It’s quite okay to have our own opinions but it is not okay to have our own “facts.” The number of illegal immigrants flowing into this country is dropping not rising. The flow of total immigrants peaked in 2005 and has been dropping since. The share of immigrants coming from Latin America is falling sharply. Since 2008 more immigrants have come from Asia than Latin America, and the disparity is growing.
Central Americans (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras) and Mexicans made up three quarters of the growth in the undocumented population between 1980 and 2011. Mexicans made up 6.8 million of the 11-12 million undocumented people in the U.S. as of 2011. There are more Mexicans leaving the United states than coming in. According to the Pew Research Center, there was a net outflow of 140 thousand from 2009 to 2014. If Trump builds his wall HE’LL LOCK MORE MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS IN THAN HE WILL KEEP OUT!
As to the alleged threat of crime committed by immigrants the overall evidence is clear: immigrants make American streets safer. Roughly 1.6 percent of immigrant males between ages 18 and 39 wind up incarcerated compared with 3.3 percent of native born American men of the same age. Among native-born men without a high school diploma, about 11 percent are incarcerated. Among similarly educated Mexican, Guatemalan and Salvadoran men here, only 2 or 3 percent get incarcerated. One study of 103 cities between 1994 and 2004 found that violent crime rates decreased as the concentration of immigrants increased.
Most undocumented people work in four types of jobs, all of which tend to be low wage and low status, offer few if any benefits, have difficult or unstable schedules and offer little job security.
Agriculture– One employer simply said “We would not be in business but for the migrant worker.” In the summer of 2010 the migrant farm workers Union called for Americans to apply for the jobs the undocumented had been filling for decades. They received 7 applicants. The Americans, almost without exception, do not want the jobs the undocumented work-the pay, the conditions, the hours and the benefits (none). Georgia and Kansas governing authorities recently panicked when politicians talked about sending all the undocumented back to their countries of origins.
Construction. The boom in Houston from 1970s to 2000 in construction used fifty percent undocumented workers to build houses, office buildings, infrastructure,etc.
The cleaning of homes, office buildings, hotel and motel rooms all over the country has been done primarily by the undocumented for twenty five years.
The food industry, restaurants and fast food outlets are full of undocumented workers. It is difficult to eat a meal in a restaurant that has not been prepared or cleaned up by an undocumented worker.
For most of the world’s population freedom to travel is a distant dream. They are restricted from leaving the poverty and danger of their own country. There was not a legal way for the undocumented here to get here so in their desperation they came anyway. Once they are here there is no way presently to move to citizenship.
So we have used and benefited tremendously from undocumented cheap labor for thirty-five years, but have never given them any way to become citizens? Does that pass for justice according to Moses, Isaiah, Amos and Jesus?
Because of Jesus we regard mercifulness toward one’s afflicted neighbor as the decisive criterion in the Last Judgment, and thus for eternal salvation (Matthew 25:31-46). At the Final Judgment questions will be asked such as “When did you help the least of these?” and “ “When did you speak out against injustice and fearmongering?” and “When did you do justice for the weak, the defenseless and the oppressed?”
The Apostle of “the Wall” will not be asking the questions and rendering judgment at the Last Judgment. The great Bridge Builder will be asking all the questions and rendering judgment at the Last Judgment.