The year is 2050. If you are reading this, the labor pool of the United States is in free fall. The non-white community has captured the majority of the population, with whites first time a minority. The crisis: working age people to non-working adults fell 15 percent between 2020 and 2050, as workers aged out of their careers. Labor costs a premium as employers hike wages and politicians promise to woo workers from other nations. But these nations have soured on the United States following decades of xenophobic persecution of undocumented workers, discarding them like litter thrown out a car window in their home countries. The 2050 politicians now quarrel how to undo the wayward policies, crying, “We didn’t know how much we needed the labor at the time. They lied to us and were only interested in poll numbers of the approving base.”
The truth was that the “Make America Great Again” called for discarding of the people collateral of other nations living in the U.S, which would be needed to secure our economy in the future. The politicians who once proposed bounties on the heads of undocumented labor now cry for the import of labor at all costs due to the U.S.’s inability raise labor’s spoon to its mouth. The tragedy of the mainline church was its silence and its participation in the largest human roundup since World War II. Carefully crafted slogans demonized the undocumented as the evil among us, calling them criminals and sexual predators, knowing that cooperation in the mass roundup increases to the extent that the strangers are considered “subhuman.” The church’s response during this time could be called, “The Silence of the Lambs: How the Church became Complicit in Deporting its Future.”
Pax Americana: Road to a Secure Future
The Gospel of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus gives insight into the Roman Empire’s “Pax Romana,” that which made Rome truly great. As Rome expanded, it created allies, built roads, and expanded taxation. Luke wrote –
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.2 (This was the first census that took place while[a]Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. Luke 2:1-3
Let’s apply the above to the millions of undocumented persons among us.
The Lamb Speaks
A look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us of the moral imperative the church has to care for the stranger, the undocumented among us. “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.” – Matthew 25:35
Q: “Pastor Jim, that was weak Jesus. We believe in the Alpha Male Jesus who gets tough on crime, such as illegal immigration. These immigrants must be unbelievers, because a true believer would not break our immigration laws. In fact, by turning them in, we are actually helping them come to the faith and embrace our Alpha Jesus.”
A: Like the Israelites formed the “golden calf” to produce tangible results, so is the temptation to fashion a god who fits into our political idolatry for immediate benefit. The problem with a “golden calf” is that it produces short-term benefits and creates a confirmation bias that this was certainly the right path. People became obsessed with ushering in a new golden age promised by the golden calf committees. The price of gold skyrocketed. Golden Calf parades became a glue that brought people together, like a football team who won a few games but lost the championship due to a failed long-term strategy. In a confirmation bias, the short-term wins blind participants of the underlying failure and true losses at stake. The lure of the preachers of these “golden calfs” reflects what St. John wrote when he said, “Even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that this is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
Q: “Are you saying that you approve thieves, murderers, and sexual predators to remain among us?”
A: Demonizing an entire group by the actions of a few does not solve the problems of a nation. Some in Missouri have proposed legislative bills that call for life imprisonment for undocumented immigrants who enter the state and a bounty of $1,000 on the heads of the immigrants. ICE, for its national policy, said that, while they focus on criminals, should an undocumented person be present, they will be deported with the criminals to a staging camp, such as Guantanamo. Writing off the life of a ten-year-old child or wife who was the undocumented daughter of immigrants, raises the question: “Does the right to life end in the womb and stop at the Border?”
Guantanamo Bay
”You can’t say, ‘Right to life!,’” you say, “That’s our slogan we used to protect unborn babies. It has nothing to do with immigration. Apples and oranges!”
For you, the “right to life” has been politicized to a political platform that has been trained to ignore the other “rights to life” with dignity, in safety, in housing, in education, and in health. Limiting the “right to life” strictly to the abortion issue gives Christians a free pass on these other areas that would severely reduce the quality of life or shorten it.
Operation “Allies in America”
Borrowing from the practice of Roman Empire, the Pax Americana would build on three great strategies: 1) a census of the undocumented and a registry by home county, 2) taxation of undocumented and elimination of underground cash economy, 3) the undocumented would pay reduced percentage into Medicare and Social Security but would not be able to draw unless they became U.S. citizens, 4) the securing of the U.S. Border would stabilize the level of the undocumented living in the U.S. and provide formal paths to U.S. entry and citizenship. “Allies in America” (AIA) identification cards and driver’s licenses would be vetted in U.S. and international criminal databases to establish the security of the AIA workforce.
The “Allies in America” Census
This week my wife and I visited two local water stores where we saw Hispanic men filling carts with multiple five-gallon water jugs on carts. My impression was, “Somebody is preparing for siege or perhaps hiding out in the desert until ICE moves to another neighborhood.” The problem with present ICE deportation rhetoric is the double-speak, “We are only going after criminals to deport” …”Unless you don’t cooperate; then we kick down your door.” “We are only going after gang members and sexual predators” … “But we haven’t ruled out operations at elementary schools and hospitals.” “We want to protect you from criminals” … “But if you are undocumented and present in our sweep, you are going to Guantanamo!”
For a census of the “Allies in America” to succeed, ICE and Homeland Security need to guarantee that to register as an “Ally in America” will provide them U.S. legal due process and fair review of immigration status if charged with a crime. Those who have been previously found guilty of felony crime, would not be eligible for the “Allies in America” plan. The “Allies in America” would not be able to vote, purchase property, start businesses, receive Medicare or Medicaid, or draw Social Security, with restrictions lifted if citizenship is granted.
“Allies in America” Taxation
An “Ally in America” would be taxed on State and Federal taxes, along with a contribution (a reduced amount) to Medicare and Social Security to benefit U.S. members already in the system. These contributions are credited to the “Ally in America” if citizenship is granted. Additional tax would be for “Allies in America Charitable Trust” for medical and disability needs of AIA and a required retirement savings account to be transferred to Social Security if the AIA member returns to his home country.
Q: “These undocumented are all illegal. Why not deport them all and be done with it?
A: It feels good to express our anger and do something, like the man who punches a wall to take out his anger, only to find he broke the wall and fractured his knuckles.
“Easy to tear down … Hard to build up.”
- Anonymous Three-Year-Old
Building Roads to Peace
A key practice of the Pax Romana was the building of roads, which exist into the present day. Consider the year 2050 should the U.S. continue on its present course of dumping gang members, criminals, and noncriminals to their home countries, like a “criminal carpet bombing” that looks good in the polls but has unintended consequences. That the countries are accepting military transports of immigrants shows these countries are friends of the U.S. The unintended consequence of mass deportation of criminals is the destabilization of governments in Central and South America as well as Caribbean islands, such as Haiti.
Q: “Pastor Jim, how is that our problem? The illegals broke the law by coming to the U.S. and then broke our laws again.”
A: As Mexico builds as major trading partner with China and other nations, destabilized governments may reach to China and Russia to provide aid in exchange for their “peacekeeping” presence in the country. While the U.S. congratulates itself in getting one problem off its lawn, the vast resources of a country could shift alliances to another country simply as a matter of survival.
Passing the Peace
The Pax Americana would provide alliance with our friends and give our country peace and prosperity not even seen by Rome. For further study, review the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s article on the coming “gray wave” to the U.S. workforce: https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/the-great-gray-wave/how-to-prepare-america-for-demographic-decline
Peace,
Pastor Jim
