Who are those "illegals"?

Finally, it seems, immigration reform will be on the agenda in Washington.  For some time we have been following the efforts of a coalition of Christian organizations advocating for comprehensive immigration reform.  The DREAM act has been presented but has been on the back burner, the politicians unwilling to confront this difficult issue.  The basic idea the DREAM act is to offer daughters and sons of undocumented workers who have spent practically their whole lives in the US a conditional pathway to citizenship if they attend college or serve in the military.

Most of us don't know the stories of these undocumented immigrants.  Here is a excerpt from a letter we got from Becca Aaker, a high school student from Fargo, who went on a mission trip to the Texas border sponsored by her school.  Becca is the daughter of my nephew Mark and Tracy Aaker. The trip caused her to reflect a lot on stories of the people she encountered and on the meaning of  family. 

" After a couple of hours of painting seven of us were invited to eat lunch with ladies ranging in age from about 20 to 50.  All of them were Mexican, Spanish-speaking women, 2 of whom spoke fairly fluent English.  Of the seven in our group (from Oak Grove Lutheran school), our Spanish is between a semester and a couple of years of class.  The amazing part about it though was that between our broken Spanish and their broken English, everyone of us was laughing, talking and having a wonderful time together.  It felt like a big family holiday meal.  No one in the room was biologically related but a sense of family was so present. If felt loved by the women whom I had known an hour or so and whose names I couldn't pronounce correctly.

We were blessed with the opportunity to listen and talk with a Mexican immigrant who was illegally living in the US.  When asked why she came to America, she said she had to.  She told us about how the village she lived in was extremely violent and that in order to protect her children, she needed to move her family.

I pray that I remember that they all have a story, one that I don't know and maybe never will.  I can only hope that I learn to base my decisions on the possibility of what I may not know rather than what can be easily assumed."

Thanks Becca.

I wonder if Jesus was an illegal immigrant when his family went across the boarder to Egypt after his birth? They really had to leave and go to a safer place.