Aliens and Immigrants

Many of us Americans had ancestors pass through Ellis Island (pictured here). None of my ancestors did, but some of my wife's family passed through here. Last Summer, we visited Ellis Island on our vacation to the northeast. It was amazing to sit in that great hall and think of the people that passed through there hoping for a better life in America. Even immigrants who did not pass through there were hoping for a better life. From the earliest European settlers in 1607 to the Pilgrims in 1620 up through the Irish fleeing the potato famine on to the boat refugees from Southeast Asia and on to Cuban exiles and others from the Caribbean, they were all hoping for a better life.

This week I was reading the account of how God brought his people out of Egypt to the land of Canaan. Exodus 22:21 says, "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt." The Israelites were oppressed in Egypt, forced to make bricks and build buildings. If anyone would feel justified in oppressing people who did not belong in their land it would be Israel. But, God commanded them to treat the alien, the immigrant, with justice.

We often take advantage of the immigrant. They will mow the lawn for next to nothing. They will shingle a roof or put drywall for subsistence wages. They will scrub our filthy toilets for pennies on the dollar of what it would cost a "true-bred" American, if you can find someone to do it.

Are we not taking advantage of them? The argument runs this way: If they are willing to work for nothing that's their problem. Is that a valid reason to take advantage of them? The same argument can be used for any scam.

Perhaps, we should remember that all of our families were at one time, or another, immigrants.

God's justice does not allow us to take advantage of anyone for any reason.