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“Undocumented: from Sanctuary to Radical Hospitality”

by Reverend Charles Blustein Ortman
November 18, 2007

READINGS:

The first reading is from the Book of Matthew, Chapter 25:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'”

The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

The second reading is the poem, “The New Colossus.” This famous piece was written Emma Lazarus in 1883 to help raise money to build the of the Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

SERMON:

First of all, I want to thank David Sailer, Rose Ann Murray, Alfredo Villela, and Mary Moriarity, and Juan Carlos Ruiz for their help in preparing this morning’s servie. Much of the information that is contained in this homily is taken directly from the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network web site and I encourage everyone to visit that site for further information.

This morning we observe Thanksgiving. There are only two contemporary accounts of the 1621 Thanksgiving: First is Edward Winslow's account, which he wrote in a letter dated De-cember 12, 1621. The complete letter was first published in 1622, and is chapter 6 of Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth.

“Our corn [i.e. wheat] did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gather-ing, for we feared they were too late sown. They came up very well, and blos-somed, but the sun parched them in the blossom. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner re-joice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

We have always been a nation of Immigrants. Some of our forbears came here by choice, some by force and all as a result of the economic realities in an increasingly global economy. It has always been a global economy with migration that has occurred in response to needs for hunting, for arable land, and, since the Industrial Revolution, for work. What is new is not im-migration, but the illegality of it and the manner in which it creates an indentured or servant class in America.

Top 10 Myths About Immigration
NJ Immigration Policy Network – 89 Market St., 8th Floor, Newark NJ 07102 Phone: (973) 631-0021 Fax: (973) 621-0097 Email: njipn@njipn.org. Compiled by Leo Achondo, Justice for Im-migrants, a project of the Center for Community Change

1. Immigrants don't pay taxes.
The truth is: Immigrants pay taxes, in the form of income, property, sales, and taxes at the fed-eral and state level. As far as income tax payments go, sources vary in their accounts, but a range of studies find that immigrants pay between $90 and $140 billion a year in federal, state, and lo-cal taxes. Undocumented immigrants pay income taxes as well, as evidenced by the Social Secu-rity Administration's "suspense file" (taxes that cannot be matched to workers' names and social security numbers), which grew by $20 billion between 1990 and 1998. (Source: http://www.immigrationforum.org/about/articles/tax_study.htm)

2. Immigrants come here to take welfare.
The truth is: Immigrants come to work and reunite with family members. Immigrant labor force participation is consistently higher than native-born, and immigrant workers make up a larger share of the U.S. labor force (12.4%) than they do the U.S. population (11.5%). Moreover, the ratio between immigrant use of public benefits and the amount of taxes they pay is consistently favorable to the U.S. In one estimate, immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, pay about $90 billion a year in taxes, and use about $5 billion in public benefits. In another cut of the data, im-migrant tax payments total $20 to $30 billion more than the amount of government services they use. (Source: "Questioning Immigration Policy - Can We Afford to Open Our Arms?" Friends Committee on National Legislation Document #G-606-DOM, January 25, 1996. http://www.fas.org/pub/gen/fcnl/immigra.html)

3. Immigrants send all their money back to their home countries.
The truth is: In addition to the consumer spending of immigrant households, immigrants and their businesses contribute $162 billion in tax revenue to U.S. federal, state, and local govern-ments. While it is true that immigrants remit billions of dollars a year to their home countries, this is one of the most targeted and effective forms of direct foreign investment.
(Source: http://www.cato.org/research/articles/griswold-020218.html)

4. Immigrants take jobs and opportunity away from Americans.
The truth is: The largest wave of immigration to the U.S. since the early 1900s coincided with our lowest national unemployment rate and fastest economic growth. Immigrant entrepreneurs create jobs for U.S. and foreign workers, and foreign-born students allow many U.S. graduate programs to keep their doors open. (Source: Richard Vedder, Lowell Gallaway, and Stephen Moore, Immigration and Unemployment: New Evidence, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Ar-lington, VA (Mar. 1994), p. 13.)

5. Immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy.
The truth is: During the 1990s, half of all new workers were foreign-born, filling gaps left by na-tive-born workers in both the high- and low-skill ends of the spectrum. Immigrants fill jobs in key sectors, start their own businesses, and contribute to a thriving economy. The net benefit of immigration to the U.S. is nearly $10 billion annually. As Alan Greenspan points out, 70% of immigrants arrive in prime working age. That means we haven't spent a penny on their educa-tion, yet they are transplanted into our workforce and will contribute $500 billion toward our so-cial security system over the next 20 years. (Source:i Andrew Sum, Mykhaylo Trubskyy, Ishwar Khatiwada, et al., Immigrant Workers in the New England Labor Market: Implications for Work-force Development Policy, Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, Prepared for the New England Regional Office, the Employment and Training Administration, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Boston, Massachusetts, October 2002. http://www.nupr.neu.edu/11-02/immigration.PDF )

6. Immigrants don't want to learn English or become Americans.
The truth is: Within ten years of arrival, more than 75% of immigrants speak English well; moreover, demand for English classes at the adult level far exceeds supply. More than 33% of immigrants are naturalized citizens; given increased immigration in the 1990s, this figure will rise as more legal permanent residents become eligible for naturalization in the coming years. The number of immigrants naturalizing spiked sharply after two events: enactment of immigra-tion and welfare reform laws in 1996, and the terrorist attacks in 2001. (Source: American Im-migration Lawyers Association, Myths & Facts in the Immigration Debate", 8/14/03.
http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=17,142#section4) (Source: Simon Romero and Janet Elder, "Hispanics in the US Report Optimism" New York Times, Aug. 6, 2003)

7. Today's immigrants are different than those of 100 years ago.
The truth is: The percentage of the U.S. population that is foreign-born now stands at 11.5%; in the early 20th century it was approximately 15%. Similar to accusations about today's immi-grants, those of 100 years ago initially often settled in mono-ethnic neighborhoods, spoke their native languages, and built up newspapers and businesses that catered to their fellow émigrés. They also experienced the same types of discrimination
that today's immigrants face, and integrated within American culture at a similar rate. If we view history objectively, we remember that every new wave of immigrants has been met with suspi-cion and doubt and yet, ultimately, every past wave of immigrants has been vindicated and sa-luted. (Source: Census Data: http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf)

8. Most immigrants cross the border illegally.
The truth is: Around 75% of today's immigrants have legal permanent (immigrant) visas; of the 25% that are undocumented, 40% overstayed temporary (non-immigrant) visas. (Source: De-partment of Homeland Security http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/index.htm)

9. Weak U.S. border enforcement has led to high undocumented immigration.
The truth is: From 1986 to 1998, the Border Patrol's budget increased six-fold and the number of agents stationed on our southwest border doubled to 8,500. The Border Patrol also toughened its enforcement strategy, heavily fortifying typical urban entry points and pushing migrants into dangerous desert areas, in hopes of deterring crossings. Instead, the undocumented immigrant population doubled in that timeframe, to 8 million-despite the legalization of nearly 3 million immigrants after the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986. Insufficient legal avenues for immigrants to enter the U.S., compared with the number of jobs in need of workers, has significantly contributed to this current conundrum. (Source: Immigration and Naturalization website: http://www.ncjrs.org/ondcppubs/publications/enforce/border/ins_3.html)

10. The war on terrorism can be won through immigration restrictions.
The truth is: No security expert since September 11, 2001 has said that restrictive immigration measures would have prevented the terrorist attacks. The key is effective use of good intelli-gence. Most of the 9/11 hijackers entered the US with legal visas. Since 9/11, the myriad of measures targeting immigrants in the name of national security have netted no terrorism prosecu-tions. In fact, several of these measures could
have the opposite effect and actually make us less safe, as targeted communities of immigrants are afraid to come forward with information. (Source: Associated Press/Dow Jones Newswires, "US Senate Subcommittee Hears Immigration Testimony", Oct. 17, 2001.) (Source: Cato Insti-tute: "Don't Blame Immigrants for Terrorism", Daniel Griswold, Assoc. Director of Cato Insti-tute's Center for Trade Policy Studies http://www.cato.org/dailys/10-23-01.html)

The truth is that the story of undocumented immigrants in the United States is a story of people, our brothers and sisters.

It is a story of:

• Immigrants, upon whose backs this nation has always been built and thrived upon
• Racism, or ethnic oppression (much like slavery)
• Religious and moral values: Calvinism and not Universalism
• Immoral relegation of inhumane treatment of our fellow human beings.

Introduction of visitors

(Note to the reader: At this point in the service we heard from our guests who included a director for the New Sanctuary Movement in the NYC metropolitan area and from a father and son, both of whom are undocumented immigrants from Jamaica. This was the must touching part of the service, as we heard the true human stories – histories – of individuals who have been living on the short end of things because of the failure of the American government and people to recognize immigrant rights as a human rights issue. The recording of their testimonials is available in the audio format of this sermon on the congregation’s website, but for purposes of protection it feels imprudent to print them here.)

Comprehensive Reform of Our Immigration Laws
Prepared by the National Immigration Forum, January 2007

Introduction: Symptoms of a Broken System

Any look at the nation’s immigration policy reveals a system greatly in need of reform. Outdated policies keep American families separated from loved ones in other countries. Employers, faced with an insufficient pool of legal workers, increasingly rely on hard-working but unauthorized workers. Immigrants trekking through remote desert territory to gain entry to the U.S. die from the heat and lack of water. The rights of American workers, who are US citizens, are undermined when unscrupulous employers have their way with unauthorized workers who risk deportation if they stand up for their rights. Our enforcement personnel, who should be focused on security threats and criminals, are burdened with the task of chasing farmworkers, busboys, and nannies. States and communities, in the absence of Federal action to fix the broken system, must figure out on their own how to deal with a growing undocumented population. The frustration of the American people grows as politicians, rather than solving the problem, play politics with the issue.

The Problem: Our Immigration Laws are Broken

Currently, there are estimated to be more than twelve million immigrants here without legal pa-pers. Each year, an estimated 300,000 or more join that population. These people are coming here to work, to join family members, or both.

Those coming for work face similar obstacles to coming here legally. America’s economy and demographic shifts demand more workers, while our economic ties to Latin America and the rest of the world provide the economy with reserves of willing workers desiring nothing more than honest work and honest pay. However, there are very few visas available for immigrants to come here and work if they don’t have particular skills—only 5,000 per year. Meanwhile, our econ-omy has been absorbing hundreds of thousands. A father seeking work so he can make a better life for his family must choose to wait in a decades-long line or risk capture, humiliation, second-class status—and even his own life—in order to provide for his family.

The disconnect between the need for worker and family visas on the one hand, and what our im-migration system provides on the other, has serious consequences not only for immigrants, but for the country as a whole. A black market for fake documents has grown tremendously. Smug-gling cartels have become big businesses, with smugglers becoming more violent as the stakes have grown. In the context of the threat of terrorism, policies that drive the undocumented fur-ther underground will have enormous consequences for our ability to detect and deter terrorism. If our enforcement continues to focus primarily on immigrant workers, and our economy de-mands more workers than we allow in legally, our ability to detect and act against terrorists will be diminished.

Immigrants want to follow the rules and would choose to immigrate legally if that were a realis-tic option. The question for us then becomes, should we continue to restrict immigration ineffec-tively or should we embrace reality, update our laws, and manage immigration effectively?

Solution: Comprehensive Immigration Reform

It is a moral issue. We cannot solve our immigration problems through enforcement alone. We must step back and re-think our immigration system, and make the changes we need to effec-tively focus our enforcement resources on fighting terrorism and criminals, satisfy the needs of our economy for workers, and give American families the opportunity to be united with immi-grant members in a timely manner.

Here is what a morally and sane reform might look:

• It Must Provide a Path to Citizenship: Opportunities should be provided for undocu-mented immigrants currently living in the U.S. to receive work permits (or to access edu-cational opportunities) and travel permission once they undergo background and security checks. Those who choose to settle in the U.S. should eventually be eligible for perma-nent residence and citizenship.

• It Must Protect Workers: Wider legal channels must be created so needed workers can be admitted legally to fill available jobs. To avoid the exploitation and abuses of past, failed guestworker programs, a new worker program must adequately protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. and immigrant workers. It must also allow workers to change jobs, provide for adequate enforcement of both the program’s rules and existing labor laws, protect law-abiding employers from unscrupulous competitors, and provide an op-tion for workers to gain permanent status independent of an employer sponsor.

• It Must Reunite Families: Immigration reform will not succeed if public policy does not recognize one of the main factors driving migration: family unity. Restrictive laws and bureaucratic delays too often undermine this cornerstone of our legal immigration sys-tem. Those waiting in line should have their admission expedited, and those admitted on work visas should be able to keep their nuclear families intact. Reform should also ensure that in the future, close family members are not forced to wait years and even decades to reunite with loved ones living in the U.S.

• It Must Restore the Rule of Law and Enhance Security: Enforcement only works when the law is realistic and enforceable. A comprehensive overhaul will make our immigra-tion laws more realistic, permitting an intelligent enforcement regime that should include smart inspections and screening practices, fair proceedings, efficient processing, and strategies that focus on detecting and deterring terrorists and cracking down on criminal smugglers and lawbreaking employers. Such a system will better enable the nation to know who is already here and who is coming in the future, and will bring our system back into line with our tradition as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.

• It Must Promote Citizenship and Civic Participation and Help Local Communities: Im-migration to America works because newcomers are encouraged to become new Ameri-cans. It is time to renew our nation’s commitment to the full integration of newcomers by providing adult immigrants with quality English instruction, promoting and preparing them for citizenship, and providing them with opportunities to move up the economic ladder. The system should also offer support to local communities working to welcome newcomers.

Conclusion: We Can No Longer Afford the Failed Status Quo:

Last month we focused on the topic of growth and at the core of that theme was the very reli-gious idea of radical hospitality. What we are talking about on this morning of our Thanksgiving service is nothing other than radical hospitality to our fellow human beings. We can use the gifts and the privilege that we have been blessed with to ensure that the lives of others are blessed as well. What we can do, as a congregation, while we do our part in encouraging reform:

• Congregational Process affirming that we are a Sanctuary Congregation

• Connect and network with other congregations in town and UU congregations in New Jersey to work with us

• Hold Public Forums to shine light on this miscarriage of justice

• Become sponsors of an undocumented immigrant family Our Board of trustees voted unanimously at their meeting this past Tuesday evening to embark on this process with you and looks forward to putting these questions (once we’ve learned just what they are) before you for a vote in a congregational meeting.

In closing, these words come to mind. They were spoken by Robert F. Kennedy at the City Club of Cleveland on the historic date of April 5, 1968, one day after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. They are profound words that can guide us still.

“Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.

“We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.

“Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a pro-gram, nor with a resolution.

“But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happi-ness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

“Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.”

So then, may we indeed be grateful for the blessings which have been bestowed upon us, and determined in establishing the legacy we leave to those who come behind us.