, to fly over the fence.

Europe as well is facing an influx of immigrants. The presence of Muslim communities in Europe is a politically charged issue. Sporadic attacks by radical Muslims have further highlighted the problem of a deep cultural divide between the Muslims and their host countries. There is, however, no one “Islamic Nation”, and a distinction must be made between the radical Muslim minority and secular or practicing Muslims who subscribe neither to the theology nor politics of the radicals. The influx of Muslim immigrants into Europe is rooted in the common human aspiration for a better life. But to date there is no European consensus about how to deal with the political, social, religious, and economic problems associated with their absorption.

So much for the political situations in two continents.

In both Europe and the U.S., the driving force for immigration is the insatiable desire of the poor to enjoy a better life. Whether one is Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, or just plain human, a core value of all world religions is love of neighbor.

Yes, governments have to deal with the protection of their borders from those who would do harm to its citizens. Understandable and undeniable.

Yet, traditionally and historically, both the U.S. and Europe have deep Christian roots. The shift away from Christianity in these two toward secularism is also obvious. Let us never forget, however, that the U.S. is a country of immigrants. We tend to forget Emma Lazarus’ famous words: “Give me your tired, your poor… your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… the wretched refuse of your teeming shore…”

In a recent trip up the Rhine river in Germany, I could not miss the centuries-old vineyards on the river’s banks. As a farm market owner, I was curious as to how these vineyards, sloped at 45 degrees, could be sprayed and harvested without any sort of tractor or motorized vehicle.

I was told that Polish immigrants did the labor-intensive work. Same story as Mexicans doing stoop labor in the U.S. or Muslim immigrants taking low-level jobs in Europe. Do you see a pattern here?

With a global recession in full swing, the pressures of the poor to find work of any kind, anywhere, for any price will continue to grow. Walls and fences will be built, indignation of the well-to-do toward the n’er-do-wells will grow, and hostilities of all kinds will increase.

Yet, through all the Orwellian scenarios that may possibly come about, the principles of love of God and neighbor must prevail. We are, after all, merely pilgrims on this earth. We all could be the traveler who fell victim to robbers and left half-dead on the roadside. Are we that person in need whom the priest and Levite passed by, or will we be the good Samaritan, who, moved with compassion, cared for him and took him in to the inn?