There are almost 14 million illegal immigrants in the United States. To listen to some woke evangelicals, that's a lot of "the least of these" that the Bible tells us to welcome and provide for.
Dr. Everett Piper of Oklahoma Wesleyan University tells AFN he's heard it all, that the illegals feel "very real pain," since President Donald Trump was elected, that it's deeply troubling that the U.S. requires documentation from immigrants.
Piper says one Facebook acquaintance told him, “MAGA Christians were exposed to the actual words and teachings of Jesus, of compassion and love and mercy, and find the only way they can respond is with vitriol and spite.”
Piper disagrees. Compassion can take on different forms, he says.
“Do you think it's vitriolic to have compassion for the 300,000 children who have been trafficked by cartels into America's heartland?”
Or for those who have died from Fentanyl and other drugs?
“Should we have deep concern for the tens of thousands of women who have been forced into prostitution because of our open borders have you torn down the fence around your backyard? Have you removed the locks from your front door.”
Those who can’t answer yes to that -- while standing in judgment of Americans concerned by the millions of illegals who poured into the country during Joe Biden’s presidency – “are really little more than sanctimonious hypocrites saying do as I say not as I do,” Piper said.
Providing for children of illegals
U.S. states show compassion for illegal immigrants at public schools each morning.
In a Christian Post editorial Dr. Richard Land, President Emeritus of Southern Evangelical Seminary, argues that while anyone who has broken laws in their country or ours, or is here illegally, should be deported, their children should be afforded an education while they're here. There are several reasons for that.
“It’s immoral to punish somebody for somebody else's crime. These children did not bring themselves here. They were brought here by their parents,” he told AFN.
He adds that it is harmful to these innocent children to keep them from developing in age-appropriate ways, even if their parents are in the country illegally.
“It's immoral to deny children access to education during their childhood and adolescence. Those are years that they can never make up and it permanently squelches their potential,” he said.
In the U.S., this compassion was mandated in the 1982 Supreme Court case of Plyler v. Doe when the justices established that children of illegal immigrants have the right to attend public primary and secondary schools in the United States.
The decision struck down a Texas statute that denied funding for the education of undocumented children and an attempt by a local school district to charge $1,000 tuition annually for each undocumented child.
That Supreme Court decision is the state of Tennessee is on solid legal ground as it requires students to “establish lawful presence in the United States” to be a part of its new school voucher program.
Republican Governor Bill Lee recently signed legislation that will make available 20,000 vouchers for his state’s families to use to attend private schools. Ten thousand vouchers will be available regardless of income level, the other 10,000 reserved for low-income families.
"Under the standing Supreme Court order Plyler v. Doe, (states) have to provide public education, but they don't need to go to any extra steps beyond that," Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told AFN.
Further risk for children
Denying education to the children of illegals would put the children at risk, Land said.
“If we have them here and we do not allow them to go to public school, then the chances of them being trafficked, either for child labor or for sex trafficking, increase mightily, and that would be a huge moral blight on the on the United States.”
