Trump's anti-family immigration plan would be a new stain on our history
Have our elected leaders, who profess their faith so eagerly during election season, forgotten their family values and those in the Bible?
As Congress debates a way forward for "dreamers," President Trump and some members of Congress are demanding legislation that reminds me of past immigration policies for which we now hang our collective heads in shame.
Their requests to change four pillars of immigration policy, including an end to “chain migration,” bear a dangerous resemblance to the national origins quota system, a discriminatory and racist policy that began back with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. More than 50 years ago, Congress intentionally ended this law that essentially restricted entry to immigrants only from Northern and Western Europe. Now we see Congress and the president harking back to those dark days — and doing nothing short of redefining the family.
More:Trump created the DACA immigration crisis and he could fix it right now
More:Asians were 'refuse' in the 1880s. Is that how Trump sees Haitians and Africans?
Consider precisely what is at stake here. Americans clearly define immediate family to include our children, parents and siblings. Apparently, this is not the case with Congress, which is debating whether a child is a child, regardless of age; and the idea that sibling bonds are erased in adulthood, as they decide whether to separate brothers and sisters and parents from their children through changes in law. This congressional focus has nothing to do with aunts, uncles and cousins.
Congress is directing this wrath on U.S. citizens and green card holders — essentially holding hostage the futures of dreamers, the undocumented young people who know no other life than the one they have here in the USA. How is stopping family reunification a show of family values?
When Americans learn about our bygone immigration policies, they are recognized clearly as a stain on our country’s history. They are a system decades of lawmakers and administrations have long since rejected and have replaced with the current, family-based immigration system. In doing so, the United States sent a message to the world about our values: that we care more about family unity and thriving communities than skin color and nationality.
Human dignity is granted to us by our creator and strengthened by our familial bonds. This ideal is enshrined for posterity in our nation’s founding documents, and in the hearts of people of faith across the country. Indeed, it is enshrined in the hearts of families.
Family is the foundation of our communities, our congregations and our nation. Have our elected leaders, who profess their faith so eagerly during election season, forgotten their family values? Have they forgotten the biblical representations of parents who remain close with their adult children, like Abraham and Isaac, Mary and Jesus? Have they forgotten that Jesus comforted Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, before raising him from the grave; and that he called not one but two sets of brothers as his disciples — Andrew and Simon Peter, and James and John?
More:Trump likes Canada's merit-based immigration, but it's not what he thinks
POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media
In addition, the words "chain" and "migration" do not belong together. Ever. The last time we had “chain migration” to the United States was in the 18th century, and it was called slavery. Shame on nativists like White House adviser Stephen Miller, the Nativist Lobby and the elected officials who are intentionally throwing around such a misleading and odious phrase with callous disregard.
Our heroes, who fought for abolition, the end of Jim Crow and the civil rights of all Americans, would be horrified to hear this morally reprehensible rhetoric about our immigrant neighbors, friends and family.
Congress, the choice is clear: Provide dreamers a path to citizenship, and do so without inflicting harm upon American citizens and green card holders who want nothing more than to be able to hold their children, care for their parents, and spend time with their siblings. These are the most basic of family values that our country should aspire to.
The Rev. John L. McCullough is president and CEO of Church World Service.