Let the Children Come

It’s been awhile since my last post. I was on vacation, and I feel blessed to have had the time to rest and rejuvenate. I enjoyed my time with my family immensely. I am thankful my church realizes times of vacation are very important to my well being. I did my best to “let go” of all the responsibilities that come with being the minister of a new church. Again, I give thanks to God for the people of Hope United who made that possible!

I write today to advocate on the behalf of children—migrant children, yes, but aren’t we all still children of God? Do we not all have a basic right to health and safety, food and shelter, to even hope itself?

We cannot begin to understand what these migrant children have been through to get here, nor the violence and oppression of their home nations. What would you do if someone gave you the choice, “Join a gang or die?” Take part in acts of horrendous violence and oppression, OR your life is forfeit. I think I’d run too. I hope I would.

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” -Matthew 19:13-14

And the kids who don’t have the money to higher a coyote, would you be willing to ride “La Bestia," the beast, a cargo train, risking literally life and limb, hoping to ride through the gangs of Mexico? No food, no water, no shelter, and no responsible adult to protect and love you.

But what bothers me the most is how callous and cruel so many of my fellow Americans seem to be. Granted, most are uninformed about the issue, and most let people push and manipulate them by their fears. But still. Isn’t there some shred of compassion for these children?

On Margaret and Helen’s blog, I found their version of the familiar Christian song welcoming children:

Jesus loves the legal children,
All the legal children of the world.
Red and yellow, black but mainly white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the legal children of the world.

They use satire to express the abhorrent lack of compassion for kids who are desperately seeking a better life.
 

And then you have certain elements of Congress trying to dismantle the basic safeguards in place for children who are fleeing persecution and violence. They want to change the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) to make it easier to deport these children, in effect to deny their right to due process, to come before a judge trained for such delicate matters.

And isn’t is part of the DNA of our nation to welcome the immigrant? I always thought our multi-ethnic and multi-racial diversity was a strength.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
-Emma Lazarus, Inscription on the Statue of Liberty

But more importantly, we have a moral responsibility to care for the immigrant.

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. -Leviticus 19:33-34

Thanks to Walt Doering for information on the efforts to dismantle the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.

Here is a good article on these migrant children from NPR.

Here is an open letter on child Refugees form the leaders of the United Church of Christ.

Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United’s website.