GOP candidates have been trading some pretty nasty punches over the issue of illegal immigration this election cycle.
Consider Herman Cain's comment on the campaign trail in Tennessee about constructing a fence along the whole border that would electrocute migrants. "It will be a 20-foot wall, barbed wire, electrified on the top," he said.
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He clarified later, during a meeting with Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is known for his controversially tough treatment of illegal immigrants in Maricopa county jails, that his comment about the fence was not meant as a joke.
He really meant it.
Or consider Michele Bachmann's recent response to a question from a Latino college student in Iowa who asked her what she would do to help the children of undocumented immigrants. Bachmann answered, "Their parents are the ones who brought them here. ... They did not have the legal right to come to the United States. We do not owe people who broke our laws to come into the country. We don't owe them anything."
This hard-line stance is particularly confusing considering the GOP candidates' fervent declarations of faith in Jesus Christ, a figure perhaps best known for his radical love and acceptance of "the least of these." Bachmann herself often speaks openly about her Lutheran faith, about accepting Christ as her lord and savior and about "Christ's true love and forgiveness."
But what about Jesus' fundamental injunction to love neighbor as self?
Christian writers over the centuries have generally understood this agape love, at the heart of the Christian message, to be unconditional and non-preferential, extending beyond kin and tribe, to everyone, especially those in need, the thirsty, the hungry, the imprisoned, the homeless, the sick, the grieving, the least of these.
It is difficult to imagine the figure of Jesus building an electrified fence to deter and endanger migrants, or of declaring children unworthy of our help, as Jesus famously declared that the kingdom of God belonged, first and foremost, to children.
Which is why comments like Bachmann's and Cain's might seem confusing in light of their proclaimed Christian faith. Herman Cain, for example, is an Associate Minister of Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta. Antioch Baptist North, part of the National Baptist Convention, was founded by eight former slaves in 1877 and is now a mega-church that, while theologically conservative -- believing in the inerrancy of the scriptures -- is historically rooted in a mission of social justice and activism.
Since its founding, Antioch Baptist North says on its website, the church "has stood in Atlanta as a beacon of hope and a place of refuge. For five generations, the congregational family has reached out and nurtured thousands of persons who have been counted among the least, the last, and the lost. As a Church Family, we celebrate our 133rd Anniversary with a renewed commitment to build upon the remarkable record of charitable Christian Service that has made Antioch one of God's best churches."
How does such charitable Christian Service translate into electrified walls or the opinion that children of undocumented migrants deserve nothing from us?
Let's not forget Romney's case either. Aside from the specter of "illegal immigrants" that Romney supposedly hired to work on his lavish Belmont, Massachusetts property some years back (something Perry rubbed in Romney's face during the Las Vegas debate), Romney has an even "worse illegal immigrant problem."
A recent headline from the Los Angeles Times reads: "Medical help for illegal immigrants could haunt Mitt Romney."
The medical help being referred to is the healthcare law -- known as Health Safety Net -- that Romney signed into law in Massachusetts in 2006 as governor of the state. The law enabled uninsured immigrants to receive free, or nearly free, medical attention at state hospitals and clinics.
A charitable action? Yes, and one that is haunting the candidate.
When did it become so politically damaging to do charitable things for people in need, especially in light of the Christian message to love neighbor as self, a message that all the GOP candidates say they espouse?
Look what happened to Rick Perry when he showed some compassion to undocumented youth in Texas. Perry was surging in the polls until the fateful debate in which he defended his choice to provide in-state tuition for the children of undocumented migrants in the Lone Star State.
He defended the policy by stating, "if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they have been brought there by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart."
His "soft" stance on immigration (he also opposes a full border fence along the southern border, saying it would be too costly and ineffective, advocating instead strategically placed fencing, an increased number of agents, and other cutting edge technology) has clearly hurt Perry's campaign. Since that moment (and exacerbated by his poor debating skills), Perry has yet to regain the ground he lost.
GOP candidates and their supporters need to explain and reconcile their Christian faith and values when it comes to the issue of the lives of undocumented immigrants. If Jesus is so important to them, and Jesus declares universal defense and love of society's most vulnerable, how do they defend their seemingly uncharitable stances on the matter?
Such an explanation does not mean the GOP candidates need to believe in open borders, in illegal immigration, or the flawed immigration system as it is now. Most reasonable people on either side of the political spectrum want safe and secure borders. Most want reasonable laws, laws that everyone follows. No one wants the chaos that has been occurring at our borders.
We want a federal immigration system that is not outdated, without glaring gaps and inefficiencies that are hurtful to all. We want a president and a Congress who can work together to overhaul immigration in a systematic and humane way.
Such desire for order and security, however, does not mean that we need to turn undocumented people into political footballs. That seems the opposite of Jesus' message of faith and love. "As you did it to the least of these, you did it to me."
The contradictions are simply hard to overlook.
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