Illegal is illegal, right? Not always. For example, the Law of Moses which was the guiding social and religious law under which Jesus was raised stipulated that wrongdoers were to be proportionally punished for their crimes. Specifically, the law stated: "If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him" (Leviticus 24:19-20). Jesus, however, took a contrarian position to that law. He countered:"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well." Whatever the nuances of interpretation one might read into these verses, it is clear that Jesus took it upon himself to abide by a different law.
Historically, there has been an ongoing discourse concerning the weight of moral law versus civil law. Or, if you prefer, universal law versus regulatory statute. Universal law, it is assumed, is unchanging. Murder, theft and the like are always wrong. Whereas, a 55 mph speed limit can be changed to 60 by a committee, as recently happened in my locale. One day you can be ticketed for going 60. The next day you can't. There are zillions of regulatory laws on the books that are changed and adapted all the time. Often times changes in the law come about because the old law has served its purpose and is no longer in step with current realities. Sometimes society wakes up and discovers that it is being governed by really bad laws. Jim Crow segregation being a case in point.
The news in Iowa has been dominated lately by the "raid" conducted by agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) upon Agriprocessors (a kosher meat processing company) in Postville, Iowa. Over 300 workers were arrested and are facing legal proceedings for being undocumented or falsely documented immigrants, mostly of Hispanic heritage. An entire community that has established itself as a welcoming place for workers from south of the border with restaurants, grocery stores and churches has been disrupted. Children returned from school to learn parents were being detained. Families are torn apart and filled with fear of what will happen next. It is an all around sad situation.
Now, obviously, an ordered society cannot allow anyone to blatantly circumvent the law and flaunt authority. (Although, I'm of the opinion that it is the employers and not the employees who bear the greatest share of responsibility in cases like this one.) Most of the workers are merely trying to make a better life for themselves than they could ever hope for in their homelands. Still, laws were broken including serious offenses such as identity theft and falsified social security documents. These crimes must be addressed.
What grieves me, however, is the heartless attitutde of those who angrily insist that the harshest punishments and deportation are the best way to handle these people. "Throw 'em all out of the country and build a big fence so they don't come back," seems to be an all too common outcry. It's an easy thing to say for someone who is either just outright mean spirited or has no clue about the kind of economic and humnitarian hardships that compel thousands to risk being undocumented workers willing to take on miserable jobs such as those available in a meat packing plant.
What has been going on in Postville for many years is happening in many places across the country. Tens of thousands of people with questionable documentation have enthusiastically stood in line to do work that few American citizens will. For many of these desperate, hard working people the laws they have had to get around to get their piece of the pie are like the speed limit. As we all know, everyone ignores the speed limit from time to time. All this ever evolving immigration red tape is an injust and inconvenient obstacle to their making a living.
So, here's my point. Black and white legal absolutism can get in the way of cultural advancement as Jesus demonstrated. Immigration laws from the past are becoming increasingly insensitive to economic and demographic realities in the Western Hemisphere and need to be rewritten. The low wage, immigrant workers are now woven into the fabric of American life. They are here to stay. Our laws should be responsive to that. The force of our law enforcement should be brought against unscrupulous employers who exploit vulnerable workers rather than conducting blitzkrieg raids that result in hundreds of workers being subjected to the indiginity of being handcuffed and marched off to a processing center where they are railroaded through a frightening and confusing legal process. What we are doing now is wrong--just plain wrong.
