Praying Rep. Steve Scalise will lead on immigration: David Crosby
In this Sept. 6, 2012, photo, cotton farmer Teofilo Flores drives his truck along the U.S.-Mexico border fence that passes through his property in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
By on July 04, 2014
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise has vaulted into a formal leadership role within the House of Representatives just as we hear that the House will not be moving immigration reform forward this year.
That would be a major disappointment. Like many other Christians across the nation, I am praying that Rep. Scalise and his colleagues will yet help our country find long-term solutions on this vexing issue. I am disappointed that our elected officials are unwilling to deal with this issue so vital to the welfare of all who live within our borders.
I was personally delighted to see Rep. Scalise elected to serve as House Majority Whip. He has represented his Louisiana district with distinction, including leading on key issues of concern to Christians such as protecting life in the womb and defending religious liberty.
Immigration is actually a very common theme in the Bible. In fact, Jesus' famous instruction to "love your neighbor" is a quote from the Old Testament teaching on caring for foreigners as if they were native-born.
God repeatedly commands the Israelites to love and welcome the immigrants who come into their land, remembering their own history as foreigners in the land of Egypt. God makes clear his concern for those who are vulnerable, repeatedly mentioning the immigrant alongside the fatherless and the widow as groups in need of special protections.
At First Baptist New Orleans, we've tried to put these biblical teachings into practice in a variety of ways. As we've reached out to the many immigrants in New Orleans, this issue has become very personal for our congregation.
Immigration is no longer about statistics. It is about faces and names of individuals we have come to know, many of whom participate in our ministries. I cannot watch a brother or sister suffer without speaking up.
I have seen the wounded -- broken ribs, gunshots, and stab wounds -- whose stories illustrate the need for reforms to our immigration laws. Undocumented immigrants, often victims of assault and other crimes, are afraid to access medical care or to report crimes to the police. Their desperate need and terrible isolation speaks to the suffering endured by millions who live in the shadows of our society.
The longer our dysfunctional laws go unaddressed, the greater the suffering. I urge Rep. Scalise to lead the House of Representatives in acting on immigration this summer.
Do not construe this as a call for amnesty. While individual Christians are called to forgive, the government has been instituted by God to maintain order, and it has a responsibility to respect the rule of law. Amnesty -- forgiving and forgetting the violation of law -- is not a good option.
The reality, though, is that our immigration laws have been disrespected and only selectively enforced for decades: The current situation is a de facto amnesty. Still, almost no one in Washington, D.C., advocates deporting all of the approximately 11 million people present unlawfully in the United States. That would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and necessarily divide families that include both U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants in the same family.
Because mass deportation and amnesty are both non-solutions, the only reasonable response to those present in our country unlawfully is to impose an alternate penalty. I've joined other evangelical leaders in calling for an earned legalization process that would require immigrants here illegally to come forward, pay a fine for having violated the law and then undergo a criminal background check.
Those who have committed serious crimes would be deported, but the majority of undocumented immigrants, who have been otherwise law-abiding, could earn the chance to stay lawfully in the country if they could meet a stringent set of requirements. Combined with improvements to border security and a more market-sensitive visa system, these reforms actually would restore the rule of law.
Polls find that the vast majority of Americans, including most evangelical Christians, support these sorts of reforms. We are tired of waiting. As politicians bicker, people here in Louisiana suffer.
My fervent prayer is that as Rep. Scalise assumes his new position of leadership, he will use his influence to genuinely lead on this urgent topic.
Rev. David Crosby is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of New Orleans.
That would be a major disappointment. Like many other Christians across the nation, I am praying that Rep. Scalise and his colleagues will yet help our country find long-term solutions on this vexing issue. I am disappointed that our elected officials are unwilling to deal with this issue so vital to the welfare of all who live within our borders.
I was personally delighted to see Rep. Scalise elected to serve as House Majority Whip. He has represented his Louisiana district with distinction, including leading on key issues of concern to Christians such as protecting life in the womb and defending religious liberty.
Immigration is actually a very common theme in the Bible. In fact, Jesus' famous instruction to "love your neighbor" is a quote from the Old Testament teaching on caring for foreigners as if they were native-born.
God repeatedly commands the Israelites to love and welcome the immigrants who come into their land, remembering their own history as foreigners in the land of Egypt. God makes clear his concern for those who are vulnerable, repeatedly mentioning the immigrant alongside the fatherless and the widow as groups in need of special protections.
At First Baptist New Orleans, we've tried to put these biblical teachings into practice in a variety of ways. As we've reached out to the many immigrants in New Orleans, this issue has become very personal for our congregation.
Immigration is no longer about statistics. It is about faces and names of individuals we have come to know, many of whom participate in our ministries. I cannot watch a brother or sister suffer without speaking up.
I have seen the wounded -- broken ribs, gunshots, and stab wounds -- whose stories illustrate the need for reforms to our immigration laws. Undocumented immigrants, often victims of assault and other crimes, are afraid to access medical care or to report crimes to the police. Their desperate need and terrible isolation speaks to the suffering endured by millions who live in the shadows of our society.
The longer our dysfunctional laws go unaddressed, the greater the suffering. I urge Rep. Scalise to lead the House of Representatives in acting on immigration this summer.
Do not construe this as a call for amnesty. While individual Christians are called to forgive, the government has been instituted by God to maintain order, and it has a responsibility to respect the rule of law. Amnesty -- forgiving and forgetting the violation of law -- is not a good option.
The reality, though, is that our immigration laws have been disrespected and only selectively enforced for decades: The current situation is a de facto amnesty. Still, almost no one in Washington, D.C., advocates deporting all of the approximately 11 million people present unlawfully in the United States. That would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and necessarily divide families that include both U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants in the same family.
Because mass deportation and amnesty are both non-solutions, the only reasonable response to those present in our country unlawfully is to impose an alternate penalty. I've joined other evangelical leaders in calling for an earned legalization process that would require immigrants here illegally to come forward, pay a fine for having violated the law and then undergo a criminal background check.
Those who have committed serious crimes would be deported, but the majority of undocumented immigrants, who have been otherwise law-abiding, could earn the chance to stay lawfully in the country if they could meet a stringent set of requirements. Combined with improvements to border security and a more market-sensitive visa system, these reforms actually would restore the rule of law.
Polls find that the vast majority of Americans, including most evangelical Christians, support these sorts of reforms. We are tired of waiting. As politicians bicker, people here in Louisiana suffer.
My fervent prayer is that as Rep. Scalise assumes his new position of leadership, he will use his influence to genuinely lead on this urgent topic.
Rev. David Crosby is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of New Orleans.
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