What I’ve Learned About Immigration

Last Fall, after preaching a sermon in which I raised some concerns I have with how the church treats immigrants, in what felt like a relatively surreal twist of fate to me, a parishioner set up a meeting between me and my Congressman so I could voice some of my concerns to my representative.

The meeting did not go as I expected, and the Congressman and I have, I think it is fair to say, very different ideas about what is the best and just thing to do as a country for those who want to settle in the United States, as well as those who have found themselves here with varying degrees of official legitimacy.

That is another story. In the process of preparing for the meeting, I tried to do my best to be able to say accurate things about the process of immigrating beyond just my own experience (which itself is in reality the story of my parents’ immigration process while I tagged along).

In light of the fact that immigration is suddenly a big topic for this election cycle, I thought I would share a few of the things that surprised me about immigration. This is all coming from the 2009 book Welcoming the Stranger. It was written by a couple of people who work for World Relief, a group that works directly with all kinds of refugees and immigrants. These all have citations in the book, that I’m not particularly interested in tracking down, but you can contact me or buy the book) if you want them.

Numbers

There are about 11-12 million immigrants in the country without valid immigration status¹. I know we all know this number now, thanks to the increased talk of deportation in the debates, but that number just seemed really high to me at the time. Good to keep in mind just how many people we are talking about. That’s somewhere around the population of Ohio. And that’s just the estimation of the undocumented immigrants.

Crime

The crime rate among immigrants is lower than that among native-born US citizens. No commentary, just good to know.

Resources

The federal government receives about $6-$7 billion dollars in what they call “no-match” Social Security contributions, which they know come mostly from unauthorized immigrants. In fact, the IRS offers taxpayer numbers to people without valid social security numbers so they can properly file taxes – with a commitment that they won’t communicate info to immigration enforcement.

Basically, the critique that undocumented immigrants suck up resources should be reversed. They pay into the system, rather than take from (because you can bet that their SSN numbers will be much more scrutinized when looking for any sort of benefits).

And if you want to talk about how they use our public schools or other public systems, I’ll direct your attention to George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan’s thoughts on the matter.

My relatives came here legally!

Prior to 1920, you didn’t need a visa to enter the country. So if your ancestors came to these waters earlier than 1920, it is kind of hard to boast of their “legal” entry. The system now is far more strenuous and complicated.

The difficulty to keep families together

If your family member is a permanent resident of the United States (otherwise known as having a Green card, which is not Green, but does have a sweet hologram of your face on it), there is still a wait time for you to enter the country. It can vary anywhere from 5 to 18 years, depending on the relationship and the country.

The cost of immigration

The USCIS (the branch of the government that is in charge of immigration) is almost entirely funded by fees paid by immigrants, not taxpayer money. The fees, not to mention the cost of immigration lawyers to help you navigate the process, often make it difficult to afford to immigrate. You may be fine with this, but it certainly goes against any narrative that poor immigrants can move to this country and work their way up. They can do that, if they can afford the initial cost of entry.

So what?

I’m not proposing any particular legislation here. These facts, among my own convictions about what the Bible teaches, have led me to a place in wanting more grace and more opportunities for immigrants. Maybe for you, it doesn’t. These facts don’t by necessity point to any one policy. Someone could easily say “Sure, immigrants have supported our economy with their labour and paid taxes like everyone else, but that doesn’t mean they had the right to break the laws of our country and thus should be deported”. I think that action would be unjust, but it is better to make that decision with the facts, rather than speculation and anecdotes.

Use this information as you will. If immigration matters to you, investigate it more. But don’t think that you are going to get accurate ideas from any political campaign. Consult people who are involved in the lives of immigrants so you can better know what it looks like to move to this country.