For Dreamers

Last updated on: December 9, 2012 at 11:19 am by Jessica Church

For Dreamers 2012-12-09T11:19:21-07:00 Jessica Church

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Nearly a month ago I wrote, “We put our foot down against the hateful and discriminatory sound bites about immigrants and their children.” And yet, they keep on coming. In a recent article by Ann Coulter, insensitively titled “America Nears El Tipping Pointo,” she writes, “I apologize to America’s young people, whose dashed dreams and dim employment prospects I had laughed at, believing these to be a direct result of their voting for Obama. On closer examination, it turns out that young voters, aged 18-29, overwhelmingly supported Romney. But only the white ones.”

Wait. Wait. It get’s better (or worse, really): “The youth vote is a snapshot of elections to come if nothing is done to reverse the deluge of unskilled immigrants pouring into the country as a result of Ted Kennedy’s 1965 immigration act. Eighty-five percent of legal immigrants since 1968 have come from the Third World. A majority of them are in need of government assistance.”

What have we been thinking?! We should only let rich people move to the United States! Because that’s how it was founded and all.

Now, I know that Ann Coulter is what we might call a TV personality. She says what she says to get a rise out of people and because it ruffles feathers. And unfortunately, this is how she thinks she shows her strength as a political correspondent and as a working woman.

But it is not strength, Ann. It is hate. Hatred for people who aren’t like you. Hatred for people who are a different color. Hatred for people who are poor.

And as much as I want to scream at her and stomp my feet and tell everyone I know that she is an awful, rotten, Godless woman, I can’t do that. Because my last article also said this: “We cannot drive out the hate and animosity with more hate and animosity. Rather, we drive it out with the Spirit of God and with love.” And I really believe in that.

You can call me an idealist. You can tell me that I’m young and in college and have yet to do “real work” in the “real world,” but I think those are things people say when they’ve lost their vision. Or maybe when they’ve lost God’s vision.

On June 15th, 2012, under the leadership of Barack Obama, America took a step forward. Obama gave his speech outside the White House declaring that Immigration Policy, specifically the deportation regulations for young illegal immigrants, was going to change.

It was, as I recall, one of those amazing Obama speeches. He told America that his administration was going to mend our nation’s immigration policy so that the children of illegal immigrants, children who may have been brought here as infants without a choice in the matter, can remain in America.

He said, “Now, these are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they’re friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.”

In many instances, these kids have worked hard. They have graduated from high school and been accepted into college. By all accounts, they will be hard and productive workers, adding strength to our economy and diversity to our workplace. But that’s not really the point, is it? The point is that these children of illegal immigrants, these dreamers, are people.

Immigration is on the slate for Obama’s second term. It’s one of the things political commentators say he needs to accomplish to leave a stronger legacy. I think it’s one of the things we need to accomplish as a nation because it’s the right thing to do.

As of today, we have yet to pass the Dream Act. But as a Christian, I support immigration reform. For it has been said to us, You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God (Leviticus 19:34).

As always, follow me on Twitter at @MissAnalytical or send me an email at [email protected]

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November 12, 2012

Putting our Collective Foot Down

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December 15, 2012 Lament for the Massacred Innocents

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