With all of the recent discussion regarding the upcoming election, I thought I would chime in with a few thoughts about one of the topics that has obviously struck a nerve in our nation…
Immigration.
I have given some thought to this, and thought I would share with you a few ideas that, if I were the guy in charge, would be a part of my platform. For lack of a better term, let’s just call it the Phillips Immigration Plan.
VISAS
It is essential for all foreign nationals to have a visa when they are travelling to the United States, as without one they will not be allowed to enter the country.
For those who are travelling to the country for religious events (since I am a Christian pastor, and religious events are important to me) there are Christian event visas. The numbers of these that are issued each year are limited, simply due to the large numbers of people who would wish to visit. It is important to adhere to the dates which are issued on the visa as if you overstay you can be subject to fines and further delays before you can return to your home country.
For those who are planning a short visit to the U.S., it is possible to get a visitor visa, although these will be limited. In order to get a visitor visa, you would need to be invited by a company or individual as they will be your sponsor and officially responsible for you during your visit. It is the sponsor who must apply for the visa on behalf of the visitor.
It should also be noted that if you are rejected for a visa, then it would not be worth reapplying as it is unlikely that you would be reconsidered.
Visitors or workers that have a stamp from any Latin American country in their passport or any visible connection with any such country will not be allowed entry into the U.S. If you do need to travel to a Latin American country for any reason, it may be possible to ask the authorities in those countries to stamp a separate sheet of paper rather than the actual passport, so that your future travel is not limited in this way.
Residency
When a person is applying for residency in the United States, they must be in possession of a firm job offer from a company operating within the country. A residency permit will not be issued unless this is the case. It should also be noted that residency permits are rarely issued when a person is already in the country on a short stay visa. Residency permits are normally issued when the individual is still in their home country. The permit acts as an ID card and the worker must carry it with them at all times, as the authorities can request to see it at any time. Failure to comply can lead to heavy penalties.
Citizenship
Foreign citizens would very rarely be granted citizenship in the United States. This is due to the strict limits that would be placed on immigration in the U.S. For most people the only way to become a citizen would be to marry a U.S. citizen, but this is no guarantee that citizenship status can be granted, particularly if the foreign national is not a Christian. A person applying for citizenship will have to be prepared to give up their own nationality as dual nationality will not be permitted. Those who marry a U.S. citizen can later have their citizenship taken away if the marriage ends.
It is possible for the President of the U.S. to offer citizenship status to a foreign born worker if they have lived and worked in the country for a long time and their service there is considered to be exceptional. It is possible for an employer who has a good foreign worker to offer them work and residence permits that are indefinite, but there will still be an issue when the worker retires, and only employers with a great deal of influence will be able to ensure that this continues when the work stops. This is not the same as citizenship status and only gives the worker the right to live in the country.
The naturalization laws would allow expatriates to apply for citizenship. Citizenship can be granted after a vigorous assessment process, but there would be a trial period lasting for 10 years, during which the behavior of the new citizen is monitored to ensure that they continue to be of good character. Those who make false statements in order to obtain citizenship are heavily fined and their applications are instantly rejected. Those who spend a great deal of time outside the country once they have obtained citizenship may also find that it can be withdrawn.
Citizenship can only be applied for by those who have already spent 10 years working and living in the country and applicants must be living in the country when they make their application, with all the relevant visas and permits in place and valid. An applicant will also need to demonstrate a good level of proficiency in English and most will require a reference from a local pastor or clergyman to show that they are of good character and that they have integrated well into the community. An applicant who is considered to be of unsound mind will not be considered for citizenship.
Those who have a child in the United States should be aware that the child will take on the nationality of the parents and will not automatically be entitled to U.S. citizenship, unless one of the parents is a U.S. citizen. In this case the child can be given local nationality and claim a passport from that country.
So what do you think? Do I sound pretty reasonable, or pretty harsh? Some of you may agree. Some of you may think I have lost my mind.
Well, in the interest of coming clean, I have a confession to make…
This is not my immigration plan. This is not even the immigration plan of any political candidate currently running for president. These “ideas” are actual visa, residency, and immigration laws of the nation of Saudi Arabia, with a few “minor” changes…
- Where is says “U.S.” or “United States“, substitute “Saudi Arabia”.
- Where it says “President“, substitute “King”.
- Where it says “English“, substitute “Arabic”.
- Where it says “Christian“, substitute “Muslim”.
- Where it says “local pastor or clergyman“, substitute “Imam”.
- Where it says “Latin American country“, substitute “Israel”.
Already, during this election cycle, I have seen a lot of things said by reporters, commentators, pundits, and political hacks that, quite frankly, are somewhat disturbing. The term “low information voter” is bandied about quite loosely by some to describe anyone who disagrees with the “more informed and educated” opinions of our media elite or political ruling classes. Instead of having an honest conversation about candidates, policy, or anything else of substance, we digress into the same “gutter” we accuse politicians of operating within with name-calling, vitriol, and baseless accusations.
As Americans, we want someone who will inspire us, who will ride in on a white horse and save our society. The problem with that is, if you look in Revelation 6, the first person to ride in on a white horse is the first horseman of the Apocalypse (the Antichrist). That doesn’t end so well for humanity. Am I saying our next president will be the Antichrist? Of course not. What I am saying is that oftentimes the person doing and saying all of the right things is not all they are cracked up to be.
As Christians, we want someone with strong faith and a deep commitment to Christ. I know that personally, I would. However, as I discussed in a previous blog post, sometimes the person God has for the job is not a Samuel, a David, or a Solomon… sometimes it is a Cyrus or a Nebuchadnezzar. The person with the best Sunday School attendance record is not necessarily the best at fiscal decisions or international crisis management.
So how do we come to terms with the person vs. the candidate?
In Isaiah 1:16-18, we find the words of the LORD…
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,17 Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool…”
In verse 18, we see God beckoning His people to come and reason together. It seems to me that, in our current political climate, we would do well to do just that. We would be wise to set aside the preconceptions and media soundbites, and reason things out.
Every election brings empty promises from candidates. I cannot think of a president in my lifetime who did not make promises he either could not, would not, or had no intention of keeping. Whether he said it merely to get elected, or had the best of intentions and simply ran into too much opposition, promises were broken. Does it make it right that every candidate does it? No, not at all. It is simply a reality of the process; to hope for the best, but often settle for something in between “best” and “unacceptable”. Truth be told, all we ever have is a person’s word (unless they are running for a second term), because they have never been in that position doing that particular job with those particular pressures. We trust and have faith that our candidate will do what he says. Besides praying, that is all we can do.
Recently, I saw someone’s post on social media regarding Donald Trump (this is not an endorsement, merely an example). One person remarked on the thread that he was a liar and a cheat. In my mind I thought, “Ok, I’ll bite. Let’s assume that he IS the liar and cheat you say he is. Where are the charges? Where is the indictment? What is the name of the DA prosecuting him for fraud and conspiracy?” They don’t exist. People simply regurgitate what they hear, without doing their own research. A lot of people don’t like Mr. Trump for some things he has said… I get that. But making unfounded and vague accusations about a person often makes you no better than the person you are criticizing.
But God beckons us to come and reason together.
Recently, I was watching a man-on-the-street interview in which the interviewer would ask people about their candidate, but would attribute a quote or stance of one candidate to another, many times being the polar opposite view. It was amazing to me to see people get behind a position simply because they thought that was the view of their candidate, instead of what they personally believed.
In my “immigration proposal”, I was making a point that whether or not you agreed with me in theory, in some places in the world (in this case, Saudi Arabia), such laws are a reality, not just far-fetched fantasy. I know first-hand, from having been to Israel numerous times, the reality of having a customs agent offer to stamp a piece of paper so as not to put an Israeli stamp in my passport. The fact is, when it comes to many things such as immigration, gun-control, and other hot-button topics, before we try passing a bunch of new legislation, we would probably do well to enforce the laws already on the books. When we devolve into factions, and compare those we disagree with to Inquisitors, Crusaders, or Nazis (without a fundamental understanding of either), instead of talking and reasoning out our differences, we cease to be a part of the solution, and double down on being a part of the problem.
Some of my staff members recently went to a banquet, during which the keynote speaker was Pastor Rick Warren. One of my staff asked him the question, “How do you deal with all of the negative press and publicity you get sometimes in the press and social media?” Pastor Warren responded that, if we are following the example of Jesus, His first response was often silence. In Proverbs 15:1 we find this advice…
A soft answer turns away wrath,
But a harsh word stirs up anger.
So I invite you, the next time you don’t see eye to eye with a person politically, don’t turn a bad situation worse. Let your soft answer defuse the situation, and open the dialogue to the invitation of our Lord…
Come, let us reason together.
You might actually find that you have not only retained a friend, but gained a brother or sister as well.
It is pretty apparent that we live in a world of extremes…
Recently at our church, our young people performed the great musical The Sound of Music. It is the classic story of the von Trapp family’s escape from Nazism in Austria after Germany usurped Austria into the German empire in 1938 — an event known as the Anschluss.
The National Socialist German Worker’s Party (ie: the Nazi Party) rose to power following Germany’s defeat in World War I. The Nazis played upon the discontent of the people in attacking big business and capitalism, and used class-warfare as a tool to further its popularity by establishing a culture of entitlement and ideological superiority. Racism was also a key element in the spread of this toxic ideology, and resulted in the Holocaust… the death of six million Jews.
That’s right, folks. Election Year! Placards wallpapering the roadside, political television and radio spots with the flip of every channel, unbridled rhetoric filling the walls and news feeds of Facebook and Twitter. We seem to have about every conceivable viewpoint, every imaginable ideology, and every possible position covered. We all have in our minds the perfect candidate; the one that we agree with on 99.9999% of the issues important to our nation. And while the Democratic side of the nation has far fewer candidates to choose from than the Republican side, it would seem that just about every possible ideology is represented.
The reality of the situation, particularly on the conservative side of things, is that we are looking for someone who does not exist: The perfect candidate. We want to believe that we agree with a certain candidate about everything when we really don’t because he (or she) is “our guy”. We want to not agree with a certain candidate because they are not “our guy”. The fact of the matter is that there is not really that much that separates most of the candidates on either side. Most Republicans agree on most issues. Most Democrats agree on most issues.
#3. Vote. Abraham Lincoln once said, “He has a right to criticize who has a heart to help.” As much as I hate to say this, sometimes voting is not about picking the person who will do the most good. Sometimes, it is about picking the person who will do the least harm. Sometimes, neither candidate is ideal. Sometimes, you may feel like you are just choosing between the lesser of two evils. However, by choosing not to vote, you have voted — you chose not to support the candidate who had the best chance of success.
No matter how many times we view it, it seems that every year, viewing the Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart classic is as much a tradition of the season of Christmas as decking the halls, drinking egg nog, or wearing ugly sweaters. No matter how many times we see the image of George Bailey running down the snow-filled streets of Bedford Falls, screaming to people, buildings, and other inanimate objects, it gives us hope to know that George will discover the deeper meaning of Christmas, that he will learn a lot about friendship and the love people have for him, that his life does matter, and that Clarence does get his wings.
“So what are you saying Pastor??? Are you saying that we should crack down on George Bailey, Santa Claus, Frosty, and Rudolph???”
Honestly, we would do well to rediscover the ability to laugh at ourselves. Proverbs 17:22 says that a merry heart does good, like a medicine… But when the offense is legitimate or grave, we should probably step back, take a long look at the situation and our motives, and ask if our offense is better fought through confrontation or prayer.
The Heart of Abba - Ron Phillips 